How the Life of Thomas More Kim Dae-jung Was Saved

A Dec. 11, 1980 papal letter to South Korean dictator Chun Doo-hwan has been made public — John Paul II saved life of Korean President Kim Dae-jung. Kim, then leader of the democracy movement, had been sentenced to death a week earlier. After becoming president two decades later, Kim would commute the death sentence handed down on Chun.