Fortune no longer seems to favour South Korea's president, Kim Dae-jung. Hailed as a saviour when he took office in 1998, as the country teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, he has been brought low by corruption scandals that have landed two of his sons in jail and, after some disastrous by-elections, helped hand the opposition a majority in parliament just ahead of December's presidential election. Mr Kim is not eligible to stand in that election, but his party's nominee, Roh Moo-hyun, is now trailing badly in the polls. The party the president founded is expected to break up imminently; Mr Kim has already resigned from it in the hope that he will not drag it down further. Poor health kept Mr Kim, 76, from delivering his Independence Day speech this week. But in truth he probably feels he has little to celebrate. Ultimately though, Mr Kim's legacy, for good or ill, is his "sunshine policy" towards North Korea, for which he received the Nobel peace prize after the first ever North-South summit, in North Korea, two years ago. For many months now, that policy has seemed to have run into the sand: partly because of the tough words emanating from Washington but mostly because the North seemed incapable of following up on its agreements with the South. Suddenly, after months of foot- dragging by the North, and a naval clash in June that left five South Koreans dead, "engagement", as Mr Kim's policy is now named, resumed this week with ministerial talks about talks'. Will these lead to real progress, or just another round of frustration? The answer will shape the verdict on the presidency of South Korea's brave but tarnished dissident-turned-leader.
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