Pak Hon-yong (Korean: 박헌영; Hanja: 朴憲永; 28 May 1900 – 18 December 1955[citation needed]) 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). His nickname was Ijong (이정) and Ichun (이춘), his courtesy name being Togyong (덕영).
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 in the South, but under pressure from American authorities he moved to North Korea (then People's Committee of North Korea) in April 1948. He attended a meeting with Kim Ku and Kim Kyu-sik on the subject of Korean reunification.
On record, he collaborated with Kim Il Sung in the Korean War.[1] Park Hun-young was surprised by the strength of President Syngman Rhee's crackdown. Rhee massacred Southern dissenters, as in the Jeju Uprising, the Mungyeong Massacre and the Bodo League Massacre. In 1955, on account of the defeat in the Korean War, 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,[2] Pak was eventually executed for the fabricated accusation of being an American spy.[3]
In 1921, he joined the Shanghai branch of the Communist Party of Korea, Irkutsk faction. At this time, he was secretary of the Korean Communist Youth League. In January 1922, he participated in the Comintern Far East People's Representative Council in Moscow.
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 Dong-a Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo.
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.
Pak among other Korean students of the International Lenin School
In 1926, he appeared in court. During the trial, he feigned insanity and ate feces, 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 to reach the Soviet Union. 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.
Late in August 1945, the Communist Party of Korea (조선 공산당) 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.[5] 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, 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 (남로당), and became one of two vice chairmen.
South and North Korea negotiations and life in North Korea
In April 1948, Pak visited North Korea for negotiations, along with Kim Ku and Kim Kyu-sik. 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.[3]
Pak Hon-yong became secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea 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,[3] and Foreign Minister of the DPRK until he was ousted and arrested in 1953.[3]
Korean War
According to secret documents of the former Soviet Union released in succession until 2002, Kim Il Sung and Park Hun-young always acted together until the detailed plans of the war were finally decided. Kim Il Sung and Park Hun-young were also on hand during their visit to Moscow from 30 March to 25 April 1950, when they were approved for war by Stalin. During the visit, Kim Il Sung and Park Hun-young met Stalin and received written instructions of detailed war plans.[6]
Arrest and death
Pak Hon-yong, 1952
Pak Hon-yong was arrested on 3 August 1953 in a purge of the former members of the Workers' Party of South Korea (mainly domestic faction) by Kim Il Sung.[3] 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.[7][8][9]
