to gain support for his `` Sunshine Policy '' to establish relations with the North . Kim 's policy of detente culminated when he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in June 2000 , becoming the first South Korean leader to do so since the Korean War unofficially ended in 1953 . But Kim left a mixed legacy as president . Although he helped pull South Korea out of a financial downward spiral , many of his promised economic reforms failed to materialize . A series of corruption scandals , including the imprisonment of two sons on graft charges , also tainted his tenure . `` Broadly speaking , his place in history is going to be a positive one , '' said Brian Bridges , a political science professor at Hong Kong 's Lingnan University who specializes in politics and foreign policies of the two Koreas . `` While it is true that his presidency ended in a cloud of controversy ... he did have a very significant impact in two ways : He took over at a time when South Korea was on its knees and pulled it out from a tremendous economic downturn . And he
SEOUL , South Korea -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Former South Korean President and Nobel Laureate Kim Dae-jung , who struggled for democracy for decades and prodded communist North Korea toward rapprochement , died of heart failure on Tuesday , hospital officials said . As president of South Korea , Kim Dae-jung helped bridge differences with North Korea . He was either 83 or 85 , according to conflicting sources . The Nobel Prize Web site indicates he was born on December 3 , 1925 . The Kim presidential library lists his birth date as January 5 , 1924 . He served as president from 1998 to 2003 , and in 2000 , he won the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering better relations between North and South Korea . Kim was admitted to Seoul 's Severance Hospital more than a month ago for pneumonia . Before winning the presidency , Kim struggled for decades as an opposition leader . A former political prisoner , he endured a suspected assassination attempt , a kidnapping , repeated arrests , beatings , exile and a death sentence . Shortly after taking office , Kim vigorously met political leaders of Western countries in a bid