SEOUL -- South Korean President Kim Dae Jung is more popular abroad than he is within his own country. This is the impression I have gathered after discussing South Korean politics with many people both in South Korea and beyond the shores of the peninsula.
The main explanation for this difference in popular appeal may well be that people abroad are aware primarily of Kim's success stories and the sunny sides of his remarkable political career. Non-Koreans do not perceive Kim as a partisan leader, and are not hostages of the prevailing regionalism that is so typical of South Korean politics. Foreigners associate Kim's name with his historical achievements in coming to terms with the North Korean regime, thereby creating -- for the first time in decades -- a chance for lasting peace in this part of the world. Many foreigners also admire Kim for his glorious lifelong record as a freedom fighter and human-rights activist. This year's Nobel Peace Prize is a triumphant recognition for the many good things the South Korean politician has done in his life.
In the light of the announcement that Kim would be awarded the most prestigious of all international political trophies, another international prize presented to the president has almost fallen into oblivion. I am referring to the "Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Award," an international human-rights award named after a late Norwegian human-rights activist engaged mainly in Eastern bloc countries.