Kim Young Sam

Born in the village of Vepho-ri in the city of Koje , Gyeongsangnam-do province , in a fisherman's family. His ancestors belonged to the military estate of the Yanban. During the Imzhinsky war (1592–1598), one of them moved to the island of Kozhe, which became their “small homeland” for them. The politician's father was engaged in fishing and trade, professed Christianity and belonged to the middle-income families of that time.

He studied at Seoul University , graduating in 1952 with a bachelor 's degree in philosophy .

During the Korean War, he first hid from the North Korean authorities and then volunteered for the South Army as a counter-propaganda specialist and war correspondent. In those same years, he became Secretary of the Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly, Chan Taek Sang , who was soon appointed Prime Minister. Kim Yong-Sam became an assistant to the head of government, carrying out rather responsible tasks up to holding meetings of the deputy group.

In 1954, at the age of 26, he was elected to the National Assembly of the country . In December 1954, in protest against the extension of President Lee Sung Man ’s term for a third term, he left the ruling Liberal Party and became one of the leaders of the democratic opposition. In May 1960, pro-North Korean rebels operating on the island of Kozhe brutally murdered his mother, Pak Pu Ryong. During the period of military rule in 1969, a hired gang, the traces of which could not be established, made an attempt to assassinate Kim Young Sam, but he survived.

He was in opposition to the authoritarian government, refused the seat in parliament (although he later returned) when Lee Seung Man tried to amend the constitution . Later, along with Kim Dae-jung , he became one of the main critics of the military governments of Pak Jung Hee and Jung Doo Hwan . In 1979, he was arrested for protesting against constitutional reforms carried out by President Park Jung Hee in order to extend his rule. After which he went on a hunger strike and was placed under house arrest for anti-government activities; he was in this position for two years. He was expelled from the National Assembly and excommunicated from 1980 to 1985 .

During the first democratic elections in the country in 1987, Kim Yong Sam and Kim Dae Jung were rivals, although both represented the opposition. The split in the ranks of the opposition allowed the election of Ro Dae Woo , an ally of the former president, to win. In 1990, Kim Yong Sam combined his United Democratic Party with the ruling Democratic Justice Party and the New Democratic Republican Party. As a result of the union between 3 parties, the Democratic Liberal Party was founded. With new support, he managed to get around Kim Dae-jung in the 1992 presidential election.

Economy

The main actions in the economy are the introduction of a system of using real surnames and names in financial and banking affairs, and attempts to reform chaebols , the largest South Korean corporations.

He tried to reform the administrative system and economy. The government developed and adopted an emergency Plan of the new economy for 100 days (March - July 1993), on the basis of which the seventh five-year plan (for 1994-1998) was adjusted, the strategic task of which was to try to implement a systematic stabilization of social -economic situation. In this regard, it was planned, taking into account increasing government spending, to increase tax rates from 19.4% in 1992 to 22-23% in 1998, to conduct a radical reform of the general structure of public spending by reducing funding for the state apparatus, to carry out de-bureaucratization and to ensure greater openness of the banking and financial sector. The program also included revising and loosening administrative rules that impede “free and innovative economic activity”, reorienting the industrial structure to the priority development of technologically and information-intensive industries, promoting the accelerated development of industrial technology, especially the latest technological inventions, and significantly increasing investment in research and development work (from 2.1% in 1992 to 3-4% in 1998); modernization of the land use system put m revising outdated rules of land use and a number of other measures.

However, these measures were only partially implemented and led only to a temporary stabilization of the socio-economic situation, then turning into a deterioration in macroeconomic indicators. In 1994, GDP growth amounted to 8.6%, in 1995 it rose to 9%, then in 1996 it dropped to 7.1% and in 1997 it fell sharply to 5.5%. The same trend was observed in data on the growth rate of per capita GDP: 1994 - 7.6%, 1995 - 7.9%, 1996 - 6.2% and in the pre-crisis 1997 - 3.9 %

In March 1997, anti-crisis measures were implemented: the import of a number of expensive imported goods was reduced, the staff of civil servants was reduced by 10 thousand officials, the government spending program was reduced by $ 2.2 billion, and an emergency bankruptcy prevention fund for banking structures was created. However, these actions did not affect the basis of the economy, which was based on the activities of large companies, so the effect of their implementation was ineffective.

