Lee visits hospital treating Kim

President Lee Myung-bak, left, consoles Lee Hee-ho, the wife of ailing former President Kim Dae-jung, yesterday at Severance Hospital in Seoul. [NEWSIS]

President Lee Myung-bak paid a visit yesterday morning to friends and relatives of former President Kim Dae-jung, who has been hospitalized with pneumonia for nearly a month.

Shortly after a cabinet meeting, Lee left for Severance Hospital in Sinchon, western Seoul, with his aides. Park Jie-won, Kim’s closest aide, and Park Chang-il, the hospital’s chief, greeted Lee in the lobby.

Immediately after arriving, Lee headed to the 20th floor, where Kim’s family and aides were waiting. Lee, however, did not enter the hospital room to meet with Kim.

President Lee held the hands of the former first lady, Lee Hee-ho, and comforted her. The president offered to pray. For about a minute, Lee, Kim’s family and aides held a silent prayer, asking for the improvement of the former president’s health.

President Lee also urged the medical staff to try hard to help the 83-year-old ex-president. “Kim is a person of strong will. Please do your best,” he said.

“I think the nation needs elder statesmen,” the president told Kim’s family and aides. “I believe Kim will be able to recover fully. I have frequently seen such cases.”

The former first lady thanked Lee for coming and joining the prayer for her husband’s health. President Lee replied that he will come back once Kim regains consciousness.

“It is natural and right for me to visit him since Kim is a leader of this nation who left clear footprints for democratization and inter-Korean reconciliation,” President Lee was quoted as saying by his spokesman, Lee Dong-kwan.

“It is helpful that President Lee paid a visit to the former president who is in critical condition, and it will be a great comfort for the family and aides,” Democratic Party spokesman Noh Young-min said. “Kim had written in his autobiography that there should be no more political retaliation in Korea. With Lee’s visit, we hope to see a political culture of reconciliation and respect.”

Kim, who served as president from 1998 to 2003, was admitted to the hospital on July 13. He has had several scares and underwent a bronchotomy on July 29 to facilitate breathing. His condition took a turn for the worse over the weekend, but he was stabilized on Monday.

Donald Gregg, former United States ambassador to Korea, also paid a separate visit to the hospital yesterday and comforted Kim’s wife.

“You played a crucial role in saving my husband’s life when he was kidnapped in 1973 [by intelligence agents under the Park Chung Hee government] and have helped us greatly since then,” she told the former American envoy. “My husband would rise from the bed if he knew you were here.”

She also expressed her appreciation for Gregg’s support for Kim and her decision to seek political asylum in the United States in 1983.

According to Choi Gyeong-kwan, Kim’s secretary, Gregg praised Kim’s achievements for peace on the Korean Peninsula and around the world and hoped he would recover. Gregg added that his visit to the hospital was the most important part of his trip to Seoul.

On Monday, former President Kim Young-sam also visited the ailing ex-president and suggested that the longtime animosity between the two political rivals had ended.

By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]