ID :
46235
Wed, 02/18/2009 - 14:40
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/46235
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Former dictator pays respect to late Cardinal Kim, his outspoken critic
By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- A solemn-faced Chun Doo-hwan, the former president of South Korea, offered his last prayers to the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan Wednesday, remembered widely for standing up against his dictatorial rule.
Inside Seoul's landmark Myeongdong Cathedral, Chun closed his eyes and gathered
his hands for a brief prayer, bowing his head twice at the glass coffin holding
Kim's body.
"Everyone will die, but I am sad to see him go. He could have done so much more
for the country," Chun, who rarely comes out in public, told reporters. He
refused to answer whether he had reconciled???with the late cardinal.
Ordained by Pope Paul VI in 1969, Kim, South Korea's first Roman Catholic
cardinal and a tireless supporter of democracy, died at Seoul's St. Mary's
Hospital Monday evening at the age of 86. He had suffered for several months from
pneumonia and complications.
Thousands of people continued to line up outside the cathedral Wednesday, hoping
to catch a glimpse of the man praised as the conscience of an era who stood at
the forefront of South Korea's rugged path to democratization.
Chun, a former army general who seized power in a coup and ruled South Korea from
1980 to 1988, was often outspokenly criticized by the late cardinal.
In 1987, Kim hid dozens of anti-government student activists at the Myeongdong
Cathedral and told authorities who came to arrest them, "You'll be able to get to
the students only after you get past me, the priests and the nuns."
That year, the cardinal used his Easter sermon to lash out at Chun's
administration as "despotic."
Chun, 78, was sentenced to death in 1996 for authorizing the 1980 massacre in
Korea's southwestern city of Gwangju, in which some nearly 2,000 civilians are
believed to have been killed by unofficial count. He was later pardoned by then
President Kim Young-sam who attempted to soothe the country's political split by
embracing Chun's supporters.
The death of Cardinal Kim leaves Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk as the only remaining
South Korean cardinal.
Born to a Catholic family in the southeastern city of Daegu in 1922, Kim was the
Archbishop of Seoul from 1968-1998.
Catholicism was first introduced to the peninsula as late as 1784, and the number
of Catholics in South Korea increased more than six-fold while Kim was cardinal,
topping 5 million in 2005 out of the country's 48 million people.
The funeral mass for Cardinal Kim will be held Friday.
SEOUL, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- A solemn-faced Chun Doo-hwan, the former president of South Korea, offered his last prayers to the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan Wednesday, remembered widely for standing up against his dictatorial rule.
Inside Seoul's landmark Myeongdong Cathedral, Chun closed his eyes and gathered
his hands for a brief prayer, bowing his head twice at the glass coffin holding
Kim's body.
"Everyone will die, but I am sad to see him go. He could have done so much more
for the country," Chun, who rarely comes out in public, told reporters. He
refused to answer whether he had reconciled???with the late cardinal.
Ordained by Pope Paul VI in 1969, Kim, South Korea's first Roman Catholic
cardinal and a tireless supporter of democracy, died at Seoul's St. Mary's
Hospital Monday evening at the age of 86. He had suffered for several months from
pneumonia and complications.
Thousands of people continued to line up outside the cathedral Wednesday, hoping
to catch a glimpse of the man praised as the conscience of an era who stood at
the forefront of South Korea's rugged path to democratization.
Chun, a former army general who seized power in a coup and ruled South Korea from
1980 to 1988, was often outspokenly criticized by the late cardinal.
In 1987, Kim hid dozens of anti-government student activists at the Myeongdong
Cathedral and told authorities who came to arrest them, "You'll be able to get to
the students only after you get past me, the priests and the nuns."
That year, the cardinal used his Easter sermon to lash out at Chun's
administration as "despotic."
Chun, 78, was sentenced to death in 1996 for authorizing the 1980 massacre in
Korea's southwestern city of Gwangju, in which some nearly 2,000 civilians are
believed to have been killed by unofficial count. He was later pardoned by then
President Kim Young-sam who attempted to soothe the country's political split by
embracing Chun's supporters.
The death of Cardinal Kim leaves Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk as the only remaining
South Korean cardinal.
Born to a Catholic family in the southeastern city of Daegu in 1922, Kim was the
Archbishop of Seoul from 1968-1998.
Catholicism was first introduced to the peninsula as late as 1784, and the number
of Catholics in South Korea increased more than six-fold while Kim was cardinal,
topping 5 million in 2005 out of the country's 48 million people.
The funeral mass for Cardinal Kim will be held Friday.
