[Signups] Springtime of Nations IV: Dear Leader

[etranger01]

The Premise

Welcome to Springtime of Nations, the game of alternate history and organized chaos. In this fourth installment, Dear Leader, you play a prominent figure in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, colloquially known as North Korea, working to chart an independent course for your nation despite being surrounded on all sides by potential enemies. The DPRK is characterized by its uncomfortably close ties between the state and the military, making the distinction between political and military figures largely a matter of duties and fashion rather than any real difference.

The game begins on January 22, 1968, following the spectacular if ill-fated attack on South Korean president Park Chung-hee in his official residence the day before. Though the failure is embarrassing, the debacle may not be complete; the United States is neck-deep in the Vietnam War, and other opportunities are always around the corner. After all, the Supreme Leader's prestige is on the line...

The Game

Unlike previous Springtime of Nations games, I've dispensed entirely with the game mechanics. Actual ability means almost nothing in the insular world of North Korean politics and the primary concern of most officials and officers should be in how much regard they are held by the Supreme Leader.

Everyone plays one (1) character. Your character can either be a member of the Kim dynasty or a non-historical original character. Currently playable Kim scions include Kim Jong-il and Kim Man-il (who survived because this is alternate history), with future legitimate sons becoming available for play as the game progresses.

Anyone interested in playing a Kim scion must also include a submission for an original character; if they're not selected for a Kim, then they'll play the original character instead. Non-historical illegitimate Kim children are permitted as original characters, but they don't get special orders and aren't eligible for succession.

Unlike normal games where players have their own independent fiefdoms, armies, and spheres of influence, in Dear Leader the principal aim is to influence the decision-making process of the Supreme Leader, Kim Il-sung (played by the GM). Orders may be used for independent action as well, but personal autonomy is sharply limited within the DPRK and attempts at carving out individual fiefdoms tend to be frowned upon.

One of the principal focuses of the game is the internecine power struggle ongoing within the Kim dynasty. No formal heir has been confirmed or presented to the North Korean hierarchy, so while Kim Jong-il is the most likely candidate due to his status as firstborn, anything is possible. The game will likely end when one of the potential heirs has firmly cemented his position as the anointed successor: the Dear Leader.

How to Play

Players are expected to regularly post in-character statements and to send orders for each turn, which will comprise one year of in-game time. In-character posts should be your character's public actions and rhetoric, ideally on the issues of the day or their personal agenda. Orders should be sent to me in a private conversation using the title format [SoN: DL - Character Name]. Each order submission should include the relevant year, which kind of order is being used, if the order is public or covert, and if the order is part of a conspiracy (if so, name the other participants of whom you're aware).

Everyone gets two (2) regular orders per turn except the Kim scions, who get one (1) regular order and one (1) dynastic order. Regular orders can be used for virtually anything. Dynastic orders are stronger than regular orders and reflect the Kim scions' greater influence with the Supreme Leader. Regular orders can either be public or covert; if they're covert, then the origin of the order is disguised. Dynastic orders are never covert. If you submit one order instead of two orders, it will be more effective. If a Kim scion submits one order, it'll automatically be considered a dynastic order.

Conspiracies are what happens when multiple players work together to submit joint orders. All or part of a conspiracy can be covert and it can comprise either regular or dynastic orders. Conspiracy orders are greater than the sum of their parts and can be used to substantially shift DPRK policy or influence the Supreme Leader. Conspiracy orders, if revealed, are more likely to result in the Supreme Leader experiencing uncomfortable paranoia in your general direction.

If you send covert orders and their results aren't publicly visible in the updates, then you'll probably get a PM from me with the results shortly thereafter.

The public update will be an official news statement from DPRK state media and written in-character from that perspective.

If I don't see you posting in the thread regularly or if you fail to send orders without a valid reason, then I'll give you a warning, followed by the boot.

The North Korean Government

The government of the Democratic People's Republic is intentionally Byzantine and opaque. The DPRK's national legislature, the Supreme People's Assembly, is a rubber-stamp body with regular meetings that routinely confirm all motions put forward by the government. The North Korean judiciary is a joke and most detentions and sentences are imposed arbitrarily by the military.

All actual power in North Korea flows from the Supreme Leader, Kim Il-sung, who also serves as Premier of the Democratic Republic, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army. The Workers' Party of Korea (WPA) and Korean People's Army (KPA) are the two bodies with real influence in the country. Typically, Kim Il-sung's advisors are either Party officials or military officers.

Party officials typically lead a bureau, department, or organization within the DPRK. Players are permitted to use actual known bureaus or make their own. Conflicting bureaus are permitted and even encouraged, as there are many overlapping official organs. Authority is largely a function of what the official is granted by the Supreme Leader.

Likewise, military officers may have whatever rank they like below Supreme Commander, though they may not have original or custom ranks, as such behavior is considered a direct threat to the Supreme Leader's authority. Given the lack of actual military operations following the Armistice, it is unlikely that an officer will actually be called upon to lead in the field. As such, their formal rank is less important than their clout with the Supreme Commander.

Submissions

Character submissions are as follows:

Name: Your character's name.

Birthdate: Your character's date of birth and starting age.

Title: Your character's title or military rank.

History: A brief summary of your character's life up until this point.

Deadline

I'll probably keep this up over the weekend. Ask any questions you might have on irc.theairlock.net, room #WiR_Main.

 

[MastahCheef117]

Chong Kyung-ho (총 큥호)
born 17 July 1917 (50 years old)​

Spoiler: Positions & Ranks

Korean People's Army Ground Force
Private, 1950 – 1952
Lance Corporal [skipped]
Corporal [skipped]
Corporal first class, 1952
Junior Sergeant [skipped]
Sergeant [skipped]
Staff Sergeant, 1952 – 1953
Chief Master Sergeant, 1953
Junior Lieutenant [skipped]
Lieutenant, 1953 – 1955
Senior Lieutenant, 1955 – 1958
Captain, 1958 – 1960
Major, 1960 – 1961
Lieutenant Colonel, 1961 – 1963
Colonel, 1963 – 1965
Senior Colonel [skipped]
Major General, 1965 – present

Worker's Party of Korea
Member, 1955 – present

Central Committee, 1955 – 1962, 1964 – present

Politburo, 1964 – present​

Other
Secretary and deputy advisor on military affairs to the Premier, 1962 – 1964

Biography: Son of the famous Senior Colonel Chong Kyung-nam, a seasoned veteran of the Fatherland Liberation War and later Minister of Defense (and who died in 1965 at the age of 72), Chong Kyung-ho grew up admiring his father, but eventually came to be enamored with the Great Leader even more. Shortly after the Fatherland Liberation War broke out, Chong enlisted to serve in the Korean People's Army, serving as a private in the Ground Forces for the first months of the war. He displayed heroism in the Changjin Lake Campaign and in the Chinese-led Fifth Phase Offensive, earning him commendations from his superiors. He was wounded during the Battle of Wendengli, and again during the Shangganling Campaign the following year, the result being the loss of his right pinky finger and the loss of most motion (and therefore use) in his right ring finger. Despite these otherwise crippling wounds as an enlisted soldier, he was noted by his superiors for his “quick grasp of the larger situation” and “keen strategic eye” and was promoted first to Corporal first class, and then to Staff Sergeant. On 25 July 1953, three days before the armistice, Chong was promoted to Chief Master Sergeant, and on 30 July to full Lieutenant.

