The Death of Kim Dae-jung

My assignment for work yesterday was to go to one of the memorial gatherings for former Korean president Kim Dae-jung. As I climbed out of the subway and onto Seoul Plaza, I was struck by how many people had come in the middle of a hot and humid day to pay tribute to the former leader. A very large portrait of Kim was set up next to city hall, surrounded by thousands of flowers. Hundreds of people queued up to stand before this display and bow their heads or kneel in front of it. Many walked away with tears in their eyes.

At least a thousand people must have been there. Huddles of older men and women sat in lawn chairs and on the ground underneath rows of white tents that had been set up in the plaza. It looked like most were there just to spend the afternoon taking in the scene with friends. Some had empty bottles of makgeolli scattered around them. Interestingly, I talked to several people who said they weren't particularly fond of the man, but came to pay respect nonetheless. That in itself, I thought was amazing.


President Kim is probably most known for his reunification efforts with North Korea, which led to highly public and emotional reunions of families that had been separated for decades since the Korean War, but also involved the not-so-public funneling of hundreds of millions of dollars to the North in return for the favor. But that is just a small part of the Sunshine Policy, and Kim's presidency and amazing life story.