Kim Chaek (, 14 August 1903 – 31 January 1951) was a North Korean revolutionary, military general, and politician. His birth name was Kim Hong-gye.

Life

Kim Chaek was born in Sŏngjin, North Hamgyong, Korea, in 1903. He and his family fled to Manchuria after Korea was colonized by Japan. In 1927, Kim joined the Chinese Communist Party and the Anti-Japanese movement to oppose the Japanese occupation. He was imprisoned for his resistance activities. After his release from prison, Kim joined the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army in 1935 and fought alongside Kim Il Sung. He fled to the Soviet Union to escape the Japanese conquest of the partisans in 1940. He lived in Khabarovsk where he met with Kim Il Sung and formed the 88th Special Brigade. After the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, he returned to Korea along with the Soviet Army in 1945. On September 9, 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established, Kim became the industry minister and deputy prime minister under Kim Il Sung. He was appointed number 2 Committee Vice Chairman in the Workers' Party of Korea. In the Korean War, he was a commander of the North Korean troops on the front lines. A Japanese history of the Kim Il Sung family claims that Kim Chaek was purged when he was found responsible for the failure at the Inchon landing, and died in January 1951 after an American military air raid bombing or was assassinated following a power struggle. Kim Il Sung's memoir With the Century states instead that Kim died of heart failure after a long night of work.

Posthumous honours

After his death, Kim Chaek's birthplace Haksong County, combined with the neighboring city of Songjin, was formally renamed to Kim Chaek City to commemorate his life and accomplishments. Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang and Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex in Chongjin are also named after him. He was awarded North Korea's National Reunification Prize in 1998.

Work