{"id":167773,"date":"2018-06-23T07:37:22","date_gmt":"2018-06-23T11:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=167773"},"modified":"2018-06-23T07:37:22","modified_gmt":"2018-06-23T11:37:22","slug":"ex-s-korean-premier-kim-jong-pil-spy-agency-founder-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/06\/23\/ex-s-korean-premier-kim-jong-pil-spy-agency-founder-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex S. Korean premier Kim Jong pil, spy agency founder, dies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
Flag of South Korea (Photo: By Various – Ordinance Act of the Law concerning the National Flag of the Republic of Korea, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — Kim Jong-pil, the founder of South Korea’s spy agency whose political skills helped him also serve twice as prime minister, first under his dictator boss and later under a man his agency kidnapped, has died. He was 92.<\/p>\n

Kim was declared dead on arrival at Seoul’s Soonchunhyang University Hospital from his home on Saturday, said hospital official Lee Mi-jong. He described the cause of death as age-related complications.<\/p>\n

South Korea’s presidential office released a statement saying Kim’s \u201cfingerprints and footprints that marked South Korea’s modern political history will not be easily erased.\u201d<\/p>\n

A retired lieutenant colonel, Kim was a key member of a 1961 coup that put army Maj. Gen. Park Chung-hee in power until his 1979 assassination. Park was the father of Park Geun-hye, South Korea’s first female president who was ousted from office last year over an explosive corruption scandal and is now serving a 24-year prison term.<\/p>\n

After the senior Park seized power, Kim created and headed the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, a predecessor of the current National Intelligence Service, before serving as his prime minister, the country’s No. 2 post, from 1971-1975.<\/p>\n

Park Chung-hee used the spy agency as a tool to suppress his political rivals at home, including then-opposition leader Kim Dae-jung, who became South Korea’s president in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

A government fact-finding panel said in 2007 that KCIA agents kidnapped Kim Dae-jung from a Tokyo hotel in 1973, days before he was to start a coalition of Japan-based South Korean organizations to work for their country’s democratization. It was the first official confirmation of one of the most notorious KCIA operations to stifle dissent.<\/p>\n

Kim Jong-pil didn’t direct the agency at the time of the 1973 kidnapping, and 25 years later he joined forces with Kim Dae-jung and helped him win the 1997 presidential election. He served as Kim Dae-jung’s prime minister from 1998-2000 under a power-sharing plan.<\/p>\n

The 2007 panel report did not draw a clear conclusion on whether the kidnapping was ultimately aimed at killing Kim Dae-jung, who said his abductors nearly dumped him from a ship at sea before they stopped when a U.S. military helicopter made a low pass over the vessel.<\/p>\n

Related to Park by marriage, Kim Jong-pil was his No. 2 man for much of his rule. But after Park was gunned down by his intelligence chief during a late-night drinking party in October 1979 and a new military junta led by Maj. Gen. Chun Doo-hwan seized power through a coup, Kim was accused of corruption and surrendered property worth millions of dollars before moving to the United States.<\/p>\n

Kim returned to South Korea after Chun, bowing to weeks of massive public protests, allowed a free, direct presidential election in 1987, which marked South Korea’s transition toward a genuine democracy. Kim founded his own conservative party and ran for the hotly contested 1987 election to compete with Chun’s army buddy and government candidate Roh Tae-woo, Kim Dae-jung and another opposition leader Kim Young-sam.<\/p>\n

Roh won the election largely thanks to a split in opposition votes, and Kim Jong-pil placed fourth. The three opposition candidates came to dominate South Korean politics in the so-called \u201cera of the three Kims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim Jong-pil had enjoyed a strong support from his home turf in central Chungcheong province and people who valued the rapid economic development during Park’s rule. But he never reached a level of support to seriously contend for the presidency and instead became a kingmaker by exercising his political leverage in presidential races.<\/p>\n

In 1990, he and Kim Young-sam merged their parties with Roh’s ruling party in a landmark three-way alliance, which eventually helped Kim Young-sam win the 1992 presidential election. The merger of pro-democracy fighters and former coup members invited long-running criticism that it dampened democracy.<\/p>\n

After supporting Kim Dae-jung’s successful 1997 presidential bid, Kim Jong-pil and his conservative party members were given several Cabinet posts in the new government. But their coalition fell apart in 2001 because of a dispute over Kim Dae-jung’s famous \u201csunshine policy\u201d of engaging North Korea with aid and exchange programs. Kim Dae-jung won the 2000 Novel Peace Prize for his efforts to reconcile with North Korea and promote democracy in South Korea.<\/p>\n

Dubbed as \u201cperennial No. 2 man,\u201d Kim Jong-pil served as a member of the National Assembly nine times. He quit politics in 2004 after his now-defunct United Liberal Democrats suffered crushing defeats in parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been completely burned to ashes,\u201d he said in a retirement news conference.<\/p>\n

Kim is to be buried at a family cemetery in central South Korea after five days of mourning, according to South Korean media.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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