After marrying in 1954 and fathering two twin girls the next year, Chong joined the Worker's Party of Korea, mostly at the urging of his father, who then had just been appointed to a senior position in the Ministry of Defense. Chong, due to his efforts and sacrifices in the War (but more probably due more to his status as the son of an important government official), was promoted to a position on the Central Committee of the WPK within a matter of months. During the final years of the decade and into the 1960s, Chong received several promotions in the Army, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel the same week that his father was appointed Minister of Defense by the Great Leader. Chong took a two-year absence from the Central Committee to serve briefly as “secretary and deputy advisor on military affairs” to Premier Kim. For his efforts here, he was reinstated to the Central Committee and given an additional position in the Politburo of the Central Committee, significantly improving his position within the Party. In 1965, two weeks after his father's death, Chong received a promotion in the People's Army Ground Force to the rank of Major General [Brigadier General in inhuman capitalist Western armies].

 

[oxfordroyale]

Comrade Jin Tae-suk
??.??.1917 (50 years old)​

Spoiler: Positions to date

Soviet Law Enforcement & Intelligence
Soviet police investigator/NKVD operative, 1939 - 1946

North Korean Law Enforcement & Intelligence
North Korean police chief, 1946 - 1947
Chief of the Department of State Protection, 1947 - 1951

Cabinet of Ministers
Minister of People's Security, 1951 - present
Minister of the Interior, 1952 - present (merged position)

Workers' Party of Korea
Member, 1949 – present
Central Committee, 1948 – present
Politburo, 1954 – present

Bio: Jin Tae-suk was born in the U.S.S.R. sometime in 1919 and arrived in Korea in September 1946. He was one of several hundred ethnic Koreans from the Soviet Union who were dispatched to Pyongyang in the wake of the military occupation of North Korea at the end of the Second World War. While most were sent in order to act as interpreters and advisers for the occupation authorities and those who were to lead the new regime, Jin was set with a different purpose entirely - to build a state security force, a tool of political repression meant to shape North Korea into its desired form by all means necessary.

An intensely secretive person who has gone to great lengths to hide the details of his early life, much of Jin Tae-suk origins are a mystery. What is known is that Jin was a police investigator in the Soviet Union or an operative of Soviet intelligence. Soviet Koreans with reliable political credentials were often prime choices for intelligence operatives during the 1930s and 40s, and his being related to the NKVD would go a long way in explaining the speed at which he ascended the ranks of the North Korean police bureaucracy so soon after his arrival. By 1947 - barely a year after he left Moscow - Jin had been promoted to the rank of a high-level official in the police, and he would go on to be appointed head of the Department of State Protection (the political police) that same year. In 1951 he became the first head of North Korean state security, the Ministry of People's Security, which he has held ever since. In 1952 this position was merged with the responsibilities of Minister of the Interior.

While the North Korean state was not particularly repressive in its earliest years, in the late 50s Jin oversaw a large-scale purge of the North Korean government, military and general population with the intent of crushing any and all opposition to Kim Il-sung, no matter how slight. While originally making a public display of accused traitors, Jin and his bureaucracy changed their techniques from 1956 onward by moving from staging show trials for Kim's political enemies to "disappearing" them instead, giving them the appearance of having vanished without explanation or evidence. Prison camps were set up in the remotest corners of the mountainous country where families of the victims would be sent to serve the state.

Foremost among those purged in the late 1950s were officials with Soviet and Chinese connections. While a Soviet-Korean himself, Jin Tae-suk did not ever truly count himself a member of their faction and as such was more than happy to assist in their destruction at the hands of his leader. For his part, Kim Il-sung tolerated a Soviet-Korean in such a key position due to Jin’s firm links with Moscow, associations which made him a rather difficult individual to remove. As North Korea has become more and more estranged from the Soviet Union, however, this holds little and less weight. More importantly, Jin's ready obedience to Kim over many years and his success in growing North Korea's security apparatus has seemingly ensured his personal well being - for now.

 

[aedan777]

Name: Moon Jeong-Hun
Birthdate: May 14, 1922
Title: Minister of Public Enlightenment
History: Moon's childhood was one of suffering under the iron bootheel of Japanese Capitalistic Imperialism. Much of his close family would be killed or abused during those long years of occupation. When Korea was finally liberated by the Soviet Union, Moon was quick to welcome his saviors. The true government of Korea needed as much support as it could get to finish the liberation for those still oppressed in the south, and Moon would be part of the Korean People's Army in the Fatherland Liberation War, where he earned minor decoration for his heroic efforts in the struggle. Following the eventual stalemate that ensued, Moon shifted his ascendency to the political sphere, taking up a minor position in the Ministry of Public Enlightenment, to ensure that all Koreans were fully and properly informed of the glory of Kim il-Sung and the great nation he led.

Though his stunning dedication and the unfortunate necessity of the removal of many of his superiors, Moon came to be the Minister of Public Enlightenment in early 1967, after over a decade of service. Since his ascension, Moon has become well known for his loud and constant proclamations in support of the Great Leader and his actions, as well as his numerous verbal assaults against the evils of capitalism and imperialism projected by the United States.

 

[Ab Ovo]

Comrade Ae Hyeon-U
President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Democratic People's Republic
Secretary of the Central Administrative Department of the Workers' Party of Korea

Born August 7th, 1901 (67 years old)
​

Born in Wonsan under the Korean Empire, Ae Hyeon-U was not a man particularly destined for greatness. He was still a child when the Japanese occupation of Korea began and his family was able -- mainly through greasing Japanese palms -- to maintain their comfortable lifestyle; to the point of being able to send their scion abroad after the 1919 Man-se Demonstrations rapidly escalated tensions in the Japanese colony. Educated initially in France, the frosty reception guaranteed to an Asian in the West compelled Ae to leave the country before formally completing his occupation. He would never forget the few Frenchmen at university who treated him as a fellow rather than a foreigner: the socialists.

