Kim Young Sam visits ROC

This article was written by Shih Ying-ying and published by the Taiwan Journal on November 11, 2005. it reports that former South Korean President Kim Young Sam recently visited Taiwan and gave two speeches in northern Taiwan's Chinese Cultural University and southern Taiwan's National Sun Yet-sen University.

Kim was on a trip to call on all Asian countries to pursue harmony and peaceful co-existence. In his speeches, he said that the 21st century is an era in which Asians are playing a leading role in global development. It is also time for Asians to make a decision on Asia's destiny. All nations in Asia are mutually dependent and should seek ways to coexist and strive for mutual prosperity and regional stability.

Kim was a strong opponent of military rule. In the early 1980s he was banned from politics and was twice put under house arrest. In 1993, Kim became the first civilian president of South Korea in 30 years, since General Park Chung Hee seized power in 1961. This is Kim's third visit to Taiwan since he stepped down from the presidency in 1997.