Report: Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung dies at age 85

August 23rd, 2009 SEOUL - Thousands of South Koreans and international delegates attended the state funeral for former president and Nobel peace laureate Kim Dae Jung that began at Seoul's national assembly Sunday. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was among the guests at the memorial services for Kim, who died aged 83 last Tuesday.

August 23rd, 2009 SEOUL - Tens of thousands of South Koreans and international delegates attended the state funeral for former president and Nobel peace laureate Kim Dae Jung Sunday, which also prompted talks with North Korean envoys after months of stalled negotiations. Kim, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for achieving a detente with North Korea and bringing democratic reform to South Korea, died aged 83 last Tuesday, as a result of pneumonia and related illnesses.

August 23rd, 2009 SEOUL - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met a six-member North Korean delegation here on Sunday. A meeting of this nature is taking place for the first time since the former assumed office in February 2008.

August 23rd, 2009 SEOUL - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak held talks with a visiting North Korean delegation here Sunday amid Pyongyang's latest conciliatory moves that show signs of easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, media reports said. A high-level North Korean delegation arrived here Friday to pay their last respect to late former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung who died recently.

August 22nd, 2009 SEOUL - North and South Korea held their first high-level talks in almost two years Saturday amid indications of an easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula. South Korea's Minister of Unification Hyun In Taek met Kim Yang Gon, the head of the unification front department of North Korea's ruling Korean Workers' Party, South Korean media said.

August 21st, 2009 NKorean condolence delegation arrives in SeoulSEOUL, South Korea — A high-level North Korean delegation arrived in Seoul on Friday to pay respects to late former President Kim Dae-jung, a rare visit that raised hopes of improved relations between the tense neighbors. A plane carrying the six-member delegation landed Friday afternoon, Gimpo airport official Park Hyun-il told The Associated Press.

August 21st, 2009 North Korean delegation pays respect in SeoulSEOUL, South Korea — A high-level North Korean delegation arrived in Seoul on Friday to pay respects to late former President Kim Dae-jung, a rare visit that raised hopes of improved relations between the tense neighbors. A plane carrying the six-member delegation landed Friday afternoon, Gimpo airport official Park Hyun-il told The Associated Press.

August 21st, 2009 SEOUL - A delegation sent by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il arrived Friday in Seoul to pay respects to the late South Korean president Kim Dae Jung, who won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to reconcile the two Koreas. The visit was the first to South Korea by high-ranking North Korean functionaries since the inauguration of conservative South Korean President Lee Myung Bak in February last year.

August 20th, 2009 Body of SKorea's Kim moved into place for funeralSEOUL, South Korea — The body of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has been transported to the National Assembly, where it will lie in state until his funeral Sunday. Kim died Tuesday at age 85, unleashing an outpouring of grief for a man who campaigned for democracy at home and won the Nobel Peace Prize for a historic summit with rival North Korea.

August 19th, 2009 Koreas mourn death of SKorea's Kim Dae-jungSEOUL, South Korea — South Koreans mourned former President Kim Dae-jung on Thursday, offering flowers and prayers as the government arranged a state funeral for the longtime democracy and human rights campaigner. Kim, who died Tuesday at age 85 after a battle with pneumonia, was to be placed in a coffin at Seoul's Severance Hospital and taken to the National Assembly later in the day, said Choi Kyung-hwan, an aide to Kim.

August 18th, 2009 Obama sends condolences to SKorea on Kim's deathWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is extending condolences to the Korean people and the family of former President Kim Dai-jung. Obama said Kim, who died Tuesday at age 85, "risked his life" in leading a political movement that was crucial to South Korean development.

August 18th, 2009 Some memorable quotes from Kim Dae-jungSome memorable quotes from former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung: __ "Democracy and the market economy are two sides of a coin or two wheels of a cart. Every nation that has embraced both democracy and a market economy has been successful." — Inauguration speech, February 1998.

August 18th, 2009 Former South Korean president diesSEOUL, South Korea — Kim Dae-jung, who as a longtime opposition leader survived assassination attempts and a death sentence to become president of South Korea, and whose unflagging efforts to reconcile with communist North Korea earned him the Nobel Peace Prize, died Tuesday, hospital officials said. He was 85. Kim, who had been hospitalized with pneumonia since last month, died shortly after 1:40 p.m.

August 18th, 2009 SEOUL - Nobel laureate and former South Korean president Kim Dae Jung, 83, died Tuesday, the Yonhap news agency said, quoting hospital sources. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate died at 1.42 p.m.

July 16th, 2009 Ex-SKorean leader put on respirator, not in dangerSEOUL, South Korea — Ailing former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, a Nobel laureate, has been put on a respirator because of complications from pneumonia but is not in "immediate danger," hospital officials said Thursday. The 85-year-old ex-dissident served as president from 1998 to 2003 and had a "Sunshine Policy" of encouraging reconciliation with wartime foe North Korea, which culminated in a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000.