New book revisits Kim Dae-jung's prison struggles through wife’s notes

Previously unpublished records kept by Lee Hee-ho (1922-2019) — wife and political partner of former President Kim Dae-jung (1924-2009) — have been released in book form for the first time. The collection also includes prison memoirs written by Kim documenting the hardships he endured under Korea’s military regimes. The Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum at Yonsei University held a press conference Thursday in Seoul’s Mapo District to introduce the newly published book, “Kim Dae-jung and Lee Hee-ho Prison Records,” released to mark the 46th anniversary of the May 18 Democratizaton Movement, which included protests against the coup of Chun Doo-hwan in 1980. The book documents prison writings, trial records and other materials from 1976 to 1982, when Kim was jailed over the March 1 Declaration of Democratization and the so-called sedition conspiracy case. At the time, Kim was already suffering severe aftereffects from a suspicious car accident that occurred shortly after the 1971 presidential election, a fierce race between Kim and incumbent President Park Chung-hee

Original source: Korea Times