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Kim Dae-Jung

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World Leader

The Resume

    (January 6, 1924-August 18, 2009)
    Born in Haui-do, Korea (South)
    President of South Korea (1998-2003)
    Won the Nobel Peace Prize (2000)

Why he might be annoying:

    He retired and unretired from politics multiple times before his election to the presidency.
    His presidential summit with Kim Jong-Il of North Korea was the result of a $180 million bribe to Jong-Il.
    After the bribery revelations, he was accused of having bought his Nobel Prize.
    He was caught up in a corruption scandal at the end of his term when his sons were imprisoned for graft.

Why he might not be annoying:

    For his opposition to Korean dictators, he was tortured, twice the target of assassination attempts, twice sentenced to death and placed under house arrest 55 times.
    He was kidnapped by the Korean CIA (August 8, 1973) and was spared from being murdered only through intervention by Japanese and US diplomats.
    One of his first acts after his election was pardoning the former rulers who had sentenced him to death while he was an opposition leader.
    He wrote to his son from death row, 'Only the truly magnanimous and strong are capable of forgiving and loving' (1980).
    He has been called 'the Nelson Mandela of Asia.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 11 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 16.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 8 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 13 Votes: 15.38% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 24 Votes: 54.17% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 20 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 23 Votes: 43.48% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 101 Votes: 37.62% Annoying