SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Dae-jung, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former South Korea president who survived assassination attempts and a death sentence, died today. He was 85.

Kim had been hospitalized with pneumonia since last month, said Lee Sung-man, a spokesman for Severance Hospital in Seoul, who confirmed the death. The hospital did not cite a cause of death.

As a pro-democracy opposition lawmaker, Kim built a reputation as a passionate champion of human rights and democracy who fought against South Korea's military dictatorships. As president from 1998-2003, he was architect of the "Sunshine Policy" of reaching out to wartime rival North Korea as a way to encourage reconciliation.

His efforts led to an unprecedented thaw in relations with the North and culminated in a historic North-South summit — the first on the divided peninsula — and a jubilant meeting in Pyongyang with leader Kim Jong Il in 2000.