Pak Hon-yong

In this Korean name, the family name is Pak.

Pak Hon-yong
박헌영
Pak in 1948
Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee
2nd Central Committee
In office 24 June 1949 – 6 August 1953 Serving with Ho Ka-i
Chairman	Kim Il Sung
Vice Premier of the Cabinet
1st Cabinet of North Korea
In office 9 September 1948 – 3 March 1953 Serving with Hong Myong-hui, Kim Chaek, Ho Ka-i, Choe Chang-ik and Choe Yong-gon
Premier	Kim Il Sung
Minister of Foreign Affairs
1st Cabinet of North Korea
In office 9 September 1948 – 3 March 1953
Premier	Kim Il Sung
Preceded by	Post established
Succeeded by	Nam Il
Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party of South Korea Central Committee
In office 24 November 1946 – 30 June 1949 Serving with Yi Ki-sok
Chairman	Ho Hon
Chairman of the Communist Party of Korea Central Committee
In office 14 September 1945 – 24 November 1946
Preceded by	Post established
Succeeded by	Ho Hon
Personal details
Born	(1900-05-28)28 May 1900 Yesan, South Chungcheong Province, Korean Empire (now South Korea)
Died	(1955-12-18)18 December 1955 (aged 55) Pyongyang, North Korea
Citizenship	North Korean
Nationality	Korean
Spouse(s)	Joo Se-juk, Jung Sunnyen, Yi Sunkeum, Yun Lena
Children	Daughter: Vivian Park, Nathesa Park Son: Park Byungsam
Parent(s)	Lee Hakkyu (Mother) Park Hyin-ju (Father)
Education	Kyŏngsŏng Ordinary High School(1919)
Alma mater	KyungKi High School International Lenin School
Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl	박헌영
Hancha	朴憲永
Revised Romanization	Bak Heonyeong
McCune–Reischauer	Pak Hŏnyŏng
Art name
Chosŏn'gŭl	이정, 이춘
Hancha	而丁/而靜, 而春
Revised Romanization	Ijeong, Ichun
McCune–Reischauer	Ijŏng, Ich'un
Courtesy name
Chosŏn'gŭl	덕영
Hancha	德永
Revised Romanization	Deogyeong
McCune–Reischauer	Tŏgyŏng

Pak Hon-yong (Korean: 박헌영; Hanja: 朴憲永; 28 May 1900 – 18 December 1955^{[citation needed]}) was a Korean independence activist, politician, philosopher, communist activist and one of the main leaders of the Korean communist movement during Japan's colonial rule (1910–1945). His nickname was Ijong (이정) and Ichun (이춘), his courtesy name being Togyong (덕영).

During the Japanese occupation of Korea, he tried to organize the Korean Communist Party. When the Japanese authorities cracked down on the party, he went into hiding. After Korea's liberation, August 1945, he set up the Communist Party of Korea in the South, but under pressure from American authorities he moved to North Korea (then People's Committee of North Korea) in April 1948. He attended a meeting with Kim Ku and Kim Kyu-sik on the subject of Korean reunification.

On record, he collaborated with Kim Il Sung in the Korean War.^[1] Park Hun-young was surprised by the strength of President Syngman Rhee's crackdown. Rhee massacred Southern dissenters, as in the Jeju Uprising, the Mungyeong Massacre and the Bodo League Massacre. In 1955, on account of the defeat in the Korean War, he was sentenced to forfeiture of all property and death. Although the Soviet Union and China tried to dissuade Kim Il Sung from executing Pak,^[2] Pak was eventually executed for the fabricated accusation of being an American spy.^[3]

Biography

Early life

Pak was born to a yangban family of the Yeonghae Park lineage in Sinyang-myeon, Yesan County, South Chungcheong Province. However, he was the illegitimate son of a concubine.

In 1919, he graduated from Kyŏngsŏng Ordinary High School, now Kyunggi High School.^[4] In March 1919, he was involved in the March 1st Movement and later independence movements.

Political activities

In 1921, he joined the Shanghai branch of the Communist Party of Korea, Irkutsk faction. At this time, he was secretary of the Korean Communist Youth League. In January 1922, he participated in the Comintern Far East People's Representative Council in Moscow.

Pak Hon-yong was arrested in Korea in April 1922 and was charged with being a Communist Party organizer. He was released in 1924 and became active as a reporter for the newspapers Dong-a Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo.

Underground

On 18 April 1925, Pak Hon-yong became one of the founders of the Communist Party of Korea. From this point until the end of World War II his activities were clandestine.

Pak among other Korean students of the International Lenin School

In 1926, he appeared in court. During the trial, he feigned insanity and ate feces, with the result that he was acquitted in November of that year. Afterwards, he was confined to his home due to his supposed ill-health, but in December he escaped by way of Manchuria to reach the Soviet Union. It was only then that the Japanese realized that he was feigning madness.

