Korea

In a 1999 memorandum to then Assistant Secretary of State Harold Koh, George Lister wrote, ''I personally feel the South Korea story is an excellent example of how the human rights cause has helped to improve our overall foreign policy and to offer a much better future for the human race.''

Lister became involved in South Korean affairs through a relationship he developed with Kim Dae-jung, a Korean dissident who eventually was elected president of South Korea (1998-2003) and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. In 1980, Kim had been arrested by the Korean army and sentenced to death by a military court. Through the intervention of President Reagan, his death sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison. Kim's prison sentence was suspended in December 1982, and Kim was exiled to the U.S., where he accepted a fellowship at Harvard University.

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Selected Documents:

• Correspondence from Lister to Elliott Abrams, Sept 11, 1984 on ''Kim Dae-jung'' with attachment of Kim's letter to Secretary of State George Shultz (4 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Elliott Abrams, Oct 17, 1984 on ''Kim Dae-jung'' (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to Elliott Abrams, Sept 14, 1984 on ''Kim Dae-jung'' (1 page)

• Correspondence from Kim Dae-jung to Lister Nov 2, 1984 on gift of calligraphy (1 page) with attachment of calligraphy translation (1 page) (2 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Kim Dae-jung Nov 16, 1984 on thanks for calligraphy scroll (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to Elliott Abrams, Dec 27, 1984 on ''Kim Dae-jung'' (2 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Elliott Abrams, Jan 23, 1985 on ''Kim Dae-jung: Open Forum'' (1 page) with attachments including list of participants at Open Forum (1 page) and Kim Dae-jung's Open Forum Speech, Jan 23, 1985 (12 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Elliott Abrams Jan 28, 1985 on Kim Dae-jung Lunch (1 page) with attachments including Kim Dae-jung's Statement on his reasons for returning to Korea (1 page) (2 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Elliott Abrams, Jan 29, 1985 on ''Kim Dae-jung Telephone Call'' (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to Elliott Abrams Jan 31, 1985 on ''USG Policy: Kim Dae-jung'' (1 page) with attachment Jan 29, 1985 "Kim Dae-jung Talking Points" (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to Elliott Abrams Feb 20, 1985 on Seoul: Kim Dae-jung (3 pages) with attachment of Kim Dae-jung's arrival statement (1 page) (4 pages, NOTE: San Francisco Examiner story and Newsweek story of Kim Dae-jung's return available in archives)

• Correspondence from Lister to Dick Schifter May 31, 1986 on ''South Korea: Policy Statement'' (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to Dick Schifter April 28, 1987 on ''Korean Evening'' (2 pages)

• "Korea and United States Human Rights Policy" by George Lister, Oct 8, 1987 (11 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Dick Schifter, Oct 26, 1988 on ''Korea: Rev. Ko Yeong Kun'' (1 page)

• Correspondence from Kim Dae-jung to Lister Aug 10, 1989 on democracy in Korea (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to Nancy Ely-Raphel March 12, 1994 on ''Kim Dae-jung Peace Foundation'' (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to Nancy Ely-Raphel April 28, 1994 on ''South Korea Visit'' (1 page) with attachment of Lister's speech (5 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to John Shattuck Dec 14, 1995 on ''South Korean Politics'' (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to Steve Coffey Dec 1, 1997 on ''South Korea's December Presidential Election'' (4 pages)

• Correspondence from Gunn Kim to Lister Feb 9, 1998 on Invitation to Inaugural Ceremony of President-Elect Kim Dae-jung (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to John Shattuck March 20, 1998 on ''Kim Dae-jung's Inauguration - Now What?'' (4 pages)

• Correspondence from John Shattuck to Lister July 20, 1998 on Lister's support for Kim Dae-jung (1 page)

• Correspondence from Lister to Harold Koh Oct 1999 on ''USG's South Korea Policy - 1980-1999'' (6 pages)

• Correspondence from Lister to Michael Parmley Aug 28, 2000 on ''Dominican Republic - South Korea'' (1 page)