South Korean President, Nobel Peace Prize Recipient. He received world-wide notoriety as the 8th President of South Korea. For his efforts to regain peace after unrest since the early 1950s between the neighboring country of North Korea, he received the Nobel Peace Prize. According to the Nobel Prize committee, he received the coveted award "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." Instead of 1924, he gave his birthdate as December 3, 1925 to escape Japanese World War II conscription. He graduated from Mokpo Commercial High School in 1943, afterwards working as a clerk in a shipping company, of which he soon became owner. He was elected to a seat in the national legislature in 1961, but within days a coup dissolved it. When he was elected again in 1963, he became a leader of South Korea's Democratic Party. In 1968 President Park Chung Hee sought laws that would enable him to run for a third term, and Kim emerged as the main opponent. In the 1971 election he garnered 46 percent of the vote despite Park's illegal tactics, and Park imposed martial law. Kim led the opposition, and in 1973 South Korean intelligence agents abducted him in Tokyo, but international reaction resulted in his release. In 1976 he joined opposition leaders in the "Independence Day Declaration," which led to a five-year prison sentence. After Park was assassinated in October of 1979, Kim had his rights restored. He was again imprisoned after a 1980 coup, and was sentenced to death, but in December of 1982 he was allowed to escape to the United States. He returned to Korea in 1985 and was placed under house arrest, but in June of 1987 his rights were restored, and he waged two campaigns for President before winning in 1997. Taking over during a financial crisis, Kim succeeded in rescuing South Korea from bankruptcy while also pursuing a policy of engagement towards North Korea. In 2000 he received the Nobel Peace Prize, and he completed his term in 2003. Kim survived five assassination attempts. He also became a Christian, and took the name Thomas More to commemorate his conversion.