In the Soviet Union, he was educated in the International Lenin School, returning home in 1940. Back in Korea, he was active in the resistance to Japanese rule.

After World War II

Pak Hon-yong and Lyuh Woon-hyung in 1946

Late in August 1945, the Communist Party of Korea (조선 공산당) was re-established, having been officially disbanded in 1928, and Pak became its secretary. Pak was the most prominent Communist in Korea at the time.^[5] On 5 January 1946, as its representative, he announced at a foreign and domestic press conference that, supporting the decision of the Moscow conference of great powers (UK, US, Soviet Union), Korea was now in the process of a "democratic revolution". After the December 1945 Moscow Conference, the Communist Party of Korea was oppressed by United States Army Military Government.

In September 1946, he was instrumental in organizing a general strike, which at its peak involved more than a quarter of a million workers.

In December 1946, he organized the Workers Party of South Korea known as (남로당), and became one of two vice chairmen.

South and North Korea negotiations and life in North Korea

From the left: Kim Il Sung, Anastas Mikoyan, Andrei Gromyko, Pak Hon-yong and Hong Myong-hui passing before the guard of honor at the Yaroslav Station. Moscow, March 1949

In April 1948, Pak visited North Korea for negotiations, along with Kim Ku and Kim Kyu-sik. In May 1948, the negotiations ended, and he remained in the North.

In September 1948, while keeping his role as secretary of the Workers' Party of South Korea, he became Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the newly established North Korean state.^[3]

Pak Hon-yong became secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea when the North and South parties united in April 1950. Pak was the vice chairman of the Politburo of the DPRK from 1949 to 1953,^[3] and Foreign Minister of the DPRK until he was ousted and arrested in 1953.^[3]

Korean War

According to secret documents of the former Soviet Union released in succession until 2002, Kim Il Sung and Park Hun-young always acted together until the detailed plans of the war were finally decided. Kim Il Sung and Park Hun-young were also on hand during their visit to Moscow from 30 March to 25 April 1950, when they were approved for war by Stalin. During the visit, Kim Il Sung and Park Hun-young met Stalin and received written instructions of detailed war plans.^[6]

Arrest and death

Pak Hon-yong, 1952

Pak Hon-yong was arrested on 3 August 1953 in a purge of the former members of the Workers' Party of South Korea (mainly domestic faction) by Kim Il Sung.^[3] On 15 December 1955, he was sentenced to death for espionage. The date of Pak's death is uncertain, though sources suggest that he was executed that same month.^[7][8][9]

Works

• Modern society and our duty
• Historical viewed of Christian inner

See also

• Communist Party of Korea
• Workers' Party of South Korea
• Workers' Party of Korea
• Korean independence movement
• Politics of North Korea

References

1. "야, 이 자식아! 전쟁이 잘못되면 나뿐 아니라 너도 책임이 있어!" [You bastard, if the war goes wrong, you're responsible, too!]. The Chosun Ilbo. 6 June 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
2. Ivanov, Vasily Ivanovich, Memorandum of Conversation with Kim Il Sung : April 19, 1956 Wilson Center Digital Archive
3. Lankov, Andrei (2013). The Real North Korea. Oxford University Press. pp. 13 to 14. ISBN 978-0-19-996429-1.
4. "영해박씨 박헌영". Bakssi Jokbo website. Retrieved 11 April 2006. ^{[dead link]}
5. Robinson, Michael E. (30 April 2007). Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey: A Short History. University of Hawaii Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-8248-3174-5.
6. "2010, 인물로 다시 보는 6·25". The Chosun Ilbo. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
7. Suh, Dae-Sook (1988). Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 136. ISBN 9780231065733.
8. Paige, Glenn D.; Lee, Dong Jun (1963). "The Post-War Politics of Communist Korea". The China Quarterly. 14 (14): 17–29. doi:10.1017/S0305741000020993. JSTOR 651340. S2CID 154816371.
9. Deane, Hugh (1996). "Review of The Origins of the Korean War by Bruce Cumings". Science & Society. 60 (2): 252–254. JSTOR 40403565.

External links

• Korea Times article by Andrei Lankov Archived 9 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine
• Brief profile
• Pak Hon-Yong:Nate
• 남로당지도자 박헌영 자료집 내는 아들 圓鏡스님
• 아버지 전집 펴내는 ‘박헌영 아들’ 원경스님
• "박헌영이 미제 간첩? 제국주의와 맞서 싸운 애국자" 오마이뉴스 2010년 01월 04일자
• 부러져버린 ‘인민의 고무래’ 박헌영 ① 경향신문
• 부러져버린 ‘인민의 고무래’ 박헌영 ② 경향신문
• 이정식 교수, '여운형은 박헌영파에 암살' 주장 - 동아일보 매거진

Preceded by -

Leader of Joseon Communist Party 1945-1946

Succeeded by