Kim Tu-bong

Born on February 2, 1889, in South Korea's South Gyeongsang Province, near modern-day Pusan, he spent his early years being homeschooled during the time of imperial rule. He would move to Seoul at the age of 20 (1908) to attend both Geho School and Baechae School and in that same year graduate from Bogo High School. While he was in Seoul he would join the Korea Youth organization in 1913 and the following year (1914) leave Baechae School. He was also an editor for the So nyoun magazine.

After graduating from Bosungkobo (Bosung College) in 1908, Kim Tu-bong worked closely with a linguistics professor from Bosungkobo named Ju Sigyeong, who was at that time beginning his work in the study of Hangul, for which his name would later be known, as he would dedicate his life to bring it about (the Korean script made by King Sae Jeong during the 15th century). He also worked as a teacher. In 1916 he spent a majority of his time working on compiling MalMooe, the first Korean dictionary.

Kim Tu-bong (right) sitting next to Kim Il-sung (center)

After the March 1st Movement (March 1, 1919) he and other members of the independence club fled into China and in April 1919 set up a provisional government in Shanghai. During this time he was first exposed to Communism and eventually accepted it in 1920 after first supporting the Democratic Party. In 1924 he was entrusted with the department of children education and schooling where he served as the president and also taught both Korean and Korean History. After the Japanese invaded China he and other members of the Korean government in Shanghai fled to Yan'an, and there Kim would become the head of the independence club and became a very important figure in combining the conflicting views of both communist and democratic ideas.

From left to right: Pak Chang-ok, Li Jishen, Kim Tu-bong, Zhu De, Kim Il-sung, Averky Aristov, Pak Chŏng Ae and Choe Yong-gon in 1955.

The December following World War II and the Japanese's surrender (August 15, 1945) Kim Tu-bong and other members returned to the then-divided Korea. Like many other Communist-minded people of the time, Kim Tu-bong and other Communist leaders took residence in what is now North Korea under the Soviet occupation. In February 1946 Kim Tu-bong became the chairman of the new People's Party. Later that year in August it merged to form the Workers' Party. He would become the chairman in 1948, though from the outset the real power was held by Premier Kim Il-sung. Kim Tu-bong designed the new flag that is still used in North Korea today in an effort to throw off what he saw as feudal rule.

Kim Il-sung became chairman of the Workers' Party after it merged with its southern counterpart in 1949, thus becoming in name as well as in fact the country's leader. In most Communist states, the party leader is understood to be the most powerful man in the country.

After the Korean War Kim Tu-bong had served his usefulness in the government, and, whether real or imagined, many scholars believe he had become a perceived threat to Kim Il-sung's dictatorship. Rumors began that it had to do with a scandal, as he had married a much younger woman later in life. Whatever the reason, he was purged in March 1958,[1] accused of involvement in the 1956 August Faction Incident.[2] Like many others of Kim Il-sung's political opponents, he disappeared with no records to indicate whether he had been sentenced to hard labor or exile. He is believed either to have been executed or to have died some time in the 1960s in internal exile.[3]

• Yanan faction
• Kim Il-sung
• Cold War
• North Korea
• Korean independence movement

• Dae-Sook Suh. Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader. Columbia University Press, 1988. pg. 351
• n.d. Kim Dubong (김두봉). Naver encolopidia. November 20, 2013. http://terms.naver.com/.

• "Kim Tu-bong and Historical Linguistics" by Andrei Lankov