Former SKorean leader Kim Dae-jung dies

SKOREA: Former President Kim Dae-jung, a towering figure in South Korea's struggle for democracy who won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for seeking rapprochement with the communist North, died on Tuesday at the age of 85.

An official at a Seoul hospital treating Kim for pneumonia confirmed the death. Local media reports said he died of heart failure.

In his final year, Kim saw his efforts unravel as relations with the North headed back into the freezer under the South's current conservative President Lee Myung-bak.

The former political prisoner, popularly referred to by his initials "DJ", was elected South Korea's president in December 1997, a victory that marked the first time in South Korea that power had shifted from a ruling party president to a president from the opposition.

Internationally, Kim is best known for his historic handshake and embrace of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in June 2000.

Seoul, Tuesday, Reuters