Pak Song-chol or Park Sung-chul (2 September 1913 – 28 October 2008) was a

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 ...

n politician who served as

Premier of North Korea The Premier of the Cabinet () is the head of government of North Korea and a key adviser to the Supreme Leader of North Korea. The office is also alternatively known as Prime Minister of North Korea. The prime minister of North Korea is the ...

from 1976 to 1977. He succeeded Kim Il. He also served as foreign minister from 1959 to 1970.

Biography

Born in Keishū, Keishō-hoku Prefecture (today North Gyeongsang Province) during the Japanese colonial period. Dropped out of

Sophia University Sophia University (Japanese: 上智大学, ''Jōchi Daigaku''; Latin: ''Universitas Sedis Sapientiae'') is a private research university in Japan. Sophia is one of the three ''Sōkeijōchi'' (早慶上智) private universities, a group of the to ...

in Japan. While studying abroad, he joined the

Japanese Communist Party The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...

. Participated in Anti-Japan Partisan in

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...

in April 1934. In 1936, youth member of the 1st corps of the 5th Army of the Tohoku Anti-Japanese Union. During the period, he was described as an extremely loyal and courageous youth member. In 1937, the second army 4th teacher 1st group. 1942, 1st platoon, 1st battalion, 1st battalion, 88th independent sniper brigade where he met

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

. In the spring of 1942, as a Soviet military reconnaissance officer, he was given the task of following the deployment situation of Japanese troops at the border. It should be a mission that ends in a week, but he did not return until autumn, during which he sent important information over radio signals.

North Korea

In 1948 Chief of Staff of the 3rd Division of the Korean People's Army (Colonel) . In 1950, he became the 15th division Commander and participated in 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 ...

. In September 1953 he was appointed Director of the Ministry of National Guard and Scouting. After that, he moved to the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

, and from August 1954, he served as envoy to the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and in May 1955 the ambassador. August 1956, International Director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Deputy Foreign Minister since October of the same year, and Foreign Minister in October 1959, until he retired in July 1970. During this time, in 1966 he also served as the Deputy Premier in the

Cabinet of North Korea The Cabinet of North Korea (''Naegak'') is, according to the Constitution of North Korea, the administrative and executive body and a general state-management organ in the Government of North Korea. The Cabinet's principal newspaper is ''Minju C ...

. In 1972, as deputy premier, he secretly visited

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

in the lead-up to the Joint Statement on reunification. He was appointed as

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

by the

Supreme People's Assembly The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the unicameral legislature of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea. It consists of one deputy from each of the DPRK's 687 constituencies, elected to five-year ...

in December 1977 and he left the office in October 1997. His last public appearance was in September 2003 in the viewing box at the 55th-anniversary commemoration inspection ceremonies in North Korea. He was one of the oldest former heads of government in the world.

Death and funeral

Pak died on 28 October 2008. A funeral committee was appointed with

Kim Yong-nam Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese f ...

as the chairman. Its members were: #

Jo Myong-rok Jo Myong-lok (12 July 1928 – 6 November 2010) was a North Korean military officer who held the military rank Chasu (Vice Marshal). In 1998, he was appointed First Vice-Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, Director ...

Kim Yong-il Kim Yong-il (; born 2 May 1944) is a North Korean politician who served as the Premier of North Korea from April 2007 to 7 June 2010. He was elected as Premier by the 5th session of the 11th Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) in April 2007, repla ...

Kim Yong-chun Kim Yong-chun (4 March 1936 – 16 August 2018) was a North Korean soldier and politician. He was a leader of the North Korean military. He held the North Korean military rank Chasu (Vice Marshal), was Vice Chairman of the National Defense Commi ...

Ri Yong-mu Ri Yong-mu (25 January 1925 – 27 January 2022) was a North Korean senior official who was a member of the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea, vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea and vice-marshal of the Korean P ...

Kim Kyok-sik General Kim Kyok-sik (; 5 October 1938 – 10 May 2015) was a defence minister of North Korea. Biography Kim Kyok-sik was born in 1938. He studied at Kim Il-sung Military Academy before being moved to Syria as North Korea's military attach ...