Eventually ending up in Shanghai, Ae quickly became involved in China's nascent Korean independence movement and rapidly ascended the ranks until he served as the personal secretary to, and friend of, Kim Koo. Koo was a very influential man in the Korean independence movement for the majority of its life and served many times over as Prime Minister or President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea; and a close connection with him was worth its weight in gold within the Korea expatriate community. Ae accompanied him to the fatherland after the Liberation of Korea and also participated in Koo's visit with Kim Il-Sung in the days before the peninsula's division. Whereas Koo found the influence of Communism in northern Korea disturbing, however, and found Kim to be a buffoon Ae was enraptured by this charismatic man and the socialist utopia he was building. When Koo departed for the south, his old friend stayed behind.

Ae was never able to completely gain the trust that would have been necessary to have actual clout due to the overwhelming negative perception of the 'reactionary' Provisional Government by the DPRK and his longstanding association with it. However, through a combination of modest political acumen and near-superhuman efforts to be as nondescript as possible Ae was able to quietly advance through the ranks. His fluency in Chinese and lingering ties with a few Chinese officials would come in handy during the Korean War and unlike many others -- who found opportunities on the front -- Ae would make a name for himself as a high-level liaison between the WPK and the CCP; renewing connections in the Chinese government and slowly ingratiating himself with Beijing.

Now, over a decade after the War, Ae has ascended to what may be the pinnacle of his personal power. Finishing up his first 5-year term as President/Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (having studied law in France, he was considered a good figurehead) he expects to be re-elected shortly by the Presidium; and was recently appointed to the position of Secretary of the Central Administrative Department of the WPK. Although the Secretariat of the Central Administrative Department does, indeed, sound impressive it has never been made clear to him or anyone else what exactly his job entails. Truth be told, he prefers it that way. Little is known about Ae's personal life or interests, even by those within the North Korean apparatus of state. It is believed he has a wife and child -- as well as possibly his elderly parents -- but he keeps them well out-of-sight in any case; undoubtedly in an attempt to limit fallout should he be taken down in a purge. The only vague glimmer of personality lies in the articles he occasionally has published in Rodong Sinmun under the effeminate nom de plume of 'Minseo'. Unusually for the organ of a communist party his articles are generally about religion; specifically laying the groundwork for the possible apotheosis of Kim Il Sung within a Korean philosophical/shamanic context.

​

​

 

[Dadarian]

Comrade Kim 'Shura' Man-il
Individual of Importance but No Describable Position within the DPRK

Born 1944 (24 years old)
​

Soviet records show that he was born Alexander Irsenovich Kim (Russian: Александр Ирсенович Ким) in 1944 in the Russian village of Vyatskoye. Inside his family, he was nicknamed Shura. Official North Korean biographies state that Shura and his older brother Kim Jong-il got along very well and played together.

Korean based sources indicate that in the summer of 1947 or 1948, Shura and his brother were playing in a pond in the city of Pyongyang, where Shura was in a mysteriously accident. Luckily, the actions of Kim Jong-il in getting his father's guard saved Shura's life. Since then, the relationship between Jong-il and Man-il has only gotten closer, with Shura loyally standing with his older brother when need be.

 

[Noco19]

Comrade Ŏ Dong-Ho
Member of the Politburo
Department Head of Room 33

Born August 7th, 1920 (48 years old)​

Born on the island of Jeju to poor fishermen, the childhood of Ŏ Dong-Ho was that of tension, his family heavily involved in anti-Japanese activities, especially throughout the 1930s. When the Japanese cracked down following the rise of the sea-women revolt, Ŏ Dong-Ho lost many of his kin to the overt retaliation from authorities. Scarcely educated and something of a rural yokel, Ŏ Dong-Ho nonetheless knew of the Communist ideals, which led him to flee to the northern mainland to rally behind the forces of Kim Il-Sung.

Little is public about the time Ŏ Dong-Ho spent in early service to the state other than he worked primarily in state security and propaganda. Prior to his current position, his most notable role was that of Second Deputy of the Organization and Guidance Department within the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea from 1963 to 1966. While not formally powerful, his presence was noted as influential.

Now a member of the Politburo, it is known that Ŏ Dong-Ho heads the Central Committee Bureau 33 of the Korean Workers' Party, more commonly known as 'Room 33'. Distorted in secrecy and rumors, ostensibly Room 33 is an innocuous department meant to assist in coordination between the various ministries pertaining to state security, however in actuality it serves as another organ in pursuit of strict ideological purity, tasked with monitoring its colleagues across state security and policing adherence to the values of the state. Supposedly meant to report to the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Ŏ Dong-Ho is moreso seen as a direct link to the Dear Leader.

 

[etranger01]

@MastahCheef117 - Approved.

@oxfordroyale - Approved.

@aedan777 - Approved.

@Ab Ovo - Approved.

@Dadarian - No.

@Noco19 - Approved.

 

[Maxwell500]

Comrade Kim Jong-il
Beloved Son of Mount Baekdu​

Born February 16th, 1942 (26 years old)​

Spoiler: Biography

Comrade Kim Jong-il was born in the secret camp on Mount Baekdu on February 16, Juche 31 (1942), in a historical period when a new advance was being made in the development of the Korean and world revolution.

Comrade Kim Jong-il's family was a patriotic and revolutionary family in a way unprecedented in history.

His father, Comrade Kim Il-sung, was the father of the Korean nation, the founder of socialist Korea and the leader of the Korean people.

Comrade Kim Il-sung was a thinker, theoretician, politician and militaty strategist who performed outstanding exploits for the Korean and world revolution, as well as for the times and mankind.

His mother, Kim Jong-suk, was a communist revolutionary fighter who, under the guidance of Comrade Kim Il-sung, devoted her whole life to the struggle for the restoration of the country and the freedom and happiness of the people.

His grandfather, Kim Hyong-jik, leader of the anti-Japanese national liberation movement, was a pioneer in shifting the direction from the nationalist movement to the communist movement in Korea.

His grandmother, Kang Pan-sok, his grandfather's younger brother, Comrade Kim Hyong-gwon, his uncle, Comrade Kim Chol-ju and his maternal uncles, Comrades Kim Ki-jun and Kim Ki-song, were also revolutionary fighters who dedicated their lives to the cause of national restoration.

His patriotic and revolutionary family, all of whose members had fought for the country and the people through generations, became the foundation which rendered it possible for Comrade Kim Jong-il to grow acquiring the traits of a people's leader from his early years.

From his childhood Comrade Kim Jong-il was extraordinarily clever and wise.

From his early years Comrade Kim Jong-il possessed the power of keen observation, the power of clear analysis and extraordinary perspicacity with regard to things and phenomena. He had a faculty for creative thinking, regarding every problem with an innovative eye.

Courageous and ambitious, Comrade Kim Jong-il did everything in a big way; he had a strong and daring character which enabled him to carry any difficult task to completion with his own efforts once he started it.

