South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung was awarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to reconcile North and South Korea.
In its citation, the Norwegian Nobel Committee described Kim Dae-Jung as "his country's leading spokesman for democracy," reported (AFP)
"With great moral strength, Kim Dae-Jung has stood out in East Asia as a leading defender of universal human rights against attempts to limit the relevance of those rights in Asia," the citation said.
The committee said it honored Kim "for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular."
In June, Kim Dae-Jung visited the North Korean capital Pyongyang for an historic summit with his North Korean colleague Kim Jong-Il, in a bid to thaw relations which have been tense since the 1950-1953 Korean War.
"There may now be hope that the Cold War will also come to an end in Korea," the committee said.
Kim Dae-Jung will take home the prize sum of nine million Swedish kronor, or just under a million dollars.
He will receive the prize from the hands of Norway's King Harald V at an official ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death in 1896 of the prizes' creator, Swedish scholar and inventor Alfred Nobel.
Last year, the prestigious prize went to Doctors Without Borders (Medicines sans Frontiers), the charity that provides medical aid to victims of war and natural disasters.
Friday's Peace Prize was the last of the Nobel prizes to be awarded this year – (AFP)
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