Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has died in Seoul at the age of 85. He had been hospitalized since last month for pneumonia. Mr. Kim was credited with ushering a new era of reconciliation with wartime enemy North Korea. His own life story mirrors South Korea's tumultuous evolution from dictatorship to democracy.
韩国前总统金大中在首尔去世，终年85岁。自从上个月他患肺炎以来，一直住院治疗。金大中最著名的政绩是揭开了一个与战时敌人北韩和解的新时代。他自己的生命故事也映照着韩国的从专制到民主的动荡转型。
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak issued a statement Tuesday saying the country has lost a "great political leader" whose "aspirations to achieve democratization and inter-Korean reconciliation will long be remembered by the people."
韩国总统李明博星期二发表声明说，该国失去了一位"伟大的政治领袖"。他"寻求实现民主化和南北和解的热情将被人们长久怀念。"
Friends and close family members were by the former president as he passed away earlier in the day. Mr. Kim had been hospitalized since last month for pneumonia.
金大中是今天早些时候去世的，辞世时他的朋友和亲密的家庭成员守候在身旁。他自从上个月患肺炎以来，一直在住院治疗。
The hospital president, Dr. Park Chang-il, says Mr. Kim died of multiple organ failure.
医院院长朴昌一大夫说，金大中死于多器官功能衰竭。
Kim Dae-jung may be best remembered around the world for the groundbreaking photographic images of him and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il holding hands during the June 2000 inter-Korean summit.
全世界想到金大中的时候可能会最怀念那张著名的摄影作品，他与北韩领导人金正日在2000年6月南北韩首脑会晤时握手。
In a speech at the time, Mr. Kim said he believed strongly in a future in which North and South Korea cooperate, reconcile, and reunify.
在一次讲话时，金大中说，他坚信未来北韩与韩国会实现合作，协调和统一。
The 2000 summit thawed nearly half a century of chilled relations between the two halves of the peninsula, since a 1953 armistice paused their three-year war.
2000年南北韩首脑会议使朝鲜半岛双方将近半个世纪以来的关系解冻。
Kim Young-ho, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies, says President Kim deserves credit for changing the peninsula's political climate.
金英浩教授是首尔大学北韩研究专家。他说，金大中总统的功劳是改变了朝鲜半岛的政治气候。
He says Mr. Kim and his government removed the Cold War atmosphere from the Korean peninsula, and created what he calls a post-modern era for the region.
他说，金大中和他的政府消弭了朝鲜半岛冷战的气氛，并开创了这个地区的所谓的后现代时期。
Mr. Kim went on to win a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in arranging the meeting, although the achievement would later be tainted by allegations that South Korea gave the North $500 million to agree to it.
金大中最终因安排南北韩首脑会晤而赢得了诺贝尔和平奖，不过金大中的获奖后来被有关韩国给北韩5亿美元换取北韩的同意而蒙上阴影。
Mr. Kim followed up on the summit with what he called the "sunshine" policy of pouring massive amounts of aid and investment into the North while demanding very little in return. North-South contacts expanded dramatically, and hundreds of families that had been separated by the war got a chance to hold brief reunions.
金大中在首脑会晤之后开始执行他所谓的“阳光政策”，向北韩提供了大量的援助和投资，同时很少要求回报。南北韩接触急剧扩大，数百个战争失散的家庭有机会举行简短的会面。
But the sunshine policy, which Mr. Kim's successor, President Roh Moo-hyun, also followed, failed to prevent North Korea from developing and testing a nuclear weapon. Critics of President Kim's policy say it failed to bring about any substantive change in the North. Human-rights activists faulted Mr. Kim for his near total silence on systematic human-rights abuses there.
但是，后来金大钟的继任者卢武铉总统继续推行的阳光政策，并未能阻止北韩发展和试验核武器。金大中总统的政策也受到批评，称它没有给北韩带来任何实质性的变化。
In South Korea, Kim Dae-jung will be remembered as a heroic icon of the democratization movement. He narrowly escaped death in the early 1970s when agents of authoritarian President Park Chung-hee kidnapped him in punishment for his public criticism of the government. He was freed under heavy diplomatic pressure by the United States.
在韩国，金大中将在人们的记忆中作为民主化运动的英雄受到缅怀。他在20世纪70年代初时侥幸逃生，当时的独裁总统朴正熙因为他公开批评政府而绑架了他，最终在美国的外交压力下获得释放。
U.S. pressure would also play a role in getting Mr. Kim's death sentence commuted to a prison term during the presidency of Chun Doo-hwan.
美国的压力也发挥了作用，让全斗焕在担任总统期间把金大中的死刑判决改判为有期徒刑。
Shim Jae-hoon, who covered Kim Dae-jung's career for decades as a journalist, before retiring to work as a political consultant, says Mr. Kim skillfully parlayed his personal conflicts with authoritarian leaders into broader political symbolism.
申杰洪在其几十年的记者生涯中曾多次报导过金大中的新闻，他退休后担任政治顾问。他说，金大中巧妙地将他个人与独裁领导人的冲突赋予更广泛的政治象征意义。
"Kim Dae-Jung's greatest political capital was his persecution," said Shim Jae-hoon. "Some say had it not been for persecution under Park, he would have remained a relatively small regional leader."
“金大中的最大政治资本是他受到的迫害。有些人说，如果不是因为他被朴正熙迫害，他将仍然是一个相对小的区域性领导人。”
After a period of U.S. exile, Mr. Kim won the South Korean presidency in 1997, after previous failed attempts. He is credited with helping South Korea recover from the brink of bankruptcy during the Asian financial crisis.
经过一段时间在美国流亡后，金大中两次竞选韩国总统失败，后来终于在1997年问鼎。他在亚洲金融危机期间因帮助韩国从破产的边缘恢复过来而受到好评。 |