Possessed of warm human love and broadmindedness, he was always generous, unceremonious and warm-hearted among people.

His unusual natural disposition was nurtured, so developing the traits and quality of a future revolutionary and leader, thanks to the exceptional education he received from his parents.

What his father had told about the lofty idea of Jiwon (Aim High) cherished by his grandfather, about the struggle of his family in Mangyongdae who had devoted themselves to the country and the revolution through generations, about the patriotic predecessors of Korea, the anti-Japanese revolutionary forerunners and about the members of the Children's Corps embedded revolutionary spirit in his heart as a boy. In particular, the unremitting revolutionary activity of his father, Comrade Kim Il-sung and the personality of his mother, who was helping his father's revolutionary activity with all devotion, made the filial piety to his father in Comrade Kim Jong-il's heart sublimate into loyalty to the leader.

Indeed, Comrade Kim Jong-suk was a great mother of the revolution who laid the foundation to carry forward the revolutionary cause of the great leader Comrade Kim Il-sung through generations.

Growing up in the days of the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle and in the period when a new country was being built, as well as in the flames of the fierce Fatherland Liberation War, Comrade Kim Jong Il cultivated uncommon qualities and disposition through his experiences of real life, and through his practical activity.

Witnessing the activity of Comrade Kim Il Sung who was handling all the problems, without a day’s rest, in the building of a new country after liberation, and also spending his days at the Supreme Headquarters of the Korean People’s Army accompanying President Kim Il Sung during the Fatherland Liberation War, Comrade Kim Jong Il experienced many events to be particularly noted in history. Especially, during the war, he was greatly impressed by Comrade Kim Il Sung’s outstanding and seasoned ability of leadership, indomitable will, outstanding military wisdom and noble virtues. He strengthened his conviction that because we were led by Comrade Kim Il Sung, it was possible for us to shape the destiny of the country and the people and win the war.

In the song The Embrace of My Motherland written in 1952 Comrade Kim Jong Il gave a truthful depiction of his conviction and determination to be loyal to Comrade Kim Il Sung.

As we have seen, in his early days Comrade Kim Jong Il embodied his loyalty to Comrade Kim Il Sung in the noble heights. Later on this became the foundation of all his ideological and theoretical activity as well as of his practical activity. Comrade Kim Jong Il finished the course of general education from September 1950 to August 1960. In his boyhood, Comrade Kim Jong Il energetically worked to learn after President Kim Il Sung at the head of young students and schoolchildren.

In his primary school days, Comrade Kim Jong Il sponsored the formation of a “Group for the Study of General Kim Il Sung’s Short Biography” with the Children’s Union members of his class and involved himself in this work.

The aim of this study group was for the pupils to form a clear understanding of Comrade Kim Il Sung’s greatness through the study of his revolutionary history, and prepare themselves as pillars of the Korean revolution.

The “Group for the Study of General Kim Il Sung’s Short Biography” played a great role in making our younger generation, sons and daughters, faithful to Comrade Kim Il Sung in the days of the grim war, and later on the experience this group gained in its activity became the foundation in intensifying the work of emulating Comrade Kim Il Sung.

In July 1953 the Fatherland Liberation War ended in the victory of the Korean people.

Following the war Comrade Kim Jong Il, having finished the Pyongyang Primary School No. 4, studied at the Pyongyang Middle School No. 1, striving to acquire a wide range of knowledge.

Comrade Kim Jong Il sponsored a march to visit the areas of Pochonbo and Samjiyon, old battlefields of the anti-Japanese armed struggle, and led the first expeditionary rank.

This visit was significant because it opened up the route for the march to visit the revolutionary battlefields around Mt. Paektu which was launched afterwards throughout the country.

Comrade Kim Jong Il set forth the slogan “Let us learn for Korea!” and strove to establish Juche among students and young people.

On September 1, 1957, Comrade Kim Jong Il went on to a senior class of the Pyongyang Middle School No. 1 (Later it became the Pyongyang Namsan Higher Middle School).

During this period Comrade Kim Jong Il paid great attention to doing away with the ideological venom of flunkeyism and dogmatism, and the flunkeyist and dogmatic ways of thinking which had caused enormous harm to the revolution through the ages and had been implanted even among young people and students to a considerable extent.

He closely studied and acquired in full the policies and revolutionary traditions of the Workers’ Party of Korea and enthusiastically learned the history, culture, geography and beautiful manners and customs of Korea, while assimilating foreign things to apply them to the actual situation of Korea.

Comrade Kim Jong Il frequently visited factories and rural communities with his schoolmates. At the practice workshop of the school he repaired trucks and electric motors and operat- ed them, striving to become proficient with them.

The example shown by Comrade Kim Jong Il was of great help in encouraging his fellow students to establish a viewpoint and attitude of regarding our own things more dearly and developing them.

During his school days Comrade Kim Jong Il was very enthusiastic about the work of the Democratic Youth League(DYL).

From September 1957 Comrade Kim Jong Il worked as vice-chairman of the DYL committee of the school (the chairman being a teacher).

During this period the socialist transformation of the production relations reached the stage of completion in the country, and the grand march of Chollima started with the result that a great change was taking place in the ideological state of the people.

Nevertheless, the work of the DYL did not rid itself completely of the old patterns of formalism owing to the evil consequences of the machinations of the anti-party, counterrevolutionary factionalists. The DYL organizations did not properly organize and conduct their work in conformity with their character as organizations for ideological education and to suit the new circumstances.

Fully grasping this situation, Comrade Kim Jong Il paid close attention to the implementation of Comrade Kim Il Sung’s idea on the youth movement.

Comrade Kim Jong Il regarded the basic task of the school DYL organization to be to train members as revolutionaries, faithful to the Party and the leader, and as highly-informed and well-qualified builders of socialism.

He ensured that ideological education for DYL members was intensified and that DYL organizations gave efficient guidance to the DYL organizational life, to study and to the work of the Children’s Union organizations, and organized all work in an original and broad way in conformity with the specific features of young people.

He carried on ideological education not in a stereotyped manner but in a varied and original way to suit the characteristic features of young people.

Comrade Kim Jong Il organized a visit of inspection to the old school and native village of Hero Ri Su Bok in April 1958 to get young people to emulate the Hero’s loyalty to his leader and his burning love of the country and the people.

Comrade Kim Jong Il became actively involved in the efforts to build socialism in the van of his fellow students.

At the National Meeting of Young Builders of Socialism, in March 1958, Comrade Kim Il Sung said that under the leadership of the Party the young people must work out a bright new age, a new socialist era for themselves.

He appealed to all the young people to dedicate their enthusiasm, wisdom and ability to socialist construction.

In those days Comrade Kim Jong Il took part in the work for the building of 20,000 family dwellings for Pyongyang City.

