金泳三從絕食鬥士到韓國總統 Activist who went from hunger striker to president
In November 1997, Kim Young-sam began the final weeks of his presidency by seeking a massive bailout from the International Monetary Fund in an attempt to rescue South Korea’s crisis-hit economy.
1997年11月，金泳三(Kim Young-sam)以爭取國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)的大規模紓困作爲其總統任期最後幾周的開始，試圖藉此拯救受到危機衝擊的韓國經濟。
“We cannot avoid the criticism that we’ve hesitated on bold reforms,” he said in a grim televised address, after failing to find alternatives to the tough conditions that would accompany IMF assistance. “The economic management of the past has reached its limit.”
他表情嚴肅地在電視講話中表示：“我們不能迴避那種認爲我們沒有決心實施大膽改革的批評。過去的經濟管理方式已達到極限。”在此之前，他未能找到替代方案，來避免因接受IMF援助而必須滿足的苛刻條件。
The Asian financial crisis brought a traumatic finale to a four-decade political career that was one of the most important in South Korea’s tumultuous journey to democracy. Kim, who died yesterday aged 87, was a leading opposition figure during 32 years of military rule, finally becoming the civilian president who brought that period to an end.
亞洲金融危機爲金泳三的政治生涯畫上了一個令人難過的句號。他四十年的從政生涯，在韓國顛簸曲折的民主進程中極爲重要。金泳三於昨日逝世，享年87歲。他在韓國32年的軍事統治時期曾是頭號反對派人物，並最終成爲結束這一時期的文職總統。
Born on the southern island of Geoje on December 20 1927, Kim became the youngest MP in modern Korean history when he was elected in 1954 at the age of 26. But he truly rose to prominence in the years after the authoritarian leader Park Chung-hee pushed through a new constitution in 1972 that in effect granted him absolute power.
金泳三1927年12月20日出生在韓國南部的巨濟島(Geoje)。1954年，26歲的金泳三當選議員，成爲現代韓國曆史上最年輕的議員。不過，他真正在政壇崛起，還是在1972年獨裁領導人朴正熙(Park Chung-hee)推動通過新憲法後的幾年裏。那部新憲法實際上賦予了朴正熙絕對的權力。
Elected leader of the opposition New Democratic Party two years later, Kim took the fore in demands for political reform.
兩年後，金泳三當選反對黨新民黨(New Democratic Party)領導人，帶頭要求韓國實施政治改革。
A climactic point came in 1979, when Kim granted sanctuary in his party headquarters to about 170 dismissed female workers from a wig factory, who had been evicted and beaten by police. The building was stormed by a thousand policemen, who injured dozens of people and killed one of the workers. The incident drew international condemnation, emboldening Mr Kim to step up his criticism of the government, which in turn prompted Park to have him expelled from parliament.
1979年，局面發展到高潮。那一年，金泳三在其新民黨總部爲大約170名被一家假髮廠開除的女工提供庇護，這些女工此前曾遭警方的驅趕和毆打。1000名警察衝進新民黨總部大樓，導致數十人受傷，一名女工喪生。這一事件引起了國際社會的譴責，鼓舞了金泳三加大對政府的批評力度，這反過來又促使朴正熙將金泳三逐出韓國議會。
Park’s assassination later that year resulted in the accession to power of the repressive general Chun Doo-hwan, who oversaw the killing of hundreds of people following protests in the city of Gwangju in 1980. Kim marked the third anniversary of the atrocity with a 26-day hunger strike that ended only when he was detained and force-fed.
同年晚些時候，朴正熙遭到暗殺，這使實行高壓政策的全斗煥(Chun Doo-hwan)將軍上位，他在1980年光州(Gwangju)的抗議活動之後下令武力鎮壓，導致數百人死亡。金泳三在那次暴行三週年時進行了長達23天的絕食抗議，在被拘留和強迫進食後才結束絕食。
Opposition to military rule continued to grow, and Kim played a big role in organising the protests that persuaded the government to hold direct elections in 1987. But when Kim and his fellow campaigner Kim Dae-jung both ran, the split allowed Roh Tae-woo, Chun’s chosen successor, to win the contest.
反對軍事統治的力量持續增強，金泳三在組織抗議、最終說服政府在1987年舉行直選中發揮了重要作用。但當時金泳三和與他一起開展運動的金大中(Kim Dae-jung)都競選了總統，這種分裂造成全斗煥選擇的繼任者盧泰愚(Roh Tae-woo)贏得了大選。
Both Kims ran again five years later — but this time Kim Young-sam emerged triumphant. A year into his term, North Korea refused to allow international inspectors into a plutonium reprocessing plant, sparking a stand-off between Pyongyang and Washington. In his memoirs, Kim wrote that he had persuaded President Bill Clinton not to launch air strikes against North Korea’s nuclear facilities, telling him it would have prompted attacks on South Korea.
金泳三和金大中都在5年後再次參選——但這一次金泳三獲得了勝利。金泳三當選總統一年後，朝鮮拒絕讓國際覈查人員進入一處鈈再處理工廠，這引發了朝鮮和美國的對峙。在回憶錄中，金泳三寫道，他說服美國前總統比爾克林頓(Bill Clinton)不對朝鮮核設施發動空襲，因爲那將使韓國遭到襲擊。
Kim’s domestic record was mixed. He oversaw a law forbidding bank accounts under false names, a favoured tool of corrupt businessmen and politicians. In 1996 his predecessors Chun and Roh were respectively sentenced to death and jailed for life for crimes committed in office; Kim pardoned both in the final days of his presidency.
金泳三的內政記錄譭譽參半。他推動一項禁止用假名開設銀行賬戶的法律獲得通過，這種做法曾是腐敗商人和政客青睞的手段。1996年，他的前任全斗煥和盧泰愚分別因掌權時犯下的罪行而被判處死刑和無期徒刑，金泳三在總統任期的末期赦免了兩人。
But he faced controversy over economic policy — notably a labour law that gave companies the right to shed workers and declared the country’s second biggest union illegitimate. After weeks of demonstrations the government scrapped the law. This climbdown, along with the bribery conviction of a son (one of five children who survive him along with his wife Son Myung-soon), left his authority depleted.
但他的經濟政策面臨爭議——尤其是一部允許企業裁員的勞動法，以及宣佈韓國第二大工會爲非法組織。在數週的遊行示威後，政府撤回了這部勞動法。這一退讓、以及他的一個兒子（金泳三的五個子女之一，他與金泳三的妻子孫命順(Son Myung-soon)依然在世）因受賄被判罪，讓他的權威消失殆盡。
Yet perhaps more than for his time as president, Kim will be remembered for his defiant work in opposition — as characterised by his most celebrated aphorism, delivered in the face of state intimidation in 1979: “Dawn will come — even if you wring the rooster’s neck.”
比起金泳三任總統時的作爲，人們可能更多地會因他在野時的反抗活動而銘記他——這些反抗可以用他在1979年面對政府恐嚇時發表的最著名的一句格言來概括：“黎明總會到來——即使你擰斷了公雞的脖子。”
