Kim Kwang-hyop

Kim Kwang-hyop (Korean: 김광협, 1915 - 1970) was a politician anti-Japanese activist and a military officer and politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He served as Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.[1]

Kim Kwang-hyop
Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army
In office August 1953 – September 1957
Minister of People's Armed Forces
In office September 1957 – 1962
Personal details
Born	1915
Died	1970 (aged 54–55)
Nationality	Korean
Political party	Workers' Party of Korea

Kim Kwang-hyop
Chosŏn'gŭl	김광협
Hancha	金光俠
Revised Romanization	Kim Gwanghyeop
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Kwanghyŏp

Kim Kwang-hyop (second row from top, second person from right) with the 88th Separate Rifle Brigade in 1943

Biography

He was born in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, in 1915. In 1930, at the age of 16, he moved to China and graduated from Huangpu Military Academy, where he worked as an anti-Japanese partisan. In 1935 he joined the Communist Party of China, and in 1940 he served as the second member of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army's Second Army. After the fall of the Japanese Empire, he became the commander of the military district of the Northeast Democratic Army of the Soviet Union.

At the onset of the Korean War he was the commander of the Second Army of the Korean People's Army.[2] After the armistice of the Korean War, he was promoted to the Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army. He served as a delegate to the Supreme People's Assembly in following the 1957 North Korean parliamentary election and from September that year until October 1962 he was also Minister of People's Armed Forces.

In 1970, he criticized the only system of Juche ideology and was politically purged.

References

1. Communism in Korea: The society, p. 935
2. North Korea: How Did It Prepare for the 1950 Attack? in Army History No. 49 (Spring 2000), pp. 1-15