He brought his classmates’ enthusiasm into full play and organized a technical innovation movement, thereby making it possible to bring about collective innovations to move much faster than formerly.

Comrade Kim Jong Il finished the course of higher middle school in August 1960.

Comrade Kim Jong Il was admitted to the course of political economy, faculty of economics, Kim Il Sung University, on September 1, 1960.

On that day he was firmly determined to make his university days a period of preparation to succeed to the Juche cause.

Comrade Kim Jong Il said: “As I enter the highest institute of science, I am more firmly determined to shoulder the future of the revolution upholding the noble intention of the leader. I intend to make my university days a fruitful period to learn the leader’s revolutionary idea more closely and make preparations to shoulder the Korean revolution.”

That day he climbed Ryongnam Hill and recited a poem, Korea, I Will Glorify Thee in which he expressed his determination to carry the revolutionary cause of Juche to completion upholding the will of Comrade Kim Il Sung.

Having entered the university with great intentions, Comrade Kim Jong Il put all his energies into fully acquiring Comrade Kim Il Sung’s revolutionary idea, his revolutionary theory and leadership methods as well as accumulating all-round knowledge of nature and society.

Comrade Kim Jong Il joined the Workers' Party of Korea on July 22, 1961.

Then Comrade Kim Jong Il led his life at the university faithfully with a high degree of consciousness as a Party member, and with a sense of his great mission to the Party and the revolution.

Comrade Kim Jong Il started work at the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on June 19, 1964.

At the first days when he started work at the Party Central Committee, Comrade Kim Jong Il made clear the central factor of Party work and paid close attention to correctly establishing the principal line of this work.

Comrade Kim Jong Il has since continued his hard and dedicated work to the Party.

---

Comrade Ri Il-chol
Born April 7th, 1900 (68 years old)​

Workers' Party of Korea
Member (1949-Present)

Central Committee (1950-Present)

Political Committee (1952-Present)
Secretariat (1952-1959; 1963-Present)
Head of the Organization and Guidance Dept. (1964-Present)​

Government
In the Supreme People's Assembly;

Deputy (1948-Present)​

In the Cabinet;

Vice Premier (1950-1953; 1955; 1959-1961)​

-

There is not much clear history on Ri Il-chol's early years, but what is known is that he was born on the 7th of April, 1900 in Hanseong to low-level bureaucrats. Following Japanese conquest of Korea, Il chol's parents became heavily involved in Anti-Japanese resistance; it was this involvement that eventually forced his family to flee to Manchuria.

From there records become blurry but what is known is that the elder Il-chol befriended Kim Il-sung and a friendship of sorts developed between the two. When Kim made landfall in Wonsan on the 19th of September 1945, Ri Il-chol came alongside him, taking up work in the Provisional People's Committee for North Korea.

In 1948 he was elected as a deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly, and the following year joined the Workers' Party of Korea when it was founded. A year later, owing to Kim's patronage, he was inducted into the Central Committee and named Vice Premier (although his duties in the latter were negligible). His hardwork within the party, and loyalty to Kim Il-sung, earned him further party promotion to the Political Committee and to the Secretariat in 1952, putting him at the heart of the party's apparatus.

Throughout the next decade he held intermittent positions as Vice Premier and within the Secretariat, going wherever Kim Il-sung deigned it necessary. This dedicated, and lengthy, service led to Ri Il-chol's promotion as Head of the Organizational and Guidance Department, a pinnacle in his service to the Party.

Although an influential individual within the state, Ri Il-chol has largely kept a low profile, serving as a party apparatchik first and foremost.

 

[Dadarian]

Comrade Kim 'Shura' Man-il
Individual of Importance due to being a Kim

Born 1944 (24 years old)
​

Soviet records show that he was born Alexander Irsenovich Kim (Russian: Александр Ирсенович Ким) in 1944 in the Russian village of Vyatskoye. Inside his family, he was nicknamed Shura. Official North Korean biographies state that Shura and his older brother Kim Jong-il got along very well and played together.

Korean based sources indicate that in the summer of 1947 or 1948, Shura and his brother were playing in a pond in the city of Pyongyang, where Shura was in a mysteriously accident. Luckily, the actions of Kim Jong-il in getting his father's guard saved Shura's life. Since then, the relationship between Jong-il and Man-il has only gotten closer, with Shura loyally standing with his older brother when need be.

Spoiler: Backup character made under duress

Comrade Mi Tae Hee
Spokeswoman and Voice of the Radio Pyongyang

Born 1945 (23 years old)

​

Spoiler: Backup character made under duress

An attractive face and sweet voice, Mi Tae Hee is the daughter of a minor major within the KPA. Luckily for her, her father networked her a position within radio at the tender age of 18, correctly thinking the cooing of a young woman would make individuals more receptive to the cause of Marxist-Leninist-Kimism. Over the next five years, Mi Tae Hee became the definitive face and voice of DPRK propaganda, with her polemic teachings endlessly being broadcast across the border. Now, with a flareup across the border possible, Mi Tae Hee's natural inclination towards Propaganda may become useful for the state.

 

[etranger01]

Kim Man-il is now a playable Kim scion along with Kim Jong-il; the rest are presently too young and will pop up throughout the course of play. I'll decide who plays which Kim when I close signups, so multiple people are encouraged to submit their applications.

@Dadarian - Backup approved.

 

[Sithlent]

Comrade Sun Dae-hyun (선대현)
born 24 June, 1911 (age 57)​

Spoiler: Positions/Ranks Held

Soviet Air Forces:
Junior Sergeant of Aviation (1937–1938)
Junior Lieutenant of Aviation (1938–1943)
Senior Lieutenant of Aviation (1943–1946)
Captain of Aviation (1946–1948)

Korean People's Army Air Force:
Brigadier (1948–1951)
Major General (1951–1952)
Lieutenant General (1952–1955)

Workers' Party of Korea:
Member (1949–present)

Central Committee (1949–1951; 1956–present)

Politburo (1958–present)​

North Korean Government:
Member of the Supreme People's Assembly (1957–1965)
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme's People Assembly (1963–1965)

Cabinet of Ministers:
Minister of Agriculture and Welfare (1965–1966)
Minister of Foreign Affairs (1966–present)

Born somewhere between the Russo-Korean border in 1911 as the son of noted Korean socialist poet/historian/revolutionary Sun Seung-eun (1889–1934) and a prostitute, Sun Dae-hyun was born and raised within the borders of the glorious socialist utopia that is the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during his youth and adolescence. His family relocated from town after town, but finally settled in Vladivostok sometime around 1925. After graduating from a local university in 1932, he (involuntarily) enlisted into the Soviet Air Forces and most notably served under the Republican faction in the Spanish Civil War, being promoted to Junior Lieutenant in 1938 after conducting a series of successful air raids on Zaragoza and Franco-occupied areas of Madrid.

