2000 Nobel Peace Prize

The 2000 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Kim Dae-jung. The prize was announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo on 13 October 2000.

The citation

The citation reads: "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".

The laureate

Kim Dae-jung was born in 1924 in Mokpo, Korea (now South Korea).

Why it matters

The South Korean president held a historic summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang in June, the first meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas. He had earlier survived imprisonment and assassination attempts for his opposition to military rule.

The prize

The prize is worth 9 million Swedish kronor. It will be presented in Oslo on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite whose will founded the prizes in 1895.