Wealth & Money Quote by Kim Dae Jung

Kim Dae Jung is sketching a geopolitical strategy that sounds modest on the surface - a “model” of success - but carries the hard-edged logic of a leader who spent decades fighting authoritarianism and surviving it. The phrasing is telling: he doesn’t promise to export revolution or “teach” anyone democracy. He wants South Korea to become undeniable proof that prosperity and pluralism can coexist in an Asian context often stereotyped (by Western and regional elites alike) as better suited to strongman rule. The goal isn’t just national pride; it’s regional leverage.

The repetition and slight stumble (“I want to make - I want to succeed to make…”) reads like live diplomacy: careful, hedged, aware that every verb can sound like interference. “Good influence” is soft language for a contested idea - that norms spread. This is democracy promotion rewritten in the idiom of post-Cold War Asia, where sovereignty sensitivities run hot and where “values” talk can trigger backlash. Kim’s choice is to emphasize performance: outcomes, stability, growth.

Context matters: late-20th-century Korea had just fought its way out of military rule, and the Asian Financial Crisis had exposed how fragile “miracle” growth could be without credible institutions. Kim is signaling that democracy and market reform aren’t indulgences; they’re an operating system for resilience. Subtext: if Korea can do it, China, Vietnam, and the region’s remaining autocracies have fewer excuses - and Korea gains moral authority without firing a shot.