During World War II, Dae-hyun further rose in the ranks of the air force as he served in a critical squadron during the siege of Stalingrad in 1942/43 and narrowly evaded death during a dogfight with a German Luftwaffe pilot above the skies of Moscow in the autumn of 1943. His bravery in the heat of battle would earn him a top-ranking position within the North Korean air force after it was founded in 1948, which also allowed him to gain enough prestige to earn a spot in the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, although he later resigned in 1951 in order to command once more in the Fatherland Liberation War. After the war concluded in 1953, Dae-hyun retired from the military and focused solely on his emerging political and administrative career within North Korean politics.

By the end of the 1950s, Dae-hyun was a noteworthy political official in North Korea and was a prominent member of the Politburo of the WPK. He would later serve in the Cabinet of Ministers during the 1960's, first as the Minister of Agriculture and Welfare and later as the Minister of Foreign Affairs after the previous officer mysteriously died in 1966. Many outside of North Korea have described his foreign policy as "authoritarian" and "almost uniformly biased towards left-leaning countries and members of the Warsaw Pact." Despite this, members of his department state that "Comrade Dae-hyun is a peace-loving member of the Supreme Leader's cabinet and is willing to trade with any country in the world, no matter their ideology or political leaning."

There are also various rumors that claim that Dae-hyun is a secret republican who wishes to uproot the Kim dynasty in favor of establishing a system similar to that of the nearby Soviet Union or the People's Republic of China, although his actions so far have not yet confirmed these various conspiracies....

 

[Rolman99]

Sangjang (Col. Gen.) Hwang Hyeon-jun

Born: July 12, 1904 (63 years old)

Spoiler: Positions and Occupations in Life

1904-1915: Peasant Boy
1915-1921: Roaming urchin
1921-1930: Bandit
1930-1932: Generic Korean Independence Fighter/Commander
1932-1940: KPRA guerrilla commander
1940-1948: Communist Chinese guerrilla(?)
1948-1950: KPA Senior Lt. (Became a WPK member here, obviously)
1950-1951: KPA Major
1951-1952: KPA Lt. Colonel
1952-1956: KPA Colonel
1956-1959: KPA Senior Colonel
1959-1962: KPA Maj. General
1962-1964: KPA Lt. General
1964-1968 (present): KPA Col. General

Hwang was born into a peasant family in the mountainous far north of Korea, near the Chinese border. Hwang ran from home at just eleven years old from a drunken, abusive father, and he lived as a vagabond for six years, moving about Korea but spending most of his time at Heijō-- Pyongyang. He returned to the countryside again and fell in with a bandit gang, before coming into contact with Korean independence-movement insurgents in 1930. Hwang was enamoured by the cause and joined up with them, and quickly became the commander of a collection of regional cells, showing a good deal of aptitude in command and insurgency operations. Two years later, Hwang learned of, and adopted, communist beliefs and integrated his cells into the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army. Hwang narrowly escaped death in 1940 after the Japanese crushed most armed Korean resistance and fled into Manchuria, where he claims to have fought alongside communist Chinese partisans, though none of the said Chinese ever claim having a Korean matching the description of Hwang among them. Regardless of that, Hwang returned to Korea with the establishment of the DPRK, enlisted in the KPA as an officer, and commanded with distinction in the Korean War. Hwang rapidly rose up the ranks in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Keeping in his long-time tradition of going against authority, it seems, Hwang is secretly very skeptical towards the Kims, initially being very supportive but gradually growing weary as their cult of personality formed. Colonel General Hwang is something of a fundamentalist, an ultra-orthodox Marxist-Leninist with no room for Stalinist-Kimism, but he puts on a pro-Kim face, as one must, in order to keep his job and his life, and perhaps for the sake of socialism in Korea for the time being.
​

 

[Dadarian]

((Actually on second thought I'll go as Comrade Hee instead of Man-il. Always been fun to play a propagandist))

 

[Korona]

Kim Pom-gi (김범기)
Born October 23rd, 1905 (63)​

Spoiler: Positions Held

Red/Soviet Army:
Private (1939-41)
Junior Sergeant (1941-42)
Sergeant Major (1942-44)
Junior Lieutenant (1944- 46)
Lieutenant (1946 - 47)

Korean People's Ground Forces:
Lieutenant Colonel (1947 - 1948)
Colonel (1948)

Worker's Party of Korea
Proud Member (1949 - Present)

Central Committee (1953 - 1955, 1963 - Present)

Politburo (1963 - Present)
​

North Korean Government:
Elected Deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly (1948 - 1953)

In the Foreign Ministry
Special Advisor to the Foreign Minister (1953 - 1956)
Ambassador to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1956 - 1960)
Generic Apparatchik in the Foreign Ministry (1690 - 1963)
Deputy Foreign Minister (1963 - Present)​

Kim Pom-gi is the ultimate party functionary, and a devoted socialist in the DPRK. Born in the southern regions of the Korean Empire in 1905, Kim Pom-gi only vaguely remembers his childhood. At some point, his parents, members of the peasant class, moved north in fear of the Japanese. Eking out a peasant's life for the majority of his childhood, Kimfirst became aware of the seriousness of the Korean situation with the rise and subsequent quelling March 1st Movement. The event opened Pom-gi's eyes to Korean nationalism, at which point he traveled north to Manchuria, where he lived with thousands of other Koreans fleeing Japanese rule. It was in Manchuria where Pom-gi was first introduced to communism. First introduced to it by a Maoist revolutionary in Jilin City, Pom-gi was enraptured by the elusive idea of equality, something never afforded to him during his poverty-stricken upbringing. Through the aid of his fellow Korean socialist refugees in Jilin City, Kim finally learned how to read and write, in both Korean and Chinese. Although never an official member of the Communist Party of China, he was classified as a Chinese Communist by the Japanese, who invaded after the Mukden Incident. Fleeing the Japanese yet again, he enlisted in the Soviet Red Army, fighting in the Eastern Front along with the legendary Korean soldier Yang Kyoungjong. Showing a aptitude for leading, he managed to secure a number of promotions, eventually reaching the rank of Lieutenant.

