Word: kim
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...last year's level and rock-bottom by Korean standards. Headlines bring a steady drumbeat of bad news about major companies like Hynix, a chipmaker that's flirting with bankruptcy. Worse, Korea's exports are slowing?ominous for a trade-dependent economy. This is all unfavorable, too, for Kim's approval rating, now about 25%, down from more than 70% during his early days in office. The President's sinking popularity will make it harder to fix the economy and to bargain effectively with the North...
...Kim has plenty working against him?starting with the swooning world economy and regional rivalries at home (he doesn't have much support outside his own province of Cholla). But many Koreans place blame for their woes on the man who once stood as a national symbol of hope. Traits that helped him survive as a dissident fighting Korea's military dictatorships?unshakable self-confidence, an unwilling-ness to compromise, a fiery independent streak?have turned into liabilities. Even supporters say his authoritarian style and inability to listen have contributed to a political crisis that culminated in last week...
...When Kim became President in 1998, expectations were high, perhaps too high, because of his remarkable rEsumE. The country's leading pro-democracy activist, he had endured jailings, beatings and a near execution by Korea's military strongmen. Arriving at the Blue House, he wasted no time launching his peace offensive toward North Korea, flying to Pyongyang last June for a landmark summit. At the awards ceremony in Oslo last October, the chairman of the Nobel committee compared Kim to Mandela, Sakharov and Gandhi: "To outside observers, Kim's invincible spirit may appear almost superhuman." But after a honeymoon, Kim...
...hindsight, there were clues to Kim's obstinate leadership style. His single-minded pursuit of the presidency is legendary. Kang Won Yong, head of the Peace Forum, an NGO that promotes North-South relations, first met Kim when the future President came to Seoul from Cholla half a century ago. After dictator Park Chung Hee kidnapped and then released the dissident in 1973, Kim met furtively with Kang in a garage. Afraid of wiretaps, Kim used improvised sign language: a big nose meant the Americans, a tap on the shoulder signified epaulets?Korea's generals. Kim said just one thing...
...Decades later, Kang saw a less laudable side. During the 1997 presidential campaign, Kim knew he couldn't win enough seats to govern because the bulk of his support was in Cholla. So he joined with ultra-conservative Kim Jong Pil, the United Liberal Democrats party leader who bolted from the ruling coalition last week. Many saw it as a pact with the devil. In 1961, J.P. (as he is known) had set up the notorious Korean Central Intelligence Agency, which harassed the future President and regularly interrogated and tortured his aides. (J.P. was Prime Minister when Kim was kidnapped...