People of the Revolution and the USSR

Activity(set)
Any Political and party leadership 5 Government and administration 1 Military command 2 Security, intelligence and policing 1 Social movements and organizing 3 Literature and arts 1 Law and justice 1
Affiliation

Most people

Any Japan state institutions 1 South Korea state institutions 1 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea state institutions 1

All 3 affiliations

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea state institutions 1

Japan

Japan state institutions 1

South Korea

South Korea state institutions 1
Position
Any Counter-revolutionary forces 1 Marxism and communism 1
Citizenship
Any Democratic People's Republic of Korea 1 South Korea 1
Background(set)
Any Russia 211 Germany 39 France 37 Ukraine 32 United States 24 Hungary 17 United Kingdom 16 China 15 Japan 13 Poland 10 Finland 7 Belarus 6 Latvia 6 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 5 Spain 5 Armenia 4 Italy 4 Moldova 4 Turkey 4 Vietnam 4 Angola 3 Greece 3 Lithuania 3 Romania 3 Serbia 3 South Africa 3 Austria 2 Czechoslovakia 2 Estonia 2 Georgia 2 Korea 2 Montenegro 2 Argentina 1 Belgium 1 Cambodia 1 Cuba 1 Czechia 1 Ethiopia 1 Kazakhstan 1 Laos 1 Mongolia 1 New Zealand 1 Nicaragua 1 Somalia 1 Tajikistan 1 Turkmenistan 1 Uzbekistan 1 Yemen 1
Era
Any

People of the wider world

The Cold War and decolonization1945–현재 2
Military command Background: Korea Clear all

Nam Il

남일
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea state institutions Communism North Korea Koryo-saram 1913–1976 ✕ Car crash

The Soviet-Korean general who signed the Korean Armistice at Panmunjom

At Panmunjom on 27 July 1953, General Nam Il and Lieutenant General Harrison barely acknowledged each other as they signed eighteen copies of the armistice. In those ten minutes that stopped three years of war, he was the face of North Korea.

A Koryo-saram born in the Russian Far East, he was deported with his family to Central Asia in 1937 and served as a Soviet Army officer at Stalingrad and the Battle of Berlin. Dispatched to northern Korea in 1946, he became a close aide to Kim Il Sung, and when the Korean War broke out he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Korean People's Army. From 1951 he led the communist delegation at the Panmunjom armistice talks for two years and on 27 July 1953 signed the Korean Armistice Agreement as the KPA's senior delegate, becoming the face of North Korea to the world. After the war he served as Foreign Minister and Deputy Premier, surviving the purges that eliminated most of his Soviet-Korean colleagues, but died in a suspicious car crash in 1976.

Career timeline
  • 1939–1946Teacher and education official in USSR; served as Soviet Army captain in the German-Soviet War
  • 1946–1950Dispatched to northern Korea, rose to Deputy Minister of Education
  • 1950–1953KPA Chief of Staff; chief communist delegate at armistice talks
  • 1953Signed the Korean Armistice Agreement for the KPA, 27 July
  • 1953–1959Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1957–1976Deputy Premier of the DPRK Cabinet
  • 1966–1972Minister of Railways; Chairman of the State Construction Committee
  • 1972–1976State Administrative Council Vice Premier; Chairman of the State Light Industry Committee

Chae Byeong-deok

채병덕
South Korea state institutions Counter-revolutionary forces South Korea Korea 1916–1950 ✕ Killed in action

A general whose colonial military career met failure at the war’s outbreak

At dawn on 28 June 1950, the Han River bridges were destroyed on his order.

Chae Byeong-deok was a general who moved from an officer career in the Imperial Japanese Army into the founding and expansion of the South Korean armed forces after liberation. When the Korean War began in June 1950, he was Army Chief of Staff and failed to organize adequate forward readiness and command, while bearing responsibility for the order that led to the premature destruction of the Han River bridges during the retreat from Seoul. Dismissed soon after the outbreak, he was sent to the southern front and killed in action at the Battle of Hadong in July.

Career timeline
  • 1937Graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and commissioned as an artillery officer
  • 1940–1945Instructor at the Japanese Army Ordnance School and manager of an army arsenal
  • 1946Graduated from the Military English School and became commander of the 1st Regiment of the South Korean Constabulary
  • 1948Chief of Staff of the National Defense Bureau and Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Ministry of National Defense
  • 1949Second Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Army
  • 1950.04–1950.06.30Fourth Army Chief of Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces
  • 1950.06.30–1950.07.27Commander of the South Gyeongsang Province Defence Command; killed at the Battle of Hadong