Kim Young-sam was inaugurated on 25 February 1993, and served a single five-year term, presiding over a massive anti-corruption campaign, the arrest of his two predecessors, and an internationalization policy called Segyehwa.
36 Facts About Kim Young-sam
2.
Kim Young-sam was born in Geoje Island, at the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula, to a rich fishing family on 20 December 1927, in Korea under Japanese rule.
3.
Kim Young-sam was the eldest of one son and five daughters in his family.
4.
In 1954, Kim Young-sam was elected to the National Assembly of South Korea, as a member of the party led by Syngman Rhee, the first president of South Korea.
5.
At the time of his election, Kim Young-sam was the youngest member of the national assembly.
6.
Kim Young-sam then became a leading critic, along with Kim Young-sam Dae-jung, of the military governments of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan.
7.
In 1969, Kim Young-sam fiercely opposed the constitutional revision to allow President Park to serve for three consecutive terms.
8.
Kim Young-sam later opposed President Park's power grab with the authoritarian Yushin Constitution of 1972.
9.
In 1971, Kim Young-sam made his first attempt to run for president against Park as candidate for the opposition New Democratic Party, but Kim Young-sam Dae-jung was selected as the candidate.
10.
Kim Young-sam took a hardline policy of never compromising or cooperating with Park's Democratic Republican Party until the Yushin Constitution was repealed and boldly criticized Park's dictatorship, which could be punished with imprisonment under the new constitution.
11.
When Kim Young-sam called on the United States to stop supporting Park's dictatorship in an interview with the New York Times, Park wanted to have Kim Young-sam imprisoned while the Carter Administration, concerned over increasing human right violations, issued a strong warning not to persecute members of the opposition party.
12.
Kim Young-sam was expelled from the National Assembly in October 1979, and the United States recalled its ambassador back to Washington, DC, and all 66 lawmakers of the New Democratic Party resigned from the National Assembly.
13.
Kim Young-sam's decision angered many democratic activists who considered him a traitor but he maintained his political base in Busan and Gyeongsang.
14.
Kim Young-sam chose to merge with Roh's ruling party in order to become Roh's successor in 1992, which he became the presidential nominee of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party.
15.
Kim Young-sam was only the fourth civilian to hold the office on a non-interim basis, and the first elected to a full term since 1960.
16.
The Kim Young-sam administration attempted to reform the government and the economy.
17.
One of the first acts of his government was to start an anti-corruption campaign, which began at the very top, as Kim Young-sam promised not to use political slush funds.
18.
Kim Young-sam had his two predecessors as president, Chun and Roh, arrested and indicted on charges of corruption and treason for their role in military coups, although they would be pardoned near the end of his term on advice of president-elect Kim Dae-jung.
19.
Kim Young-sam purged politically minded generals of the Hanahoe clique who Chun and Roh hailed from which until that point, had continued to be deeply engaged in policymaking.
20.
Kim Young-sam granted amnesty to 41,000 political prisoners in March 1993 just after taking office, and removed the criminal convictions of pro-democracy protesters who had been arrested during the Gwangju massacre in the aftermath of the Coup d'etat of December Twelfth.
21.
Kim Young-sam released his "100-Day Plan for the New Economy" for immediate economic reform, intended to decrease inflation and eliminate corporate corruption.
22.
Kim Young-sam launched a wave of anti-corruption reforms and introduced wide-ranging economic reforms aimed at easing domestic regulations and the labour code, encouraging foreign investment and promoting competition.
23.
Kim Young-sam defended the interests of the chaebol by introducing new labour legislation.
24.
In 1994, when American president Bill Clinton mulled over attacking Nyongbyon, the centre of North Korea's nuclear program, Kim Young-sam advised him to back down, fearing a war.
25.
Kim Young-sam understood that South Korean cities would be bombarded first by North Korea in the event of a strike and saw it necessary to stop any move that could start a war.
26.
Kim Young-sam spent his final year in office, with the nation saddled and plagued by an economic crisis.
27.
Kim Young-sam's government was seen as indecisive in the face of crisis as the financial tsunami began.
28.
The Kim Young-sam government refused to bail them out on Kia's terms, and nationalized it in October 1997.
29.
Kim Young-sam blamed companies for borrowing too much, workers for demanding too much pay and conceded that his government did not implement strong reforms on its own due to pressure from special interest groups.
30.
However, like the chaebol, South Korea's government under Kim Young-sam did not escape unscathed.
31.
Kim Young-sam's term ended on 24 February 1998, and he was succeeded by his political rival Kim Dae-jung who defeated the ruling conservative party in the 1997 South Korean presidential election.
32.
Kim Young-sam died in Seoul National University Hospital on 22 November 2015, from heart failure, at the age of 87.
33.
Kim Young-sam was survived by his children, two sons and three daughters, as well as his five younger sisters.
34.
Later that day, Kim Young-sam was buried in the Seoul National Cemetery near former presidents Syngman Rhee, Park Chung-hee and Kim Young-sam Dae-jung.
35.
Kim Young-sam was a member of the Chunghyun Presbyterian Church and was fluent in Japanese in addition to his native language, Korean.
36.
Kim Young-sam had six children: Kim Hye-young, Kim Hye-jeong, Kim Eun-chul, Kim Hyun-chul, Kim Sang-man, and Kim Hye-sook.