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I found it somewhat amusing back in January 1993, when I started teaching at Yonsei University in western Seoul that my apartment (actually a room in a boarding house located in Yonhui-dong) was a few homes away from soon to be former president Roh Tae-woo’s house and a few blocks away from another former Korean president’s house-Chun Doo-hwan.

It was amusing, both personally and a little bit historically I suppose, because after having been in Korea for two years I really wasn’t that much up on my Korean history and politics. Ask me who the “three Kims” were in 1992 and I would have probably thought they were Korea’s answer to the “three tenors”. (They were Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Yong-pil-three men who had their sights on the presidency). Not that I should have been-anymore than someone from Korean living in the US and following US politics, but my love for history made me feel a little guilty in that I wasn’t as informed or interested as I should have been.

This week, Korea and the world is saddened with the passing of former president and Nobel Laureate Kim Dae-jung. Known for his lifelong fight for democracy, surviving numerous assassination attempts, as well as the architect of the Sunshine Policy, Kim’s legacy has resonated strongly both here and abroad.

I might not have known much about Kim Dae-jung when I first came to Korea, but this would change in 1998 when I started writing for the Korea Times and especially when I started covering the Korean War commemorative events in addition to other events in 2000. I would go on to learn much about modern Korean history and know a little more about Korean politics than just the “three Kims.”

In November of that year, the Korea Times celebrated its 50th anniversary and in celebration of this historic event-the first English-language newspaper in Korea to reach this milestone-a gala event was held at the Sejong Cultural Center in downtown Seoul. On hand for the festivities was President Kim Dae-jung who gave a short speech.

That in itself would have made for a very historic occasion for a sitting president to be a part of such a celebration and make a speech. It was perhaps no surprise he did attend given that Kim was an avid reader of the Korea Times (he had taught himself English reading it). It had been a historic year for Kim-going to Pyongyang in June to meet Kim Jong-il-and in a few weeks even more historic for him when he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Korea and Koreans had a lot to be happy for that year.