Born of peasant parents, he remained all his life a humble and sympathetic man who loved sitting with peasants on a rice-field dike, talking with them and listening to their difficulties over a glass of makolly (Korean traditional rice wine). It was this unassuming warmth in him that made his people feel close to and love him like a good-natured nextdoor man, despite his iron-willed rigidity that excused not the slightest neglect related to national defense, economic development, and the eradicatior of social evils.

Having worked heart and soul for the great task of the nation's economic development and cultural revival, he left behind him a country that is fast developing into one of the advanced industrial countries of the world, and a people who have recovered a national pride in their cultural heritage.

All this, we believe, comes from years of his foresighted leadership and the enthusiastic cooperation of the nation that believed in it. He will go down in Korean history as a man of rare leadership who opened a new era for his people.