Kim Chon-hae (, Japanese reading: ''Kin Tenkai''; 10 May 1898, Ulsan-gun, South Gyeongsang – 1969?) was a

Zainichi Korean comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South ...

who was a leading figure in the

Japanese Communist Party The is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left List of political parties in Japan, political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing Communis ...

and a founder of the pro- communist League of Koreans in Japan, predecessor of the modern Chongryon. He was subsequently a politician in

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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

, holding posts connected to the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party ...

. Born in 1898 at

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

, in 1920 he moved to Japan and studied mathematics at

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice (Japan), Minister of Justice, in 1889. ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. While there, he organized a Korean workers' movement and was elected chairman of the Federal Union of Zainichi Koreans. Detained as a

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

, he was released on 10 October 1945 after Japan's defeat in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, and became a member of the executive committee of the JCP. Although the League of Koreans was founded as a non-political organization, his appointment as supreme adviser ensured its drift toward the left. Under Kim's influence, the League purged its anti-communist members and in February 1946 it joined the Korean

Democratic National Front Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. In 1951, Edward Wagner described Kim as "the man who probably is to be credited more than any other with shaping the League's political orientation and preserving its undeviating character". He subsequently moved to North Korea in 1950 and became a member of the

Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea The Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea ( ko, 조선로동당 중앙위원회) is the highest party body between national meetings of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the ruling party of North Korea. According to WPK rules, the ...

,Kim, p. 79. and from April 1956 he served as chairman of the Fatherland Front. He remained in the Front's presidium through the first half of the 1960s. North Korean official sources state that Kim died in 1969, but the actual date and circumstances of his death are unknown.

References

1898 births 1969 deaths Korean communists North Korean politicians Japanese Communist Party politicians Members of the 2nd Supreme People's Assembly Members of the 3rd Supreme People's Assembly Members of the 4th Supreme People's Assembly {{NorthKorea-politician-stub