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The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded South Korean President Kim Dae
Jung the Nobel Peace Prize Oct. 13. While citing Kim's work for democracy
and human rights in South Korea and East Asia, the committee especially
praised Kim and his "sunshine policy" for attempting "to
overcome more than 50 years of war and hostility between North and South
Korea."
In June Kim traveled to Pyongyang to meet with North Korean leader
Kim Jong Il. Their meeting spurred a process of reconciliation on the
Korean peninsula. Since the visit, the countries have organized a cross-border
reunion of separated families, opened border liaison offices and marched
together at the Olympic Games in Sydney. The Nobel committee also acknowledged
"the contributions made by North Korea's and other countries' leaders
to advance reconciliation and possible reunification."
Kim, a longtime dissident under authoritarian rule, won South Korea's
presidency in 1997. He first gained a seat in parliament in 1961, and
as an opposition leader survived a kidnapping, a death sentence, assassination
attempts, three presidential election losses, and more than seven years
in prison or house arrest and four years of exile.
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