Prominent South Korean Democracy Activist Dies

South Korean news media report that a former leading South Korean democracy activist and prominent liberal politician, Kim Geun-tae, has died.

Reports say Kim died Friday from a brain disease at the age of 64.

Kim was known as a democracy activist during dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s. He was repeatedly jailed and tortured for his opposition against the regimes in support of democracy and labor rights.

In 1987, while in prison, Kim received the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and was designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

In 1996, he was elected to the National Assembly and twice won reelection. He was also a former leader of the Uri Party, and a former Health and Welfare Minister.

Kim had battled Parkinson's disease for the past five years. South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that he died of complications from pneumonia and kidney disease in a Seoul hospital.

It says he is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Photo: Kim Keun-Tae, during South Korea's Protest Against Importing American Beef on 6 June 2008. Photo by Chong-Dae Park a.k.a. ChongDae.

Apartheid-Era Defense Minister Malan Dies in South Africa

Monday, 18 July 2011

A South African defense minister who led military efforts against the anti-apartheid movement has died.

A statement released by the family of General Magnus Malan says he “died peacefully” early Monday at his home in Cape Town. He was 81.

Malan served as South Africa's defense minister from 1980 to 1991 and before that as army chief.

As defense minister, Malan organized the government's response to what he saw as a “total onslaught” against South Africa and its white-minority rule.

He deployed troops to control unrest in South African townships, and also sanctioned raids against anti-apartheid fighters in neighboring countries.

Later, Malan went on trial for the 1987 murders of 13 people in KwaZulu-Natal province. Malan and 19 others who were tried with him were eventually acquitted of those charges.

Malan is survived by his wife, three children and nine grandchildren.