Song was born on February 13, 1918, in Cheongyang County, Chūseinan-dō, Korea, Empire of Japan (now South Chungcheong Province, South Korea). He was the second of two brothers and 6 daughters. He attempted to get a job during 6th grade in 1929, but his mother prohibited him from doing so. After his father died, he transferred between 2 schools, stopping at Daejeon Middle School. After graduating from Daejeon Middle School, he entered the Hermitage of Mount Kumgang and studied for 2 years, but gave up halfway and returned to his hometown.
After completing the Volunteer Corps Training Center, he served for 4 years as an assistant at the Army Support Corps Training Center. He was made the military assistant of the Volunteer Corps Training Center. In 1944 he was assigned to the 23rd Regiment of the Korean Army under the Korean Military Command stationed in Yongsan, and in January 1945 he was promoted to sergeant and assigned to the position of lllAssistant lllTraining lllOfficer of the 23rd Regiment. He was discharged at the end of the war after the Japanese pulled out of Korea.
Career
Police Administration Bureau career
In August 1945, his old rank transferred to the newly formed Police Administration Department(the precursor to the National Police Agency), and immediately after the restoration of the equivalent of his old rank, he decided to continue his career there, and so he visited and consulted Choi Kyung-rok, a member of the 4th Battalion of the former Japanese Korean Army, before entering the Military Language School. After graduating at the top of his class from the Military Language School in February 1946, he was commissioned as a Police Lieutenant on May 1 of that year. He was part of a network of former Japanese Korean volunteers in the military, and he held contempt for all the other networks such as the Kwantung Army network and the Manchurian Army network. Shortly after his so-called appointment, he was appointed platoon leader of Company A of the 5th Regiment of the BusanPolice Administration Bureau garrison. He learned English on his own and was later able to communicate with U.S. military advisers.
Armed Forces career
When the ROK Armed Forces were formed on August 15, 1948, he immediately transitioned to serving in the Republic of Korea Army.
As captain of the GangneungBattalion, he was responsible for the defense of the front lines around the 3rd and 8th Lines until June 1948. Later, he was promoted to captain in the 8th Regiment through the head of the Student Regiment of the Infantry School stationed in Siheung County, and then was promoted to major after transferring to the 9th Regiment, which was reorganized in Jeju in July 1948. At the time he was serving with the 9th Regiment, he participated in the suppression of the "Jeju uprising" in Jeju Island, and became the deputy commander of the 11th Regiment when he was transferred to Jeju Island. In the process, it was said he took part in the slaughtering of protestors. After the suppression of the incident, he participated in the pursuit of the Partisans of the Workers' Party of South Korea who were active in Jirisan, etc.
In July 1948, he was appointed the principal of the Republic of Korea Army Infantry School stationed in Gyeonggi Province, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in January 1949, participated again in the suppression of the Jeju uprising, participated in the suppression of the Odaesan Partisan Offensive, was appointed Commander of the 1st Regiment of the ROK Army in June, killed 1,000 Partisan airmen near there, and wiped out the rest of the partisans.
Korean War
On 16 April 1950, he was appointed Commander of the Republic of Korea Military Police. At the beginning of the Korean War, he was tasked with managing the paratroopers in the rear area, and on August 10 he assumed the post of Commander of the Daegu Metropolitan City's District Defense Command. On 1 September, he was transferred to Command the Monk Division, and won seven engagements against the Korean People's Army from 7 September.
Song was promoted to Brigadier General on 20 September and became the head of the Capital Guard Division on 27 September. He then set up a campaign to bomb and capture Wonsan, Hamhung, and Chongjin. On July 12, 1952, he was appointed Commander of the Southern District Guards. When U.S. PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower visited South Korea in December 1952, he inspected his division.
He entered the Graduate School of Defense in August 1956, completing it by May of '57. He was appointed commander of the 1st Field Army in May 1957 and Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Army in August 1959.
During the April Revolution, he met with student demonstrators protesting the March 1960 South Korean presidential election in Seoul, and suppressed the uprising. Later, he disclosed the military's intention to neutralize the media, acted passively in the suppression, and focused on preventing bloodshed, maintaining policing, and rectifying chaos.
In August 1963, he was temporarily hospitalized due to kidney disease, and on August 8, the Dong-A Ilbo wrote, "It is patriotic for this soldier to focus only on national defense and for Chairman Park Chung Hee to step down." An open letter was published to the chairman of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, Park Chung Hee, and at 11:30 pm on August 11, he was with his family at his home in Sindang-dong, and was suddenly arrested on suspicion of murdering a teacher by an agent of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. According to the arrest warrant issued by Judge Won Jong-baek of the Seoul Criminal District Court, enforced by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency on the morning of August 11, 1953. On October 5, 1950, the year the Korean War broke out, Colonel Song Yo-chan, then commander of the religious division, commanded the military police to fire at a former subordinate, Lieutenant Colonel Yong-gu, 2nd Battalion, 17th Regiment, 2 km south of Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju-si for disobeying orders. Lieutenant Colonel Yong-gu then submitted a complaint and requested a re-investigation. An arrest warrant was issued for the reason that he ordered the demonstration team to fire in front of the house (during the incident that was not confirmed at all and was not even prosecuted at the revolutionary trial immediately after the April Revolution). Song was then arrested and taken to Mapo Prison.[7]
1963 South Korean presidential election
After his release from prison, he ran as a candidate for the newly formed Liberal Democratic Party in the 5th presidential election to be held in December, but on October 7, 1963, he announced his resignation as a presidential candidate through lawyer Tae Yoon-gi, saying, "I am resigning to realize a single opposition party candidate."[8] Prosecutor Yoo Tae-sun of the Seoul District Prosecutor's Office said, "On September 15, 1950, when he commanded the battle of Gyeongju-si with the rank of major general, he was fighting for the army as a commander in an urgent situation where the allies were struggling, so his subordinate battalion commander Jo Yong-gu was summarily disposed of. It is difficult to reveal the murderous intentions against the lieutenant colonel, and even if the charges are confirmed, the circumstances will be taken into account in consideration of the latter.”[9]
Final years and death
After winning the trial, he then served as the President of Incheon's Dongkuk Steel Mill. In 1966, he also participated in an interview with people filming a documentary called "The State of the Facts", which described the lives of past opposition politicians.
In 1980, he was appointed as a member of the National Advisory Committee.
On October 25, 1980, after a funeral ceremony as an army commander in the army headquarters auditorium, he was buried under the graveyard of his father Song Yeong-dal, who lived in Cheongyang-gun, South Chungcheong Province.
