The dissident and the dictator

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung is a devoted Catholic who has spent his life fighting for democratic principles. A fiery speaker, he is well-known and respected internationally. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is a communist who was raised from birth to head a totalitarian state. He has spoken publicly only once and remains an enigma to most of the outside world. The two Kims, like the two Koreas, could not be more opposite. But one characteristic binds them -- they are both survivors.

Kim Dae-jung: From prison to president South Korean President Kim Dae-jung endured a run-in with a 14-ton truck, a kidnapping, arrests, beatings, exile and a death sentence during his decades-long struggle as an opposition leader. After losing three bids for president, he finally won the office at age 72, pledging major democratic reforms. He is sometimes referred to as "the Nelson Mandela of Asia." FULL STORY >>		Kim Jong Il: 'Dear Leader' or demon? He wields absolute power over the world's fifth-largest army in one of the most volatile regions on the planet. But the personality and character of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il are hidden in a fog of propaganda and rumor. Even scholars of the Pyongyang regime are unsure what lies behind the two-dimensional figure the public occasionally glimpses. FULL STORY >>

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