Since the fall of 1997, a catastrophic drop in the won exchange rate has begun. If in September 1997 1 US dollar was exchanged for 930 won, in mid-December - 2000 won.

Social and Political Life

During his reign, the democratization of socio-political life. In December 1993, the Law on the Activities of Political Parties was adopted, which greatly simplified the procedure for registering parties and their legal prerogatives. The Law on Alternative Electoral System adopted in March 1994 provided for the formation of a civil administration only on a competitive basis. For violation of this legal norm criminal liability was introduced. In June of that year, amendments were made to the Law on the National Assembly, on the basis of which opposition factions and minority movements were vested with the same legal rights as the ruling majority faction. In April 1994, under the pressure of democratic forces, one of the most archaic articles of the Criminal Code was canceled, which provided for imprisonment of up to 2 years for adultery, not burdened by any other criminal actions.

Anti-Corruption

One of the first steps in the presidency was an anti-corruption campaign, in which military and government officials were required to publish their financial statements. Arrested former presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Ro Dae-woo on corruption charges. Amnestied thousands of political prisoners and withdrew all charges from participants in the events in Gwangju in the early 80's. During the trial, it turned out that Ro Dae Woo, who received more than 500 billion won ($ 650 million) from direct corporations as direct and indirect bribes (the four main donors of Ro’s secret fund were Hyundai, Samsung, and Daewoo "And" Lucky Goldstar "- now" Al-Ji "). An investigation was launched against 36 leading South Korean businessmen. They were guilty of giving Ro bribes in exchange for certain services. Nine businessmen were formally charged, and five of them, including the chairman of Daewoo and Samsung, were sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. However, the execution of these sentences was subsequently suspended. The main defendant, Ro Dae Woo, received 22 and a half years in prison (later the sentence was reduced to 17 years, and even later, Ro fell under the presidential amnesty). The criminal prosecution of the former presidents, according to some experts, was caused by the fact that in June 1995 the ruling party was defeated in local elections, and its position was shaken. The authorities considered that supporters of Chong and Ro could use their secret funds to split the ruling bloc and finance a new political party, and tried to deliver a preemptive strike.

He himself first published data on the income and property of his family, and then in June 1993 passed the Law on the Ethics of Civil Servants, according to which they had to regularly fill out a declaration of income, and the data on their bank accounts were to be made public. Almost immediately after the adoption of the Ethics Act, more than one and a half thousand officials were either fired or forced to resign. In August 1993, an Extraordinary Decree was adopted, which obliged to conduct financial transactions only under real names. Anonymous transactions were prohibited. As part of the same campaign, the authorities returned to Korea’s traditional practice of sending secret financial inspectors to the regions to check complaints from local residents. Special groups of investigators were formed to consider corruption cases. According to the prosecutor's office of the Republic of Korea, almost five thousand people were exposed to corruption during 1995-1996 and more than two thousand of them were prosecuted.

It was announced that his administration was abandoning the practice of forming political funds.

However, in subsequent years, the president himself was suspected of trying to strengthen the position of businessmen loyal to him under the banner of the fight against corruption. Korean media revealed 17 major corruption scandals, of which 4 were directly related to the country's leadership. The most famous was the case of the president’s son, which arose in 1997 and was associated with the bankruptcy of the Hanbo large South Korean conglomerate. As it turned out, this holding made huge contributions to the Kim Yong Sama campaign in 1992 and then used the special location of the new administration, in particular, received permission to build a new steel mill. Thanks to corruption schemes and commercial bribery, the company managed to get loans worth six billion. When she went bankrupt, it turned out that the President’s youngest son was actively helping scammers. Kim Hyun Chol was accused of taking bribes in exchange for helping to obtain licenses for opening television stations and using his influence to place key people in the president’s administration and intelligence service for his loyal people. The president’s son was sentenced to three years in prison, but then amnestied in August 2000.

Numerous violations committed by the president himself during the election campaign were also identified. In particular, the fact that 3.5 times more was spent on this campaign than was supposed by law.

The popularity of Kim Young Sam after the scandal fell to 3.8% (instead of 80% at the beginning of his presidency).

• History of South Korea

• An article on the official website of the President of the Republic of Korea