Choe Yong-gon (official)
North Korean politician (1900–1976)
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Through Soviet Union, World War II and Communism
Early life and education
Choe was born in Taechon County, North Pyongan, Korean Empire in 1900. According to the CIA, he was raised in a landowning family. For his participation in the 1919 March First Movement, Choe was imprisoned by the Empire of Japan for three years until his release in 1922. Afterwards he emigrated to China where he studied at the Yunnan Military Academy and later the Whampoa Military Academy, graduating in 1924 and 1927 respectively.
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Career
Choe's first military deployment was to fight the Chinese Northern Expedition of 1927. He also took part in the Canton Communist riots in December later that year. He moved to Manchuria to form a guerrilla organization and military academy school to train the anti-Japanese guerrilla army. Choe joined the Chinese Communist Party and the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army in 1936.
He led a guerrilla unit against the Japanese after they occupied Manchuria (Manchukuo) in September 1931. In 1940, Choe and his troops had fled to the Soviet-Manchurian border in the Soviet Union and participated with the 88th Independent Brigade of the Soviet Army.
In 1945, he returned to Korea after Japan was defeated in World War II.
In 1946, he became the chairman of the Korean Democratic Party (KDP) and led this organization to a pro-communist course. He was, however, concurrently secretly a member of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea and tasked with keeping the KDP from becoming an independent political force. Afterwards, he came into more promotions and by February 1948, he was appointed the Chief Commander of the Korean People's Army.
Choe was the vice chairman of the People's Assembly of North Korea. On 10 July 1948, Choe formally addressed its members to inquire if any opinions were held regarding the constitution, of which there were none. A vote was held afterwards, where full majority voted in favor of the constitution. Choe then said that the Constitution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea had been "unanimously adopted without any amendments!" Assembly member Kim Tu-bong replaced the Taegukgi behind the tribune and replaced it with the new flag of North Korea, after which Choe declared the constitution to be in effect.
When Kim Il Sung was appointed as premier following the official proclamation of the DPRK on September 9, 1948, he was appointed the Minister of National Security. He was in fact the senior field commander for all the North Korean armies during the Korean War, from the first invasion of South Korea in June 1950 till the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed in July 1953.
In 1953, Choe was promoted to Vice Marshal and was made the Minister of Defence. In September 1957, he was removed from his position as Minister of Defense and made the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly, a largely ceremonial position. In this post, he was North Korea's nominal head of state. He was appointed as Vice President by the Supreme People's Assembly in 1972 and he left the office in 1974. He died in Pyongyang in 1976. Following his death he was given a state funeral.
Personal life
In his memoirs, Hwang Jang-yop, a former chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly who defected to South Korea said Choe was famous for being very hard to have close relations with, but in reality he was not that strict.
In 1970 there were reports of his deteriorating health, and after attending in November 1970 the KWP Congress and retaining his Vice-Marshal position, he departed for treatment in the German Democratic Republic.