Ailing former President Kim recovering from critical condition: hospital

SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, hospitalized since mid-July, is recuperating after his condition became critical early Sunday, hospital officials said.

"His medical indicators fell outside the normal range early morning, but they
have reached near normal by afternoon," an official Severance Hospital in Seoul
said.
Park Jie-won, who has stayed close to the hospital, said Kim's condition has
improved.
"He has been sleeping after doctors gave him sedatives," he said.
But hospital officials said they are staying on call in case of emergencies and
closely monitoring his condition.
Kim, 85, was admitted to the hospital on July 13 after showing symptoms of
pneumonia and was put on a respirator three days later. He has since had
respiratory surgery to ease his breathing.
The former president served from 1998-2003 and is the country's only winner of
Nobel Peace Price so far. He held the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 since the
peninsula was divided, a landmark event that won the Nobel prize.
Due to Kim's illness, the organizing committee for the 2012 international
exposition in Yeosu decided to postpone celebrations slated for Monday. The event
had been planned to begin a 1,000-day countdown to the expo at the port city some
455km south of Seoul.