This century's last Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to South Korean President Kim Dae Jung. The honor caps a checkered career that includes adduction from Japan by intelligence agents, years of imprisonment under the threat of execution and, most recently, a historic summit meeting in June with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. President Kim -- the first Korean to win the prize -- well deserves it.
In announcing the award, the Nobel Institute said that Kim has played a "critical" role in starting a process of reconciliation and cooperation in the Korean Peninsula, the last Cold-War frontier. The situation in the divided peninsula is of vital concern to countries in the Asia-Pacific region. In particular, Japan's security will be affected should a military crisis develop in the area.
Kim has spent most of his life fighting for democracy as an opposition leader. During the Cold War he and his family were persecuted by the military dictatorship. Not only his supporters, but practically all South Koreans who campaigned for human rights and democratic reform suffered similar ordeals.