Health and Welfare Minister Kim Geun-tae.

(From The Korea Herald)

Though he made clear earlier he really wanted the job of unification minister, former Uri Party floor leader and respected activist Kim Geun-tae accepted President Rho Moo-hyun's offer to run the welfare ministry when the job was formally offered to him.

Kim is seen by his fellow politicians as incorruptible and is widely respected for his former career as a student activist. But while many lawmakers in the current 17th National Assembly participated in demonstrations advocating democracy during their earlier careers, Kim has steadfastly drawn a line between his past activism and his lawmaking career.

However, Kim is known as "the godfather of student activists" among so-called 386 generation Uri lawmakers, who were in their 30s when the term was coined, attended college and fought for democracy in the 1980s, and were born in the 1960s.

In 1971, when still a university student, Kim was involved in the democratic movement and wanted by the police on a charge of violating the law which kept the dictatorial government in power, as well as participating in what was labeled a rebellion conspiracy. In 1974, he was among the country's most wanted figures on charges of violating the National Security Law.

Struggling against the dictatorial government, Kim organized the Association ...