Pak Hon-yong
| Pak Hon-yong | |
| Hangul | 박헌영 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 朴憲永 |
| Revised Romanization | Bak Heon-yeong |
| McCune–Reischauer | Pak Hŏn-yŏng |
Pak Hon-yong (1900 – December. 1956) was one of the main leaders of the Korean communist movement during Japan's occupation (1910–1945).
Early life
He was born to a yangban family of the Yeonghae Park lineage in Sinyang-myeon, Yesan County, Chungcheongnam-do.
In 1919 he graduated from Kyŏngsŏng Ordinary High School, now Kyunggi High School.[1]
Political activities
In 1921 he joined the Shanghai branch of the Korean Communist Party, Irkutsk faction. 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. He 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 April 18, 1925 Pak Hon-yong participated in the founding of the Korean Communist Party. From this point until the end of World War II his activities were underground.
After WWII
Late in August 1945 the Korean Communist Party was re-established. It had been officially disbanded in 1928. He became its secretary. On January 5, 1946, as a representative of the Korean Communist Party, 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".
In December 1946 he organized the South Korean Workers' Party, and became its first secretary. In September 1948, whilst keeping his role as secretary of the South Korean Workers' Party, he became Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of North Korea.
Pak Hon-yong became secretary of the Korean Workers' Party when the North and South parties united in April 1950.
Arrest and death
Pak Hon-yong was arrested on August 3, 1953 in a purge of the South Korean Workers' Party faction by Kim Il-sung. On December 15, 1955 he was sentenced to death. According to recently obtained Russian documents, Pak was still alive as late as the summer of 1956. The Soviet ambassador to North Korea, Ivanov, discouraged Kim Il Sung from carrying out Pak's sentence as Pak's political career was ruined and by killing Pak, the North Korean leader might alienate South Korean progressives. Kim Il Sung rejected Ambassador Ivanov's advice, accusing him of meddling in internal North Korean matters, and suggested that the sentence would be carried out sooner rather than later. The date of Pak's death is uncertain.
Notes
- ^ "영해박씨 박헌영". Bakssi Jokbo website. Retrieved 2006-04-11.
See also
- List of Korea-related topics
- Korean independence movement
- List of North Koreans
- Politics of North Korea
