Kim Young-sam

President of South Korea

20 December 1927 Geoje Island, Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, Japanese Korea

22 November 2015(2015-11-22) (87) Seoul, South Korea

25 February 1993 – 24 February 1998

For the football player, see Kim Young-sam (footballer). Not to be confused with Kim Yong-nam. In this Korean name, the family name is Kim. Kim Young-sam (Korean: 김영삼 ; Hanja: 金泳三 ; Korean pronunciation:  or ; 20 December 1927 – 22 November 2015) was a South Korean politician and activist who served as President of South Korea from 1993 to 1998. From 1961, he spent almost 30 years as one of the leaders of the South Korean opposition, and one of the most powerful rivals to the authoritarian regimes of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan. Elected as president in 1992, Kim became the first civilian to hold the office in over 30 years. He was inaugurated on 25 February 1993, and served a single five-year term, presiding over a massive anti-corruption campaign, the arrest of his two predecessors, and an internationalization policy called Segyehwa. Kim has been widely blamed for the downturn and recession of the South Korean economy during 1997 Asian financial crisis, forcing South Korea to accept tens of billions of dollars in loans from the unpopular International Monetary Fund (IMF) with attached conditions, leading to one of the lowest approval ratings of any South Korean president.