Copyright by Gregory Krauss 2007 - The University of Texas at Austin

of the 1980s. Lister’s relationship with Kim may have helped change the U.S.
position.
South Korea came under autocratic rule with a military coup by General Park
Chung Hee in 1961, after which Park restricted democratic opposition and dissolved
the legislature. 48 Kim, who had been elected to the National Assembly three days
before the coup, became a vocal opponent of the Park regime. During the 1960s he
served as a legislator in the reconstituted Korean National Assembly, and in 1971 he
ran against President Park, garnering 46 percent of the vote despite election fraud by
Park. 49 During the 1970s, Kim continued to speak out. He was physically attacked on
several occasions, suffering a permanent leg injury, and he was periodically
imprisoned or sentenced to house arrest. 50 Park was assassinated in 1979, but before a
democratic transition could take place, General Chun Doo Hwan seized power and
soon Kim was again imprisoned. 51 In December 1982, Kim’s 20-year term was
suspended, and he was allowed to travel to the United States. 52
Kim initially came to the Washington, D.C. area, where he rent an apartment
in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and family. 53 Lister quickly established contact
with Kim. At a reception for Kim on March 17, 1983 by the North American
Coalition for Human Rights in Korea, Lister had a conversation with Kim in which
Kim expressed an interest in coming to meet Abrams. 54 Due to the security situation
on the Korean peninsula, the U.S. maintained a close relationship with the South
Korean government. Inviting Kim, a political dissident, to the State Department was a
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