Journalist who headed propaganda for the Pyongnam CPKI
In 1945 in P'yŏngyang he was propaganda chief of the South P'yŏngan Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence and took part as it became the South P'yŏngan People's Political Committee under Soviet prompting. No source records him personally contacting the Soviet command.
Han Chae-dok (韓載德, 1911–1970) was a journalist from Sŏngch'ŏn in South P'yŏngan Province. Under colonial rule he reported for Chosŏn Chungang Ilbo as its Tokyo correspondent and later for P'yŏngyang Maeil Sinmun, and in 1933 he brought out the literary journal Chiptan with the poet Im Hwa. In 1945 he was propaganda chief of the South P'yŏngan Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence and took part as Soviet pressure reorganized it into the South P'yŏngan People's Political Committee. He edited P'yŏngyang Minbo that year, and from 1946 served as secretary-general of the North Korean League of Literature and Arts and as editor-in-chief of Minju Chosŏn. After heading the Korean Central News Agency's domestic news department, he was dispatched to Japan in 1953; in 1959 he defected to the Republic of Korea, working there as an anti-communist researcher and writer until his death.
Also known as: Han Chae-dŏk
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- Japanese colonial periodTokyo correspondent for Chosŏn Chungang Ilbo; reporter for P'yŏngyang Maeil Sinmun
- 1933Brought out the literary journal Chiptan with the poet Im Hwa
- 1945Propaganda chief of the South P'yŏngan Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence; editor-in-chief of P'yŏngyang Minbo
- 1946Joined the Korean Communist Party; secretary-general of the North Korean League of Literature and Arts; editor-in-chief of Minju Chosŏn
- 1953After heading the Korean Central News Agency's domestic news department, dispatched to Japan
- 1959Defected to the Republic of Korea; worked at the Institute for Communist Bloc Research
Related historical events
Writing the Kim Il Sung cult, then denouncing it
Immediately after liberation Han followed Kim Il Sung and handled almost all reporting on him, and later records call him Kim's personal correspondent. His "Account of General Kim Il Sung's Triumphal Return" first appeared in P'yŏngyang Minbo on 19 October 1945, was reprinted in the inaugural issue of Munhwa Chŏnsŏn in July 1946, and was issued as a book under the same title in November 1947. In 1948 and 1949 he published books on Korea's relations with the United States, in P'yŏngyang.