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North Korean general and politician (1903?1951)
Kim Chaek
(
Korean
:
金策
;
Hancha
:
金策
, 14 August 1903 ? 31 January 1951) was a
North Korean
revolutionary, military general, and politician. His birth name was
Kim Hong-gye
(
김홍계
;
金洪啓
).
Life
[
edit
]
Kim Chaek was born in
S?ngjin
,
North Hamgyong
, Korea, in 1903. He and his family fled to
Manchuria
after
Korea was colonized by Japan
. In 1927, Kim joined the
Chinese Communist Party
and the
Anti-Japanese movement
to oppose the Japanese occupation. He was imprisoned for his resistance activities. After his release from prison, Kim joined the
Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
in 1935 and fought alongside
Kim Il Sung
. He fled to the Soviet Union to escape the Japanese conquest of the partisans in 1940. He lived in
Khabarovsk
where he met with Kim Il Sung and formed the
88th Special Brigade
. After the
Soviet invasion of Manchuria
, he returned to Korea along with the Soviet Army in 1945. On September 9, 1948, the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
was established, Kim became the industry minister and deputy prime minister under Kim Il Sung. He was appointed number 2 Committee Vice Chairman in the
Workers' Party of Korea
. In the
Korean War
, he was a commander of the North Korean troops on the front lines.
[
citation needed
]
A Japanese history of the Kim Il Sung family claims that Kim Chaek was purged when he was found responsible for the failure at the
Inchon landing
, and died in January 1951 after an American military air raid bombing or was assassinated following a power struggle.
[1]
Kim Il Sung's memoir
With the Century
states instead that Kim died of heart failure after a long night of work.
[2]
Posthumous honours
[
edit
]
After his death, Kim Chaek's birthplace
Haksong County
, combined with the neighboring city of Songjin, was formally renamed to
Kim Chaek City
to commemorate his life and accomplishments.
[3]
Kim Chaek University of Technology
in Pyongyang and
Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex
in
Chongjin
are also named after him.
[
citation needed
]
He was awarded North Korea's
National Reunification Prize
in 1998.
[4]
Work
[
edit
]
- Feature-length epic "Mt. Paektu" 《長篇 大敍事詩 白頭山》
References
[
edit
]
- Korea, a century of change
by Jurgen Kleiner page 275
- Korea Web Weekly
Remembering Kim Chaik
- Kim Jong Il Biography
. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House for Literature, 2005.