SEOUL, South Korea — Lee Hee-ho, a former first lady of South Korea who inspired her husband, President Kim Dae-jung, in his pro-democracy campaign against the military dictatorship and used her influence to expand women’s rights in a deeply male-dominated country, died on Monday in Seoul. She was 96.

Her death was confirmed by the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center, a civic group established in honor of Mr. Kim and led by Ms. Lee. She had been undergoing treatment for cancer and other illnesses since March.

Throughout almost five decades of marriage, Ms. Lee helped Mr. Kim shape his political vision as he became a symbol of South Korea’s struggle for democracy and its dream of reconciliation, and eventual reunification, with North Korea.

Mr. Kim, a Nobel Peace laureate who died in 2009, treated Ms. Lee as a political partner, crediting her with making it possible for him to survive torture, a death sentence and an assassination attempt to become the first opposition leader to win the South Korean presidency.