Labor Hero () is one of the highest titles of honor of North Korea and the highest decoration of the country overall. The award was probably scheduled for establishment in the summer of 1950, but 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 ...

postponed these plans. When the war had entered a phase of stalemate along the 38th parallel, the government had time to officially launch the decoration, originally under the name Korea Hero of Labor. 16 people were decorated Labor Heroes during the war and more since then. The decoration is based on its Soviet equivalent,

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

Specifications

Hero of Labor is the highest

title of honor A title of honor or honorary title is a title bestowed upon individuals or organizations as an award in recognition of their merits. Sometimes the title bears the same or nearly the same name as a title of authority, but the person bestowed do ...

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 borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. It is also the highest decoration of the country overall. Along with the title a gold medal is awarded. The medal features the

hammer and sickle The hammer and sickle (Unicode: ) is a communist symbol representing proletarian solidarity between industrial and agricultural workers. It was first adopted during the Russian Revolution at the end of World War I, the hammer representing wo ...

on a

five-pointed star A five-pointed star (☆), geometrically an equilateral concave decagon, is a common ideogram in modern culture. Comparatively rare in classical heraldry, it was notably introduced for the flag of the United States in the Flag Act of 1777 and si ...

. Immediately below it are the

Order of Kim Il Sung The Order of Kim Il Sung () is the highest order of North Korea, along with the Order of Kim Jong Il, and only second to one honorary title, the Hero of Labour. The order, named after the country's first leader Kim Il Sung, was instituted in ...

and

Kim Il Sung Prize The Kim Il Sung Prize () is an award given by the Government of North Korea to persons in various fields who demonstrate exemplary service to the values of ''Juche'' idea. Past winners include the Korean composer Kim Won-gyun, judoka Kye Sun-hui, ...

s. It is awarded independently of the similar award of Order of Korean Labour. If someone is awarded it twice, they become a "Double Labor Hero" ().

History

Hero of Labor was probably scheduled to be established in the summer of 1950, but the breaking up of the

halted the plans. Only when the war reached a stalemate along the 38th parallel did the government have time to concentrate on its awards system. Hero of Labor was promulgated on 17 July 1951 and it became the highest civilian award of the country. The title is based on its

Soviet 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 ...

equivalent,

. It was initially promulgated as Korea Hero of Labor, using the Korean word ''Choson'' (). This set it apart from the related Order of Labor whose full name was "Korean People's Republic Order of Labor". This is likely because North Koreans copied every detail of the decorations of the Soviet Union, some of which featured the longer name of the country, "Soviet Union", and others simply "Soviet". During the war, 16 people were decorated Labor Heroes. Once the war was over, surprisingly,

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 ...

was not awarded the title. He received one only on 7 September 1958, probably because he had consolidated his position in power following the 1956 attempted ''

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

'' known as the August Faction Incident.

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...

was never awarded one, leading observers to conclude that the prize did not have much political value at least at that time. In more recent times, it has been habitually awarded to mothers who have given birth to exceptionally many children.

Recipients

References

Works cited

*{{cite book, author=Lim Jae-Cheon, title=Kim Jong-il's Leadership of North Korea, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ag16AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81, year=2008, publisher=Routledge, location=New York, isbn=978-1-134-01712-6, ref={{SfnRef, Lim, 2008 Orders, decorations, and medals of North Korea Hero (title)

Specifications

History

Recipients

See also

References

Works cited