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

n politician who served as

Premier of North Korea The premier of North Korea, officially the premier of the Cabinet of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is the head of government of North Korea and leader of the North Korean Cabinet. The premier is officially appointed by the Supre ...

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

Biography

Pak Song-Chol was born in Keishū, Keishōhoku-dō (today North

Gyeongsang Province Gyeongsang Province (; ) was one of the Eight Provinces of Joseon Korea. Gyeongsang was located in southeastern Korea. The provincial capital of Gyeongsang was Daegu. The region was the birthplace of the kingdom of Silla, which unified Korea i ...

) during the Japanese colonial period. He attended and dropped out of Sophia University in Japan. While studying abroad, he joined the Japanese Communist Party. Pak participated in Anti-Japan Partisan in

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

in April 1934. In 1936, he was a youth member of the 1st corps of the 5th Army of the Tohoku Anti-Japanese Union. During this 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 led as its first Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader from North Korea#Founding, its establishm ...

. He's the father of Pak Chun Bo, who had learned together with Kim Il Sung's son Kim Jong Il. 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 he was the 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 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 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 (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

, and from August 1954, he served as an 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 Vice Premier in the

Cabinet of North Korea The Cabinet of Democratic People's Republic of Korea () is the supreme administrative organ of North Korea. The Cabinet's official newspaper is '' Minju Choson''. History In North Korea's first constitution, adopted in 1948, the executive po ...

. In 1972, as vice premier, he secretly visited

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

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

Vice President A vice president or 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 vi ...

by the

Supreme People's Assembly The Supreme People's Assembly (SPA; ) is the legislature of North Korea. It is ostensibly the highest organ of state power and the only branch of government in North Korea, with all state organs subservient to it under the principle of unified ...

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 as the chairman.

Works

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References

External links