With the end of World War II, Kim and a number of his fellow Korean compatriots managed to secure a transfer to Korea, where Kim Il-sung was establishing a Revolutionary Korean State. Eager to help establish communism in his home, which he had not seen since 1921, Kim immediately enlisted in the Korean People's Army after Kim established it in 1947. Being offered the rank of Lt. Colonel due to his military background, Kim grew to admire and respect President Kim Il-sung, for his dedication to the cause of Korean socialism was obvious to the Lt. Colonel. However, the rank-and-file of military life did not appeal to Pom-gi, and he chose to run in the first elections for the Supreme People's Assembly. Easily winning, Kim built himself a reputation as a calm, quiet member of the Worker's Party of Korea. Saying away from the Yan'an and Soviet factions, he instead chose to vaguely align himself with the Partisans, instead focusing on drafting legislation for the burgeoning Korean Revolutionary society and establishing himself as a loyal member of the party. With the advent of the Korean War, Kim saw his political standing rise as he championed the need for a communist victory most vigorously, even going as far as to participate in partisan attacks on the United Nations. After the expiration of his 5-year term in the Supreme People's Assembly in 1953, he was appointed Special Advisor to the Foreign Minister, due to his fluency in Chinese, Russian, and his knowledge of the communist world. With his appointment as Special Advisor, Kim was introduced to the inner tiers of the Party, being given a seat within the Central Committee of the WPK. It was here that he began to forge allies within the party. After the August Faction Incident of 1956, Kim was appointed Ambassador to the USSR, a post he held for four years. Upon his return to Korea, he became an apparatchik within the Foreign Ministry, with his enemies (the few they were), acting against him in his absence. However, Kim called upon his allies in the Central Committee and he was elevated to the post of Deputy Foreign Minister, a position he has held since 1963.

 

[Shynka]

상장 Kung Yejun


Born October 17th, 1908 (60), Mukden ​

Colonel General of the Korean People’s Army, Head of the Bureau of Military Oversight for the Procurement and Development of Strategic Weapons, Lecturer at the Hamhung Military Academy​

The history of Kung Yejun began with the bullet that tore off half his calf, 8th of September, 1944. The young Sergeant found himself trapped in a hailstorm of bullets, with a wall of determined Japanese troops steadily approaching the shell of a northern Manchurian village, firing from the hip and shouting insults. The small detachment tasked with creating a diversionary attack had wandered into a pre-prepared trap, and within minutes Lieutenant Ka Min and half his men were dead. The two most senior men underneath him, Kung Yejun and In Hyun, were entirely petrified and with next to no clue of what to do next. Heavy shells fired by the Japanese were slowly zeroing in on the remnant of the partisans, throwing up the sand that bounded the stream onto which the village was tethered.

As the shells begun to explode amongst the ruins, the brave In Hyun proposed that he and eight of the remaining eleven charge at the Japanese so that Kung Yejun and two others can evacuate the precious machine gun they brought alongside them. Hyun gave Kung the necklace gifted to him by his sweetheart and the two parted. The party of three ditched the heavy and cumbersome machinegun quite soon, but the Japanese, on horseback, were still very much on them. Both of Kung’s companions died along the way, and he himself was wounded heavily, eloping only by hiding in a bog. When he arrived at the small partisan camp he relayed the story to his commanders; the coward In Hyun and Ka Min both surrendered to the Japanese, but the brave Kung killed them both and then fled. Many were suspicious of his story at first, but the bloody necklace was decided to be proof enough. Soon later the young Sergeant became an object of propaganda, climbing in rank.

An early member of the Korean People’s Army, and a pawn and loyal informer to the Soviets, Kung Yejun would once again show off his talents for credit stealing and treachery during the Korean war. Blaming his every failure on subordinates, and being quick to execute anyone who opposed him as a traitor and American agent, he would secure himself a promotion to the rank of Senior Colonel by 1954. The end of Stalin and the thaws of 1956 would shake his position slightly, but Kung was wise enough to persevere through all attempts to either purge or diminish him, climbing steadily through the ranks. In 1961 he would be appointed head of several artillery units stationed near the demilitarized zone, delivering weekly reports to the leaderships about how the People’s Army was ready at any point to ‘cleanse the occupied South of all Imperialism’.

His expertise at preparing to shell and destroy civilian structures was recognised in 1965, where after a promotion to Colonel General he would be contacted by the Second Machine Industry Ministry to oversee the newest program instituted by the Dear Leader to acquire strategic forces for the People’s Republic. He would also be a Lecturer at the Hamhung academy responsible for training the future generation of Korean strategic troops. Due to the low degree of progress made since 1966 his job would mostly involve tours, grandiose speeches about destroying the Americans in hellfire, and attempting to acquire from the Soviet Union Surface to Air and Ballistic Missiles. Some progress was made with the acquisition of Luna missiles, but otherwise the position would be mostly one of politics and propaganda.

 

[Cleeque]

Lee Yong-Sool
Major General

Young, handsome, very charismatic, and a fervent Communist and supporter of the Great Leader, 33 year-old Yong-Sool was the brainchild of the North Korean Press and the State Propaganda Bureau. Many almost myth-like stories about him go around, giving him an aura of respect and admiration by many of his colleagues. Born in 1935 to a Korean Rice Farmer and a Soviet-Korean refugee, he was raised in an atmosphere of war and misery, poverty and despair. Born on the very frontlines of World War 2, his father was quickly killed by the Japanese for refusing to serve, while his mother was harassed and stolen from. While Yong-Sool was still barely a toddler of 3 years, his mother was taken in by a party of Korean forest-partisans.

Even as a toddler, he claims he stole small arms, bombs, and mines from Japanese army camps, and, after being forced out of Korea and into China for a brief period of time, he supposedly distracted an officer as partisans stole several important Nationalist documents. However, all things do end, and so did World War 2, ushering 20 years of peace and prosperity for Korea and Yong-Sool. After the liberation and partition of Korea by the Communists and the Imperialists, Yong-Sool decided that his course was to become a soldier. He became a fervent socialist and soon applied for membership in several youth communist organizations. Thats when many of the country's journalists took note of this young, super partisan of World War 2 and the tall, dignified pioneer. Many of his seniors started to take note of him, but, at the outbreak of the Korean war when Yong-Sool was only 15 he, as he was about to join the army, was refused on the grounds of his age. After much arguing, he escaped from his mother's apartment and made his way to the front, and, after stealing a soldier's uniform from a cadet he disliked as he took a shower, he snuck into one of the barracks of the divisons, and fought with it until somebody noticed that he really shouldnt be here.

After much speculation he was expelled and sent home, but before even reaching his home, he joined another regiment and fought with them. Finally, towards the end of the War he came of age and finally was able to formally join the military. Thanks to his military talent, political ideology, and superb charisma and charm he was able to quickly climb the ranks and by the end of the war he was a Lieutenant, after another 15 years, he is firmly engrained in the political machine of the DPRK, making him an important player on the national level and the military high command


​

 

[Luftwafer]

Yi Pong-Yong
Age 48 (15/4/1920)
Head of the North Korean Central Bank

Yi always was a clever lad, from his raising in Pyongyang, his father an industrial worker. He was always top of the class, and when it came to age 15, he left school and moved to join a trade. He became a Low level Clerk in a factory owned by a Japanese man. He eventually rose after his boss was fired for attempting to murder everyone in a drunken rage, to the Junior Writer. Here he had the powers to write the pay checks when his agedly Japanese boss couldn't be bothered to turn up.

