Commanders Korean People's Army 1950

[Brian Ross]

I'm presently researching the Korean War and have found a dearth of information about the war from the North Korean viewpoint. In particular, I'm looking for who the commanders of the Korean People's Army were and any biographical information there may be available about them. Does anybody have any suggestions as to where I could find that information in easily (preferably on the web) accessible form?

[Kim Sung]

Moo Jung (무정, 武亭), the commander of the 2nd Army was the best known North Korean commander in the initial phase of the war. He was blamed for defeats by Kim Il-Sung and purged later as a scapegoat.

He was known as the best artillery commander when he led Chinese Communist Army. According to some unproven accounts, Stalin wanted to scout him as artillery officer and tried to send a plane to bring him to the Soviet Union during the war against Germany.

[Kim Sung]

When the Korean War broke out, some North Korean commanders are as the following.


Kim Chaek (김책) - Front Commander (Secretly assassinated by Kim Il-Sung. Today's Kim Chaek Technology College was named after him)

Kang Kun (강건) - Chief Commander (Killed on trodding a mine at Mount Kumgang)

Yi Sang-Jo (이상조, 李尙朝) - Deputy Chief Commander (exiled into the Soviet Union later)

Yoo Sung-Chul (유성철) - Operations Chief

Yoo Kyoung-Soo (유경수) - Commander of the 105th Tank Division succeeded by today's formidable 820th division.

Choi Kwang (최광) - Commander of the 4th Division


Besides, PKA had commanders like Nam Il (남일, 南日), Jang Pyong-San (장평산, 張平山) who attended the armistice talks with USA.

[Brian Ross]

Thank you. Are there any (preferrably English) sources which provide biographical details about them?

[Kim Sung]

I'll search with these names and let you know.

[Kim Sung]

Sorry, I've searched for English sources for those North Korean generals but couldn't find any meaningful data. There are a lot of books on the Korean War, but I doubt there is any English book that has details on biographies of those generals.

[Kim Sung]

Besides, PKA had commanders like Nam Il (남일, 南日), Jang Pyong-San (장평산, 張平山) who attended the armistice talks with USA.

After graduating from the Tashkent college in 1939, Nam Il participated in the Great Patriotic War. He fought in the battle of Stalingrad and later participated in the battle of Warsaw in January 1945. He rose to the Chief Commander of NKPA and attended the armistice talks as the North Korean representative. He became the North Korean foreign minister after the war.

Nam Yong (남용, 南勇), the vice-president of the Chinese Football Association is Nam Il's son. Fearing Kim Il-Sung's purge, Nam sent his son to China in the 1950s. Nam Il was killed in a strange car accident in Pyongyang in 1976.

[Peter H]

According to Young Sik Kim Eyewitness: A North Korean Remembers:

Kang Kun

Sept. 8, 1950 - Kang Kun, commander-in-chief of the N Korean Front Army and many of his staff are killed by a land mine. Kang was born on June 23, 1918 in S Korea and joined Kim Il Sung's army in 1933...Two days later, Kim Il Sung holds a solemn funeral for Kang in Pyongyang.

Kang,far right:


http://web.archive.org/web/200306051451 ... angkon.jpg


Moo Jung

Kim Il Sung accuses Gen. Mu Chong of (1) illegally executing soldiers retreating from South and (2) not obeying Kim's order to defend Pyongyang to death. Gen. Mu rebuffed Kim's order and took his forces to Mukden (China) for regrouping. His forces would have been wiped out, had he obeyed Kim's order to stay put. Mu Chong is stripped of his rank and put in charge of a prison, and later in charge of construction gang. He was eventually turned over to the Chinese but died of an illness, a sad broken man.

Gen. Mu Chong went to China in 1920 and graduated from Henan Military Academy. Mu was commander of artillery of the 8th Route Army and participated in the Long March. He was active in Kim Tu Bong's Korean Independence League. He was the ranking Korean in Mao's Red Army. In Yenan,Mu formed the Korean Volunteers Army and trained Korean officers. Mu and his officers returned to N Korea in 1945.

Kim Il Sung says that the war has separated the loyal from the disloyal Party members and that proper measures will be taken to punish the disloyal irrespective of their position. Kim instructs the Inspection Committee headed by Ho Kai I, the ranking Soviet-Korean, to purge the Party. Ho is to purge 450,000 of the 600,000 Party members. (One year later, Kim purges Ho himself for Ho's excessive purging of the Party members.)

[Kim Sung]

Yi Sang-Jo (이상조, 李尙朝) - Deputy Chief Commander (exiled into the Soviet Union later)

A photo of Yi Sang-Jo at Panmunjom



http://bemil.chosun.com

[Kim Sung]

Besides, PKA had commanders like Nam Il (남일, 南日)

Nam Il at Panmunjom

[zhangyawei]

Besides, PKA had commanders like Nam Il (남일, 南日), Jang Pyong-San (장평산, 張平山) who attended the armistice talks with USA.

After graduating from the Tashkent college in 1939, Nam Il participated in the Great Patriotic War. He fought in the battle of Stalingrad and later participated in the battle of Warsaw in January 1945. He rose to the Chief Commander of NKPA and attended the armistice talks as the North Korean representative. He became the North Korean foreign minister after the war.

Nam Yong (남용, 南勇), the vice-president of the Chinese Football Association is Nam Il's son. Fearing Kim Il-Sung's purge, Nam sent his son to China in the 1950s. Nam Il was killed in a strange car accident in Pyongyang in 1976.

You are wrong! Nam Yong is NOT Nam Il's son!