Independence activist, linguist, and Yan'an faction leader who served as the first head of state of the DPRK
On the day the People's Assembly adopted the new DPRK flag in July 1948, Kim Tu-bong personally lowered the Taegeukgi and raised its replacement. Barely a year earlier, he had been the man passionately explaining the old flag's philosophical meaning to a skeptical Soviet general.
A Hangul linguist trained under Chu Sigyŏng who led the Korean Independence League in Yan'an. Became the DPRK's first head of state in 1948, though real power lay with Kim Il Sung. Purged and vanished in the 1958 August Faction Incident.
Career timeline
- 1908–1916Studied Hangul under Chu Sigyŏng; helped compile MalMoi dictionary
- 1919Joined March First Movement, then exiled to Shanghai provisional government
- 1920–1930sCombined communist activism with linguistic research in Shanghai
- 1942–1945Founded Korean Independence League in Yan'an; led the Yan'an faction
- 1946.02–08Chairman of the New People's Party of Korea
- 1946.08–1949.06Chairman of the Workers' Party of North Korea Central Committee
- 1948.09–1957.09Chairman of the SPA Standing Committee — first head of state of the DPRK
- 1957–1958Dismissed from all posts over August Faction Incident; disappeared
Heroic Corps founder who evolved from anarchist bombings to DPRK cabinet, lone figure spanning the Korean revolutionary spectrum
On first meeting Kim Ik-sang in Beijing, Kim Won-bong told him: 'Freedom is won by our strength and our blood… We must be the first to shed it.' Kim Ik-sang joined the Heroic Corps on the spot and weeks later walked into the Japanese Government-General building in Seoul and threw a bomb.
Anarchist militant who founded the Heroic Corps (Ŭiyŏltan) in 1919 and led a six-year campaign of bombings and assassinations against Japanese colonial authorities. After military training at the Whampoa Academy, he founded the Korean National Revolutionary Party (1935) to build a united front, commanded the Korean Volunteer Corps, and later joined the Provisional Government as Deputy Commander of the Korean Liberation Army and Minister of Military Affairs. Following liberation he pursued left-right cooperation, but after Yeo Un-hyeong's assassination he joined the 1948 North-South talks and remained in the DPRK as State Inspection Commissioner and Minister of Labor until his purge in 1958. His trajectory, from anarchist bombings to united-front politics to DPRK cabinet, makes him the only figure to span the entire Korean revolutionary spectrum.
Career timeline
- 1919Founded the Heroic Corps, became its leader (Ŭibaek)
- 1926Enrolled in Whampoa Military Academy, 4th class
- 1935Founded the Korean National Revolutionary Party
- 1938Organized the Korean Volunteer Corps, became commander
- 1944Minister of Military Affairs, Provisional Govt.; Deputy Commander, Korean Liberation Army
- 1948State Inspection Commissioner, DPRK
- 1952Minister of Labor, DPRK
- 1957Vice Chairman, SPA Standing Committee
The founder of North Korea returned from the Soviet Far East
On 14 October 1945, more than 100,000 gathered at Pyongyang's sports ground for a rally honouring the liberating Soviet army. A Soviet general introduced 'the national hero and famous partisan leader, comrade Kim Il Sung.' Onto the podium stepped a 33-year-old — the crowd stared in disbelief, having expected a legendary guerrilla in his fifties.
After guerrilla activity against Japanese rule, he served with the Soviet Far East’s 88th Separate Rifle Brigade in the 1940s and rose to the center of power in northern Korea under Soviet occupation authorities after 1945. Having founded the DPRK in 1948, he concentrated party, state, and military power over decades.
Career timeline
- 1930sAnti-Japanese guerrilla activity in Manchuria
- 1942–1945Served with the Soviet 88th Separate Rifle Brigade
- 1945–1948Built a power base in northern Korea under Soviet occupation
- 1948–1972Premier and Workers’ Party leader
- 1961Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance with the USSR
- 1972–1994President of the DPRK
