A democrat departsWHEN nearly 200 women at a bankrupt wig factory were fired in 1979 and then beaten by police for refusing to leave, it was Kim Young-sam who sheltered them in the headquarters of his opposition New Democratic Party (NDP). When more police stormed his offices (and one of the women died), his calls for an end to South Korea’s military dictatorship grew noisier.
For Park Chung-hee, who rose to power in a coup in 1961, the noises became too loud. Park suspended Mr Kim’s leadership of the NDP and expelled him from the National Assembly. “You can wring the rooster’s neck,” Mr Kim retorted, “but dawn will still come.” All 66 of the party’s MPs resigned. Protests followed, the biggest of Park’s rule. (Soon after, Park was assassinated by his security chief, during a row about the protests.)
Mr Kim shone in championing the rights of labourers, but a former minister in his government remembers him as “prince of the conservatives”. His father grew rich from the anchovy trade. His own backers were from South Korea’s growing middle classes. He was ambitious, becoming the youngest MP in...Continue reading
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