Former South Korean President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kim Dae-jung has died. He was 85.

Local media reported that Kim died of heart failure on Tuesday. He was best known for implementing South Korea's " Sunshine Policy," which sought to establish closer ties with its northern neighbour, the DPRK. Let's look at the life of the late president, and how his legacy has influenced the future of the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea's presidential office said Tuesday that its fiorst space launch will be conducted as scheduled, despite the period of national mourning for late President Kim Dae-jung.

In 2000, Kim Dae-jung led an ice-breaking trip to the DPRK, becoming the first South Korean head of state to visit Pyongyang since the end of the Korean War,which divided the Peninsula in 1953.

Kim Dae-jung's visit, the first ever summit meeting of the leaders of the two Koreas, came complete with warm embraces and handshakes, and was the first of many good-will gestures toward his DPRK counterpart.

The meeting marked the culmination of Kim's " Sunshine Policy," that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize later that year.

In stark contrast to the light he brought to relations between the two Koreas, Kim had struggled through many long years of darkness before taking power.