NY Times: Kim Young-sam, South Korean President Who Opposed Military, Dies at 87

The former president Kim Young-sam is a critical figure in the Korean history.  He led Korea in transition period.  I was rewriting his policies including the globalization policy last week for my book.  I'd like to share his legacy on this blog down the road.

From NY Times:

Kim Young-sam, the former president of South Korea who replaced the last of the country’s military leaders, purged politicized generals and introduced a landmark reform aimed at transparency in financial transactions, died on Sunday in Seoul. He was 87.

Although he won with the support of the military-backed party, Mr. Kim did not forget his roots. He purged a clique of politically ambitious army officers who went by the name Hanahoe, which roughly meant “an association of one-for-all, all-for-one.” The officers were forced to retire.

Mr. Kim’s purge culminated in the arrest and conviction of Mr. Chun and Mr. Roh on mutiny and corruption charges for their roles in the 1979 coup and a bloody crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising the following year, as well as for collecting hundreds of millions of dollars each in bribes from businessmen. (Mr. Kim later pardoned them and released them from prison.)

Mr. Kim also barred South Koreans from owning bank accounts under pseudonyms. That change is considered a critical step in South Korea’s long-running campaign against corruption; bank accounts under borrowed names had been widely used by politicians and businessmen to hide slush funds.

In 1997, South Korea swallowed the humiliation of a $58 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund during the Asian financial crisis. Mr. Kim was criticized for failing to prevent the crisis by overhauling the country’s powerful family-run conglomerates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/world/asia/kim-young-sam-former-president-of-south-korea-dies-at-87.html?_r=0