Seoul, Aug 18 (DPA) South Koreans Tuesday mourned the death of the country's former president and Nobel laureate Kim Dae Jung.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate died at 1.42 p.m. (0442 GMT), after battling pneumonia and 'related complications', Seoul's Severance Hospital said.

Kim, 83, had been hospitalised since July 13 and underwent surgery in late July.

'Former president Kim had been treated for pneumonia since July 13 but died of heart failure caused by internal organ dysfunctions,' hospital president Park Chang Il said at a press conference.

President Lee Myung Bak said South Korea has lost a 'great political leader' in his liberal predecessor.

'The people will long remember his aspirations and accomplishments for democracy and national reconciliation,' Lee said in a statement released by the presidential office.

South Korea's president from 1998 to 2003, Kim was crucial in promoting the country's 'Sunshine Policy' aiming at a detente with North Korea. In 2000, he participated in the first North-South summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work for democracy, human rights and reconciliation with North Korea.