Kim Il-chol Kim Il-chol (, born 1933) is a former member of the North Korean National Defence Commission and former Minister for Defence. He was born in Pyongyang in 1933. He graduated from Mangyongdae Revolutionary School and the "Soviet Union Naval Aca ...

Jon Pyong-ho Jon Pyong-ho (, 20 March 1926 – 7 July 2014) was a North Korean officer and politician who served as the Chief Secretary of the Korean Workers Party (KWP) Committee of the North Korean Cabinet, and director of the DPRK Cabinet Political Burea ...

Choe Thae-bok Choe Thae-bok (born 1 December 1930) is a North Korean politician. He is a member of the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Workers' Party of Korea, and was Chairman (speaker) of the Supreme People's Assembly for nearly 21 years, from 1998 to 2 ...

Yang Hyong-sop Yang Hyong-sop (1 October 1925 – 13 May 2022) was a North Korean politician who served as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly and Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly from 1983 to 1998 (from 1994 it was form ...

Kim Kuk-thae Kim Kuk-thae ( ko, 김국태; 27 August 1924 – 13 December 2013) was an elder apparatchik of the Workers' Party of Korea, the ruling party in North Korea. Kim was born in North Hamgyong Province as the eldest son of Kim Il-sung's trusted ge ...

Kim Jung-rin Kim Jung-rin () (7 December 1923 – 28 April 2010) was a North Korean politician who was an alternate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, as well as a member of the Politburo and party secretary. ...

# Kim Ki-nam #

Choe Yong-rim Choe Yong-rim (, born 20 November 1930) is a North Korean politician who served as the Premier of North Korea from June 2010 to April 2013 and was a member of the 6th Presidium of the Workers' Party of Korea.

Kim Jong-gak Kim Jong-gak (; born 20 July 1941)
, KCNA, 29 September 2010. is a

# Kwak Pom-gi #

Ro Tu-chol Ro Tu-chol (, born 2 October 1950) is a Vice Premier of North Korea's cabinet and the Chairman of the State Planning Commission. During Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev's three-day visit to Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the c ...

Jon Sung-hun Jon Sung-hun ( ko, 전승훈; born October 27, 1951) is a North Korean politician. He was an alternate of the 7th Central Committee and a member of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and member of the 13th convocation of ...

Thae Jong-su Thae Jong-su (, born 20 March 1936) is a North Korean politician. He was a Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the director of the Munitions Industry Department of the WPK. He is a full member of the 7th Central Committee of ...

# Kim Yong-dae #

Ryu Mi-yong Ryu Mi-yong (14 February 1921 – 23 November 2016) was the chairwoman of the North Korean Chondoist Chongu Party. She was a standing committee member of the 10th Supreme People's Assembly. She was known as a South Korean defectors, defector fro ...

Kim Yong-ju Kim Yong-ju (; 1920 – 14 December 2021) was a North Korean politician and the younger brother of Kim Il-sung, who ruled North Korea from 1948 to 1994. Under his brother's rule, Kim Yong-ju held key posts including Politburo member in the Work ...

Ri Ul-sol Ri Ul-sol (리을설; 14 September 19217 November 2015) was a North Korean politician and military official. He played an important role in the administrations of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, achieving the rank of Marshal of the Korean People's ...

Kim Chol-man Kim Chol-man (김철만; 2 November 1920 – 3 December 2018) was a North Korean politician and military official. He was a member of several important committees and organizations, including the 6th Central Military Commission, the 6th Politb ...

Kim Ik-hyon Kim Ik-hyon ( ko, 김익현/金益鉉, 1921 - 15 January 2009) was a North Korean politician and military officer. He was member of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. He was elected to the 11th convocation of the Supreme Pe ...

Ri Jong-san Ri Jong-san (1922 - July 23, 2011) was a military officer and politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Biography He was born in China in 1922, He worked with Kim Il-sung as the first generation of anti-Japanese mountain guerrilla ...

# Pak Ki-so #

Ri Ha-il Ri Ha-il (1935 - ) was a general and politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He was Vice Marshal of the Korean People's Army. Biography Born in Ryanggang Province in 1935 during the Japanese colonial period, he graduated from ...

