Pak Hon-yong (; 28 May 1900 – 18 December 1955),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Togyong (), was a Korean independence activist, politician, philosopher, communist activist and one of the main leaders of the Korean communist movement during Japan's colonial rule (1910–1945). During the Japanese occupation of Korea, he tried to organize the Korean Communist Party. When the Japanese authorities cracked down on the party, he went into hiding. After Korea's liberation, August 1945, he set up the

Communist Party of Korea The Communist Party of Korea () was a communist party in Korea 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 Korea), s ...

in the South, but under pressure from American authorities he moved to North Korea (then

People's Committee of North Korea The People's Committee of North Korea () was a provisional government governing the Northern portion of the Korean Peninsula from 1947 until 1948. Established on 21 February 1947 as the successor of the de facto provisional government of the Pr ...

) in April 1948. He attended a meeting with

Kim Ku Kim Ku (; August 29, 1876 – June 26, 1949), also known by his art name Paekpŏm, was a Korean independence activist and statesman. He was a leader of the Korean independence movement against the Empire of Japan, head of the Provisional Gove ...

and

Kim Kyu-sik Kim Kyu-sik (, January 29, 1881 – December 10, 1950), also spelled Kimm Kiusic, was a Korean politician and academic during the Korean independence movement and a leader of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Kim served in var ...

on the subject of

Korean reunification Korean reunification is the hypothetical unification of North Korea and South Korea into a singular Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification of the peninsula while still maintaining two opposing regimes was started by the Ju ...

. On record, he collaborated with

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 led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. In 1955, on account of the defeat in the

, he was sentenced to forfeiture of all property and death. Although the Soviet Union and China tried to dissuade Kim Il Sung from executing Pak, Pak was eventually executed for the fabricated accusation of being an American spy.

Biography

Early life

Pak was born to a ''

yangban The ''yangban'' () were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon period. The ''yangban'' were mainly composed of highly educated civil officials and military officers—landed or unlanded aristocrats wh ...

'' family of the Yeonghae Park lineage in Sinyang-myeon, Yesan County,

South Chungcheong Province South Chungcheong Province (), informally called Chungnam, is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, province of South Korea in the Hoseo region in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula. South Chungcheong borders the provinces of Gyeonggi to ...

. However, he was the illegitimate son of a

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...

. In 1919, he graduated from Kyŏngsŏng Ordinary High School, now Kyunggi High School. In March 1919, he was involved in the

March First Movement The March First Movement was a series of protests against Korea under Japanese rule, Japanese colonial rule that was held throughout Korea and internationally by the Korean diaspora beginning on March 1, 1919. Protests were largely concentrated in ...

and later

independence movements Below are the articles listing active separatist movements by continent: * List of active separatist movements in Africa *List of active separatist movements in Asia *List of active separatist movements in Europe * List of active separatist m ...

Political activities

In 1921, he joined the

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

branch of the

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

faction. At this time, he was secretary of the Korean Communist Youth League. In January 1922, he participated in the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

Far East People's Representative Council in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. Pak Hon-yong was arrested in Korea in April 1922 and was charged with being a Communist Party organizer. He was released in 1924 and became active as a reporter for the newspapers '' The Dong-A Ilbo'' and ''

The Chosun Ilbo ''The Chosun Ilbo'' (, ), also known as ''The Chosun Daily,'' is a Korean-language newspaper of record for South Korea and among the oldest active newspapers in the country. With a daily circulation of more than 1,800,000, ''The'' ''Chosun Ilbo ...

'' under the names Ijong () and Ichun ().

Underground

On 18 April 1925, Pak Hon-yong became one of the founders of the Communist Party of Korea. From this point until the end of World War II, his activities were clandestine. In 1926, Pak appeared in court. During the trial, he feigned insanity and ate

feces Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...

, with the result that he was acquitted in November of that year. Afterwards, he was confined to his home due to his supposed ill-health, but in December he escaped by way of

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

to reach the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. It was only then that the Japanese realized that he was feigning madness. In the Soviet Union, he was educated in the International Lenin School, returning home in 1940. Back in Korea, he was active in the resistance to Japanese rule.

After World War II

Late in August 1945, the Communist Party of Korea () was re-established, having been officially disbanded in 1928, and Pak became its secretary. Pak was the most prominent Communist in Korea at the time. On 5 January 1946, as its representative, he announced at a foreign and domestic press conference that, supporting the decision of the Moscow conference of great powers (UK, US, Soviet Union), Korea was now in the process of a "democratic revolution". After the December 1945 Moscow Conference, the Communist Party of Korea was oppressed by United States Army Military Government. In September 1946, he was instrumental in organizing a

general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

, which at its peak involved more than a quarter of a million workers. In December 1946, he organized the Workers Party of South Korea known as (), and became one of two vice chairmen.

North–South negotiations and life in North Korea

In April 1948, Pak visited North Korea for negotiations, along with

and

. In May 1948, the negotiations ended, and he remained in the North. In September 1948, while keeping his role as secretary of the Workers' Party of South Korea, he became Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the newly established North Korean state. Pak became secretary of the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), also called the Korean Workers' Party (KWP), is the sole ruling party of North Korea. Founded in 1949 from a merger between the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea, the WPK is ...

when the North and South parties united in April 1950. Pak was the vice chairman of the Politburo of the DPRK from 1949 to 1953, and Foreign Minister of the DPRK until he was ousted and arrested in 1953.

Korean War

According to secret documents of the former Soviet Union released in succession until 2002, Kim Il Sung and Pak always acted together until the detailed plans of the war were finally decided. They were also on hand during their visit to Moscow from 30 March to 25 April 1950, meeting Stalin and receiving written instructions of detailed war plans.

Arrest and death

Pak was arrested on 3 August 1953 in a

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertaking such an ...

of the former members of the Workers' Party of South Korea orchestrated by

. On 15 December 1955, he was sentenced to death for espionage. The date of Pak's death is uncertain, though sources suggest that he was executed that same month.

Works

* ''Our Duties in Modern Society'' * ''Historical Views of the Christian Inner''

References

External links

''Korea Times'' article by Andrei Lankov

남로당지도자 박헌영 자료집 내는 아들 圓鏡스님

아버지 전집 펴내는 '박헌영 아들' 원경스님

"박헌영이 미제 간첩? 제국주의와 맞서 싸운 애국자"
오마이뉴스 2010년 01월 04일자

경향신문 * ttp://newsmaker.khan.co.kr/khnm.html?mode=view&code=116&artid=18395&pt=nv 부러져버린 '인민의 고무래' 박헌영 ②경향신문
이정식 교수, '여운형은 박헌영파에 암살' 주장 - 동아일보 매거진
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pak, Hon-yong 1900 births 1955 deaths 20th-century executions by North Korea People from Yesan County Korean communists Korean Marxists Activists for Korean independence Executed communists Executed politicians Executed revolutionaries People executed by North Korea by firing squad Executed North Korean people Executed South Korean people Korean revolutionaries Leaders of the Workers' Party of Korea and its predecessors Workers' Party of South Korea politicians Communist Party of Korea politicians Korean expatriates in China Korean expatriates in the Soviet Union People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union Foreign ministers of North Korea Vice premiers of North Korea Members of the 1st Supreme People's Assembly Vice Chairmen of the Workers' Party of Korea and its predecessors Members of the 1st Central Committee of the Workers' Party of South Korea Members of the 2nd Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 1st Political Committee of the Workers' Party of South Korea Members of the 1st Standing Committee of the Workers' Party of South Korea Members of the 2nd Political Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea Members of the 2nd Standing Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea International Lenin School alumni South Korean emigrants to North Korea