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October 6, 2008 9:48:36 AM CDT

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South Korean Spies Admit Kidnapping Future Prez

Posted Oct 24, 07 2:51 PM CDT in World 

(Newser) – South Korea's spy agency has admitted that it kidnapped future president Kim Dae-jung in 1973, the BBC reported. The abduction of the opposition leader was approved by then leader Park Chung-hee and may have been intended to end in assassination. Agents grabbed Kim from a Tokyo hotel and bundled him into a boat. Kim's life was reportedly saved by a US plane that flew overhead, spooking his captors.

The admissions are the product of a three-year investigation into past actions by South Korea's National Intelligence Service. Kim had lost an election to Park in 1971. He was imprisoned for several years but reentered politics and was eventually elected president in 1997. His policies of engagement with North Korea won him the Nobel Peace Prize.

Source BBC

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A South Korean visitor looks at former President Kim Dae-jung's picture at Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)   (Associated Press)
Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung gestures during an interview at his house in Seoul, South Korea, in this October 21, 2006, file photo. A former general-turned-president of South Korea gave...   (Associated Press)
Han Seung-hun, a South Korean lawyer and head of a fact finding committee for Kim Dae-jung's kidnapping, reads an investigation report to media during a news conference at Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library...   (Associated Press)
Former South Korea's President Kim Dae-jung, right, talks with South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, left, at Kim's house, in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Aug. 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Choi Won-suk,...   (Associated Press)
South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, right, is embraced by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during a departure ceremony at Pyongyang airport in this June 15, 2000 file photo. (AP Photo/Korea Pool/Yonhap)   (Associated Press)
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