Jon Jae-son Jon Jae-son ( ko, 전재선/全載善or全在善; born 1940) is an army general and politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He is Vice Marshal of the Korean People's Army. Biography Born in 1940 during the Japanese colonial ...

# Kang Yong-sop #

Hong Sok-hyong Hong Sok-hyong ( ko, 홍석형) is a politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He was secretary of the WPK Central Committee and Director of the WPK Planning and Finance Department. Biography Born in Seoul in 1936 during the Jap ...

# Ri Kwang-ho # Kang Chang-uk #

Pyon Yong-rip Pyon Yong-rip ( ko, 변영립; September 20, 1929 - November 15, 2016) was a politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). He served as secretary of the standing committee of the Supreme People's Assembly and was a membe ...

# Thae Hyong-chol #

Jang Song-thaek Jang Song-thaek (January or February 1946 – 12 December 2013) was a leading figure in the government of North Korea. He was married to Kim Kyong-hui, the only daughter of North Korean Premier Kim Il-sung and his first wife Kim Jong-suk, and o ...

# Pak Nam-gi #

Kim Song-kyu Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese f ...

# Kim Yang-kon # Kang Kwan-chu #

O Kuk-ryol O Kuk-ryol (, born 7 January 1930) is a North Korean military general who served as Vice Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, as head of the Operations Department from April 2009 to June 2016. The son of O Jung-song and n ...

Choe Hui-jong Choe Hui-jong ( ko, 최희정) is a politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He is the Head of the Science Education Department of the Workers' Party of Korea and a member of the Central Committee of the Party. He was a delegate t ...

# Ju Sang-song # Jong Thae-kun #

Jong Chang-ryol Jong Chang-ryol ( ko, 정창렬, born 1923) is a North Korean general and politician. He was the Vice-Minister of the People's Armed Forces Department, the Chief of the People's Army, and member of the 12th convocation of the Supreme People's ...

Pak Jae-gyong Pak Jae-gyong (; born 10 June 1933) is a North Korean politician and soldier. A general in the Korean People's Army (KPA), Pak is a Vice Minister in the Ministry of People's Armed Forces as well as a member of the Central Committee of the Work ...

# Kim Sang-ik # Kim Thaek-ku # Yun Jong-rin #

Kim Yang-chom Kim Yang-chom ( ko, 김양점) is a North Korean general and politician. Biography He was born in 1944. In 1981 he became Senior Staff of the Department of Engineers of the Ministry of People's Armed Forces. In April 1991 he was appointed to Majo ...

Pak Ui-chun Pak Ui-chun ( or ; born 1935) is a North Korean diplomat and politician. He was the minister for foreign affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and was replaced by Ri Su-yong following the 2014 North Korean parliamentary election ...

# Ri Kil-song #

Kim Pyong-ryul Kim Pyong-ryul ( ko, 김병률; 1930- November 5, 2013) was a politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). President of the Supreme Court of North Korea and member of the 6th Political Bureau of the Workers' Party of ...

Ri Yong-chol Ri Yong-chol (; born 8 January 1991) is a North Korean footballer who currently plays as a defender for North Korean club Hwaebul Sports Club. International career Ri made his first senior international appearance in a friendly in and agains ...

# Kim Pyong-pal #

Ro Song-sil Ro Song-sil (, born 1960) is a North Korean politician. She has served as the chairwoman of the Central Committee of the Korean Democratic Women's Union (KDWU) and as a member of the 6th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. She was ...

Kim Yong-ho Kim Yong-ho (; born 2 September 1964) is a North Korean former footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American ...

# Jon Kil-su # Ra Tong-hui # Ri Kyong-sik # Ri Chu-o #

Ri Ryong-nam Ri Ryong-nam ( ko, 리룡남, born August 8, 1960) is a politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, serving as the DPRK's Ambassador to China since February 2021. With a background in economic affairs, Ri was a delegate to the 12th, ...

# Kim Pong-chol # Kim Yong-jin #

Mun Jae-chol Mun may refer to: People * Mun (Korean name), a Korean surname * Mun Bhuridatta (1870–1949), Thai bhikkhu * Thomas Mun (1571–1641) English writer on economics Places * Mun, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées, France * ...

Works

* * * * *

References

External links