The KPA's first Chief of General Staff who finalized the invasion plan with Soviet advisers
Col. Yu Song-chol, operations director, recalled: 'The jeep carrying Chief of Staff Kang Kon, right ahead of mine, flipped to the side of the road with an ear-splitting explosion. A land mine. Kang was killed on the spot.'
Comrade-in-arms to Kim Il Sung through the Manchurian anti-Japanese guerrillas and the Soviet 88th Separate Rifle Brigade, Kang became the first Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army upon its founding in 1948. On 29 May 1950, together with Lt. Gen. Nikolai Vasiliev, head of the Soviet military advisory group, he finalized the 'Preemptive Strike Operation Plan' that launched the invasion of South Korea; after the war began, as chief of staff of the Front Command he directed the advance down to the Pusan Perimeter. On 8 September 1950, as UN forces counterattacked, his jeep struck a land mine laid by retreating ROK troops near the Kum River, killing him instantly. Kim Il Sung and Pak Hon-yong personally carried his coffin at the funeral, and he was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Republic.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1933–1940Anti-Japanese guerrilla in Manchuria; Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
- 1942–1945Served in the Soviet 88th Separate Rifle Brigade, rank of captain
- 1946Returned from Yanbian, directed the founding of the Korean People's Army
- 1948–1950First Chief of the General Staff, Korean People's Army
- 1950.05Finalized the invasion operation plan with Lt. Gen. Vasiliev
- 1950.06–09Chief of staff of the Front Command, directing the Naktong front
Related historical events
Front Command and Its Challenges in the Early War
On 3 July 1950, a few days after the Korean People’s Army captured Seoul, Soviet officials established a front command and appointed Kang Kon its chief of staff. He moved from Pyongyang to the front and took part directly in operations. A later account citing Soviet Ambassador Terentii Shtykov’s records reports that Kang, saying he could not command effectively without Soviet advisers, requested their assistance. Soviet authorities nevertheless barred advisers from going south of the 38th parallel. The episode records both his direct role in front operations and his reported reliance on Soviet advisers for command.
As the front deteriorated, Kang reported to Kim Il Sung that U.S. air attacks had inflicted severe losses: on 18 August 1950, the Korean People’s Army’s 4th Division lost nearly all its personnel, its headquarters was destroyed, and its commander was killed. Kang died on 8 September while travelling to plan a crossing of the Kum River. Yu Song-chol, then an operations director who accompanied him, testified in a 1990 interview that a land mine planted by retreating South Korean forces struck Kang’s jeep. North Korean and Soviet newspapers announced Kang’s death on 11 September without stating its location or cause. Yu’s later account should be distinguished from that contemporaneous public reporting; the precise site remains unestablished.