He used his powers to steal money and siphon it to himself. However his life completely turned around when he joined: the Society for the preservation of Korean Culture and the removal of the Japanese menace. He completely turned in his world view, and became a socialist.

He then stole more money and gave it to this new society, which itself peaked in 1940, with the assassination of 10 Japanese Officers, including he claims, 3 Major Generals.

The next 5 years were a rush, made up of working a monotonous job by day and planning to kill Emperor Hirohito at night. He was however never successful, and When 1945 came, and the soviet civil administration began he was free to unleash his socialistic tendencies, walking around wearing pins aplenty.

He used his claims of assassinations and his large pin collection to get into the first years of Kim-Il sung admission. Here he was very successful, finishing his bachelor equivalent, before continuing onto a doctorate in economics, and then as a university assistant professor at age 35. He continued this until 1960, when the Professor was died and he took his spot.

From 1960 to 1967 he was the greatest Economics professor in the university, and became acquainted with several important sons of several important people.

But from 1967 he got his calling and was placed in charge of the North Korean Central bank, where he hopes to serve and improve the Korean economy under the Guidance of the dear leader.

Of course, you won't find any of this in any of those decadent western Textbooks. They'd claim that Yi was a boring clerk, who worked in a small factory. At some point became a communist fantasist, before entering the Kim-Il-Sung university, and staying there and becoming a fairly below average professor in a fairly below average university. He then became the leader of the Central Bank, a pretty useless institution due to the influence of a leader who he has never had a meeting with and merely read his name and ticked it off.


​

 

[alynkio]

(Self Portrait)​

Pak Su-yeong (박수영)

Born April 18th, 1928

General Artistic Director of the Mansudae Art Studio (만수대창작사), member of the central committee of the worker’s party

Pak Hon-hee, Su-yeong’s father’s blood boiled at the imperialist desecration of his beloved homeland following the annexation, and, even though only a child at the time, knew it would be his solemn duty to devote his life to opposing the Japanese. The imperialists, strengthened with the blood and labor of oppressed Koreans, proved to strong to fight, and so together with his lovely wife Bae Joo-hye, he was forced to flee to Manchuria from his native Wonsan. Once there, he became convinced of the essential rightness and justice of the socialist cause, and joined with communist guerrillas under the brave commander Kim Il-sung in leading raids against imperialist oppressors from across the border. To ensure the safety of his wife and young son, he arranged for them to travel to the relative safety of Khabarovsk in the USSR.

Growing up in Khabarovsk, young Pak Su-yeong learned Russian and Korean and demonstrated noticeable artistic talent from a young age. Too young to assist in any capacity during the war, Su-yeong was sent to Leningrad in 1945 to complete his education and his artistic training, studying under prominent practitioners of the socialist-realist school. In 1951, Su-yeong learned that his father had died in a cowardly American air raid during the Fatherland Liberation War, and he immediately returned to North Korea to assist his homeland in any capacity he could.

Being educated, capable of speaking unaccented Russian, and being the son of one of one Kim Il Sung’s original guerilla fighters all proved enormously valuable for Pak Su-yeong upon his arrival in Korea. After formally joining the worker’s party, he was actively involved in Soviet assisted efforts to rebuild industrial infrastructure that had been damaged by American bombing campaigns during the war, acting as an interpreter and learning about modern production methods in the process. Eventually, partly through his new party connections, he secured himself a spot administering a steel foundry.

Kim Il-sung introduced the Chollima movement to energize workers into laboring ever harder. Shortly thereafter Pak Su-yeong’s factory exceeded its production quota by a large margin. Kim personally congratulated him for his superb commitment to the spirit the Thousand li Horse, and Pak Su-yeong got his big break. He expressed his unwavering devotion to the Great Leader and the ways in which he found the ideal of Juche to be inspiring to him in his daily life. He showed Kim Il-sung some of his artwork and expressed how he thought the people could be inspired by monuments physically manifesting the glorious principles of the Juche ideology. Kim was favorably impressed, and in time the Party created the Mansudae Art Studio in 1959, with Pak Su-yeong as its artistic director.

The first big triumph of Mansudae was the Chollima statue, presented as a personal gift to Kim depicting a peasant and a laborer riding the legendary horse in 1961. The statue won the People’s Prize and won prestige and attention for Mansudae. More triumphs would follow, and recently, the party has ruled that only Mansudae artists would have the privilege of creating portraits of the Great Leader and his scions. Pak Su-yeong remains devoted to his vision of manifesting the Juche idea through art and is personally very loyal to Kim Il-sung.

 

[XVG]

치 문희 Chi Mun-Hee

Born 19th of September 1915 (age 53)

Colonel General

Commander of the Korean People’s Army Air Force ​

From an urban family exiled to Manchuria after the Japanese crushing of the March 1st movement in 1919, Chi Mun-Hee became attracted to socialist ideas in his youth, joining the Chinese Communist Party at the age of seventeen in 1932, a year after Kim il-Sung. Chi Mun-Hee took part in guerilla activities in Korea, receiving heavy wounds twice, and thus moving to the Soviet Union for further training in 1938. The smart and technically aware Chi Mun-Hee became one of the first Koreans to receive pilot training in the Far East during the world war, as the Soviet intelligence believed they had use for Koreans that could operate light liaison or utility aircraft in possible infiltration operations.

Chi Mun-Hee would re-enter his homeland alongside with the Red Army, serving as an officer in a transportation squadron flying a Li-2. The brilliant officer and loyal communist attracted the attention of both Soviet authorities and the slowly structuring Workers’ Party and he was appointed as the head of Chongjin Aviation Association, becoming an important figure in establishing both pilot training and aviation expertise in North Korea. As the KPAF was made a separate branch in 1948, Chi Mun-Hee became one of its leading officers, in charge of personnel department. He also gathered almost twenty combat flight hours in the Korean War flying an Il-10, though if they were actually on the frontline or if they had a genuine effect is debated.

With an outstanding service record Chi Mun-Hee was promoted to Deputy Commander of the KPAF in 1958, presiding over excellent relations with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. He was promoted to the rank of Col. General and KPAF Commander in May 1965. Chi Mun-Hee is, of course, greatly in favor of expanding the KPAF with new equipment and personnel, hoping to use it to further DPRK’s global standing by sending detachments to the aid of fraternal socialist countries. Fluent in Chinese and Russian, and well educated in modern technology and tactics, he is a valuable asset to the WPK and KPA in general.