Former President Kim Dae-jung put on respirator but stable: hospital

(ATTN: ADDS comments from hospital officials in paras 3-5, 7, CORRECTS hospital's
name in para 2)
SEOUL, July 16 (Yonhap) -- Former President Kim Dae-jung was put on a respirator
due to irregular breathing but is not in a critical condition, hospital officials
said Thursday.
"He became short of breath on Wednesday night and was put on a respirator around
3 a.m. this morning," Park Chang-il, chief of Severance Hospital in Seoul, told
reporters at a briefing. "His condition has improved since. He is conscious, and
his pulse, breathing and body temperature are normal."
"The respirator is not for extending his life. It's for treatment," Choi
Kyung-deuk, a hospital spokesman, said.
"He has no complications, but has been receiving kidney dialysis for a long time"
Park added.
He said Kim was being fed through a feeding tube.
Kim, who served as president between 1998 and 2003, was hospitalized on Monday
and transferred to the intensive care unit after being diagnosed with pneumonia.
"He is being given tranquilizers for comfort. We will be able to remove the
respirator once his condition improves," Park said. "It's difficult to
immediately predict what the condition will be. We will be monitoring closely for
the next few days."
Kim was hospitalized once before in 2005 after showing symptoms of a cold and a
fever.
The 85-year-old former president, a life-long opposition leader, received the
Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 after holding the first-ever inter-Korean summit that
year.
brk@yna.co.kr
(END)