Claim profile

Kim Young-sam

President of South Korea from 1993 to 1998

  • Fame60.3
  • Momentum3.4
  • Wikipedia21K
Source-basedStable
Lived 1927–2015, aged 88South Korea
South KoreaSouth KoreaPoliticiansPolitician
  • Wikipedia
    66 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1927–2015
    Aged 88
  • Awards
    22
    recognised works
Summary
Updated 2026-09-07

South Korea's first civilian president in three decades, who spent nearly 30 years fighting military dictatorships before winning office in 1993 — then watched his approval collapse from 97% to 6% as bridges fell, a department store caved in, and the 1997 financial crisis forced the country into an IMF bailout.

Biography

About

Elected to the National Assembly at 25, the youngest in Korean history, Kim Young-sam became a fixture of South Korean opposition through the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, standing against the authoritarian rule of Park Chung Hee and Chun Doo-hwan alongside Kim Dae-jung. When he won the presidency in 1992, he arrived as the first civilian in over 30 years and opened with force: a sweeping anti-corruption drive that put both his predecessors in prison and an internationalization push called Segyehwa. Then the ground gave way — literally, with the Seongsu Bridge and Sampoong Department Store collapses…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Kim Young-sam

Kim Young-sam
said
Dawn will come even if the rooster is strangled.
— As quoted in "Kim Young-sam: Former President of South Korea Dies at 87" (November 2015), by Sang-Hun Choe, The New York Times (22 November
Kim Young-sam
said
Looking back... I think the North Koreans think they can say whatever they want because no matter what they do, the Americans will never attack them.
— Interview (2009)
Kim Young-sam
saidundated
No ally is better than one’s own race.
— As quoted in "What the West gets wrong about North Korea’s motives, and why some South Koreans admire the North" (8 September 2017), The
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Where to find them

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By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
60.3
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum3.4
Historical24.8
Now attention15.6
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
Global rank
—
Country rank
—
Category rank
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Receipts

Sources

  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence