This week marks the 16th anniversary of the passing of Kim Dae-jung, former president of the Republic of Korea. Few leaders in modern Korean history left as deep and lasting an imprint on the nation’s development as he did. Kim was a champion of democracy, a reformer who guided Korea through economic peril, and a statesman who dared to extend a hand of peace to the North. His life was one of survival and resilience — he overcame five near-death experiences — and those experiences shaped the philosophy and strategy that defined his diplomacy.
Kim Dae-jung’s diplomacy grew out of his commitment to democracy and human rights, but it was never naive. He believed in values and principles, but he also believed they should never come at the expense of the nation’s core interests. What he practiced was not abstract “values diplomacy,” but a pragmatic diplomacy built on values. This balance allowed Korea to gain moral legitimacy without sacrificing its real national interest. He did not just insist on our position while conducting diplomacy with other countries. Instead, he preferred a way in which the other side naturally supported our proposal by preparing a mutually beneficial plan. Thus, he could deal with the United States, Japan and China with confidence and dignity while not compromising our core interests. He did his best to win the support of domestic public opinion before negotiating with foreign countries in earnest. This way, he was able to be flexible in diplomatic negotiations.
The highlight of his diplomacy came with the June 2000 summit in Pyongyang, the first ever meeting between the leaders of South and North Korea. His policy on North Korea was a carefully crafted strategy to reduce confrontation and open channels of dialogue and exchange. The summit was not a sudden breakthrough, but the result of deliberate and systematic preparation. Kim understood that the Korean question was not just a domestic matter but an international one. He therefore worked first to stabilize Korea’s external environment. He pursued normalization with Japan, improved ties with China, strengthened policy coordination with Washington, and sought to defuse potential points of friction between Pyongyang and Washington. Only after these foundations were laid did he move forward with the inter-Korean summit. This was a display of sophisticated and calculated diplomacy, a demonstration that peace initiatives must be embedded in a wider international framework to succeed.
Kim did not see North Korea merely as an enemy to be contained, but also as a partner with whom reconciliation and reunification were both possible and necessary. This perspective was not sentimental but strategic. It aimed to ease tension on the peninsula, stabilize the regional security environment, and ultimately integrate the Korean question into a broader peace order in Northeast Asia. For these efforts, he won the Nobel Peace Prize, the first Korean leader to receive the honor, and in doing so elevated Korea’s international standing.
Kim’s diplomacy was never divorced from economic statecraft. He took office at the height of the Asian financial crisis, when Korea faced its gravest economic collapse since the Korean War. With steely resolve, he negotiated with the International Monetary Fund and major powers, restoring international confidence in Korea. At home, he pushed painful reforms, demanding sacrifices but also laying the foundation for recovery. At the same time, he looked ahead and planted the seeds of the digital economy. His promotion of broadband infrastructure, IT development and human capital training transformed Korea into a leader of the information age.
He also foresaw the power of culture as a diplomatic tool. By promoting the cultural industries as strategic assets, supporting content exports, easing the "screen quota" system that had restricted American movies in Korea, and even opening to Japanese popular culture, Kim created the conditions for what later became the Korean Wave. Cultural diplomacy, he understood, builds soft power, enhances national image and strengthens ties between peoples. Today’s Hallyu owes much to the vision of Kim Dae-jung, who saw culture not only as entertainment but as diplomacy. His approach anticipated the way nations today use culture, technology and communication to project influence in a globalized world.
These legacies speak loudly to our own turbulent moment. The world is again in flux. The return of President Donald Trump to the White House has shaken the international order. His tariff policies have imposed enormous stress on Korea, too, forcing Korean businesses to endure unfavorable conditions in the US market and putting the government under new economic and diplomatic pressure. At the same time, some in the Trump administration are promoting policies under the banner of “alliance modernization,” but they distort and weaken the US-Korea alliance, creating unnecessary losses for both countries. Though the current challenges we are facing are quite difficult, we can manage the alliance with the US if we do not forget the basic elements of sophisticated diplomacy that Kim Dae-jung showed a couple of decades ago.
Kim Dae-jung’s diplomacy demonstrated that confrontation is not the only path, that dialogue and trust can serve national interest more effectively than hostility. He showed that diplomacy requires patience, preparation and the ability to connect domestic needs with international realities. He also showed the courage to take political risks for peace, understanding that leadership sometimes means moving ahead of public opinion to open new horizons. And above all, he proved that values and pragmatism are not mutually exclusive but can reinforce each other when guided by principle and anchored in the national interest.
On this anniversary of his passing, we should not only honor Kim Dae-jung’s achievements but also recall the wisdom of his diplomacy. His legacy is not a matter of nostalgia but a living guide for today’s challenges. When diplomacy seems blocked and the world uncertain, his vision and determination remind us that breakthroughs come not from force or bravado, but from mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence. That is the enduring lesson of DJ diplomacy.
Wang Son-taek
Wang Son-taek is an adjunct professor at Sogang University. He is a former diplomatic correspondent at YTN and a former research associate at Yeosijae. The views expressed here are the writer’s own. — Ed.
khnews@heraldcorp.com
