# Kim Dae-jung wins the Nobel Peace Prize (13 October 2000)

URL: https://allhistories.com/south-korea/timeline/2000-kim-dae-jung-wins-the-nobel-peace-prize
Location: Oslo, Norway
Themes: Treaty, Both Koreas

On 13 October 2000 the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the Nobel Peace Prize would go to President Kim Dae-jung. He received it in Oslo on 10 December 2000, becoming the first Korean to win a Nobel Prize. The committee honored his lifelong work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and East Asia, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular. It cited his decades of resistance to authoritarian rule, during which he had faced imprisonment, exile, a kidnapping, and a death sentence. The award came months after the Pyongyang summit and reflected high international hopes for the Sunshine Policy. At home it was met with pride but also with criticism from conservatives, and the revelation of secret payments to the North before the summit later drew controversy. The prize brought global recognition to South Korea's democratization and to the cause of peace on the peninsula.

## Why it matters
It recognized internationally both Korean democratization and the hope of peace with the North.

Ruler at the Time: [Kim Dae-jung](https://allhistories.com/south-korea/rulers/kim-dae-jung)

Prime Minister of South Korea: Lee Han-dong (United Liberal Democrats)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Kim Dae-jung](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Dae-jung)
- [Wikipedia — Sunshine Policy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Policy)
- [Wikipedia — List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_Peace_Prize_laureates)
- [NobelPrize.org — The Nobel Peace Prize 2000](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2000/summary/)
- [Wikipedia — South Korea: Democratic Era (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_Republic_of_Korea)