Cho Bong-am (, 25 September 1898 – 31 July 1959) was a South Korean independence activist and politician, who ran for president in the South Korean presidential election in 1956. He was a founding member of the

Communist Party of Korea The Communist Party of Korea () was a communist party in Korea. It was founded during a secret meeting in Seoul in 1925. The Governor-General of Korea had banned communist and socialist parties under the Peace Preservation Law (see History of Ko ...

(조선공산당; 朝鮮共産黨) and the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

(진보당; 進步黨), a moderate socialist democratic party in South Korea which was one of the country's major political forces. In 1919, Cho Bong-am participated in

March 1st Movement The March 1st Movement, also known as the Sam-il (3-1) Movement (Hangul: 삼일 운동; Hanja: 三一運動), was a protest movement by Korean people and students calling for independence from Japan in 1919, and protesting forced assimilation ...

and was imprisoned for the duration of one year. Cho Bong-am studied in Japan and the Soviet Union. In the 1920s, he was active in the

Korean Communist Party The Korean Communist Party () was a communist political party organized in Shanghai, China and Irkutsk, Russia in 1921. It has its origins in the Siberian region after the Russian Revolution. It dissolved in 1922. Background It was an or ...

. After Japanese rule, Cho left the Communist Party in 1946, criticising it for its subservience to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. After the end of the

United States Army Military Government in Korea The United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) was the official ruling body of the Southern half of the Korean Peninsula from 8 September 1945 to 15 August 1948. The country during this period was plagued with political and eco ...

in 1947, Cho became the Minister of Agriculture under

Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...

's presidency. In 1952, Cho ran for the presidency for the first time against sitting president Rhee, and

Yi Si-yeong Seongjae Yi Si-yeong (Chosŏn'gŭl: 이시영; Hanja: 李始榮, December 3, 1868 – April 19, 1953) was a Korean politician, independence activist, educator and neo-Confucianist scholar. He was the first vice president of South Korea from ...

. He received only 0.8 million votes out of 5.2 million. The left-liberal Progressive Party was founded in the aftermath of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

under Cho's leadership. Cho and his followers were able to build a wide coalition with the country's leftist forces. Cho also successfully created coalitions with right-wing forces opposed to

's dictatorship. The party's founding and moderate success in Korea's hostile political environment is considered a large result of Bong-am's personal charisma. The Progressive Party advocated peaceful unification with

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, through strengthening the country's democratic forces and winning in a unified Korean election. Cho called for both anti-communist and anti-authoritarian politics, as well as advocating for social welfare policies for the peasants and urban poor. In the 1956 election, Cho ran against Rhee, the anti-communist

strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. Thes ...

president. Cho lost with 30% of the vote, which exceeded expectations. Following the election, the Progressive Party broke apart due to factionalism. Three years after the election, Cho was charged with espionage and receiving funds from North Korea. His first trial resulted in an acquittal but he was convicted in a second trial and was executed on 31 July 1959. His death sentence was posthumously overturned in 2011 by the South Korean Supreme Court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Bong-am 1898 births 1959 deaths People from Incheon Korean politicians Korean independence activists Agriculture ministers Korean revolutionaries Former Marxists South Korean anti-communists South Korean social democrats Korean educators Recipients of the National Reunification Prize People executed by South Korea Asian social liberals Communist University of the Toilers of the East alumni Korean expatriates in the Soviet Union