By Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, February 25, 1998; Page A19

SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Wednesday)—Kim Dae Jung, one of the most resolute democracy crusaders of this century, was sworn in as president this morning in a ceremony that completed the first transfer of power from a ruling party to the opposition in modern South Korean history.

At an outdoor inaugural jubilee attended by more than 40,000 people, Kim, 74, a man who has been persecuted, jailed, exiled and hounded for decades as an enemy of the state, called for reconciliation with South Korea's authoritarian past and a tough national effort to overcome the disastrous economic straits into which the nation has lately fallen.

"We are standing at a crossroad from where we can march forward or retreat," Kim said. "Let us open a new age during which we will overcome the national crisis and make a new leap forward." Kim declared also that he intends to bring to a gradual end the "shame" of the divided Korean Peninsula through a cooperative reunification with rival North Korea, and he said he would push for immediate improvement in communications with the communist north.

The occasion was favored by crystal blue skies and unusually warm February weather, and school teacher Han Jeong Sook was one of many onlookers who took off her coat as she watched traditional dancers and a brass band perform for the new president. "It's a miraculous day," Han said of the weather. "Maybe God thinks he will be a great president."

As he takes office, Kim's message of national healing and a democratic future could not be drawn in bolder strokes. Among those on hand for the ceremony was former president Chun Doo Hwan, a military strongman who orchestrated a death sentence against Kim in 1980 when the democracy activist became a threatening opposition leader. Former president Roh Tae Woo, another military strongman, sat next to Chun. At Kim's side was Kim Jong Pil, a former national security chief who once ordered his intelligence agents to kill Kim and who is now the new president's political partner and nominee to become prime minister.

"I thought this day would never come," said former U.S. ambassador James T. Laney, who was among the dignitaries here for the inauguration. Laney said he was in the Supreme Court chamber in the 1970s when Kim appeared in chains and a white prison uniform. The charge against him, Laney said, essentially was "being too popular an opposition leader" for then-President Park Chung Hee.

Over the next two decades of striving for democratic reform, Kim earned his nickname, "Indongcho," a kind of wild grass that grows even in winter and is just about impossible to kill. Because of those efforts, he spent years in jail or under house arrest. Laney said it is remarkable that Kim is now the nation's leader, and he attributed the new president's generosity to his onetime persecutors to his "enormous confidence."

At today's inauguration, where the attendance of American pop singer Michael Jackson added a tinge of Hollywood to the political festivities, Kim thanked the United States, the International Monetary Fund and others for being the "reason we are barely escaping catastrophe" as a result of an economic collapse that left the world's 11th-largest economy nearly bankrupt last December. A $57 billion IMF bailout plan brought the country back from the brink.

Kim, a populist and popular leader who has reassured the nation with calm competence since his December election, promises to be the most open, democratic leader in the nation's history. Today, he tried to narrow the gap between president and people by inviting many ordinary citizens to the inauguration and thanking them for "giving birth to a genuine Government of the People."

This followed a recent American-style "town meeting" with citizens who were able to question the president-elect directly. The inauguration itself was steeped in themes designed to remind South Koreans of their past successes and fuel them with pride to face difficult times ahead. In the past few months, South Korea has gone from being a world economic power to appealing to the IMF for what proved to be the lending organization's biggest rescue package ever. A million or more people are expected to lose jobs in the months ahead as IMF-ordered fiscal reforms are implemented.

Kim, who has survived at least two assassination attempts by previous governments, designed today's ceremony to prepare his nation to fight the same kind of struggle that has shaped his life. He also called for help from the opposition Grand National Party in the national legislature, where it has a majority and has ruled for decades.

"I will consult with you on all issues; you, in return, must help me, if only for one year -- this year -- when the nation is standing on the brink of disaster," Kim said in his inaugural address.

The festivities began at midnight (10 a.m. EST Tuesday) with a tolling of the Poshin-gak bell, which was rung in 1945 to announce the end of Japan's brutal 35-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula, and later to mark the formation of the South Korean republic. A "flame of hope" was then lit atop Namsan mountain in central Seoul, and a crowd began to gather at the site of the inauguration for a video display of great moments in the nation's history, including national independence in 1948 and the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Kim, in a departure from the hawkish rhetoric of outgoing president Kim Young Sam, also said his aim was to reconcile with North Korea, the world's last Stalinist bastion and a sworn enemy of its capitalist sibling. Kim spoke directly to North Koreans, assuring them that whatever aspirations South Korea may have had in its more prosperous days about quickly unifying with its poor communist neighbor are gone.

"We do not have any intention to harm or absorb North Korea" he said. "The Cold War style of South-North relations for over a half-century, during which members of separated families could not confirm whether their own parents and brothers and sisters are alive or dead, let alone carry on dialogue and exchanges, must be liquidated as soon as possible," he said.

He reiterated his support for South Korea's expensive pledge to build light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea and said he would like to meet face-to-face with Pyongyang's reclusive leader, Kim Jong Il. "I am ready to go to a summit meeting if North Korea wants," he declared.

On the economy, Kim repeated his pledge to make South Korea more dependent on international market forces than on government-business cronyism. But beyond all the euphoria and optimistic rhetoric, hard political realities remain. Kim's party does not have a majority in the legislature, and even though the South Korean presidency is enormously powerful, Kim will still find it difficult to push reform measures through the divided chamber.

Already, the Grand National Party is threatening to fight Kim Jong Pil's nomination as prime minister. While many here see that as simply the resentful muscle-flexing of a party dumped from power, it still could complicate matters for Kim.