The Manchurian guerrilla who became the KPA's first commander and the DPRK's nominal head of state
In December 1955, Choe Yong-gon presided over the trial of Pak Hon-yong and sentenced him to death, rejecting pleas for clemency from Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.
After military training at Yunnan and Whampoa academies, he led anti-Japanese guerrilla war in Manchuria as chief of staff of the 2nd Route Army and commander of the 7th Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, forming the Manchurian trio with Kim Il Sung and Kim Chaek. Returning in 1945, he played the decisive role in converting Cho Man-sik's Korean Democratic Party to a communist line; upon the DPRK's founding in 1948 he became its first Minister of National Defence and Chief Commander of the Korean People's Army, the KPA's senior field commander during the Korean War. From 1957 to 1972 he chaired the Supreme People's Assembly Standing Committee, the DPRK's nominal head of state, and served as the regime's diplomatic face abroad. He received a state funeral at his death in 1976 and was interred in the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1923–1924Graduated from Yunnan Military Academy
- 1925–1927Instructor at Whampoa Military Academy
- 1936–1940Chief of Staff, 2nd Route Army & Commander, 7th Army, Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
- 1942–1945Deputy Chief of Staff, 88th Special Brigade, Soviet Far East
- 1946–1955Chairman, Central Committee of the Korean Democratic Party
- 1948–1957Minister of National Defence & Chief Commander, Korean People's Army
- 1957–1972Chairman, Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly
- 1972–1974Vice President of the DPRK
Related historical events
Taking Control and Reshaping the Korean Democratic Party
Founded by Cho Man-sik in October 1945, the Korean Democratic Party was a non-communist party in the Soviet-occupied North. Choe became its vice-chairman in November 1945 while also taking part in the activities of the North Korean branch of the Communist Party of Korea. In January 1946, after Cho opposed the trusteeship decision and was detained at Pyongyang's Koryo Hotel, Choe took charge of the party. He attacked Cho's opposition to trusteeship within the party and was elected chairman of its Central Committee on 28 February. Choe then instituted membership screening and purges; as opponents were expelled or left, the party lost its basis as an independent political force. At its March 1948 congress, the party adopted a platform resembling that of the communist party and became subordinate to Workers' Party of Korea policy. Accounts differ in detail about the internal changes, but both historian Fyodor Tertitskiy's analysis and biographical accounts of Choe's takeover and purges describe the party's transformation from an independent organization into one under ruling-party control.