O Jin-u

Born into a poor peasant family in Bukcheong, South Gyeongsang Province, he moved to Manchuria in 1933 and participated in the anti-Japanese activity. During his partisan activities, he joined with Kim Il-sung to serve as a military officer in the Northeast Anti-Japanese Army in 1938. From September 1946, he became military vice-president of the Central Security Officer School. In February 1948, he joined the Korean People's Army, which had just been established, and served as chief of staff of a brigade. In 1949, he served as the principal of the military school. After the Korean War broke out, he became the 43rd Division Commander. He led the 766th Independent Infantry Regiment to attack the Busan Ring Defensive Circle. O rose rapidly through military ranks: he was appointed chief of staff of the Korean People's Air Force in 1958, vice-minister of the Ministry of People's Security in 1962, general in 1963, director of the KPA General Political Bureau in 1967 and Chief of the General Staff in 1968. This concurred with his ascent to the top leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea, becoming Central Committee member in 1954, Political Committee (former name of the Politburo) member in 1966, Secretariat member in 1968 and Presidium member in 1977. Extremely close to Kim Il-sung, he is credited among the top officials who "proposed" Kim Jong-il to be Kim Il-sung's heir at a Central Committee plenum in 1974.[1]

A deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly since 1960, O was appointed member of the top Central People's Committee immediately after its establishment in 1972, as well as vice-chairman of the National Defence Commission and minister of the People's Armed Forces in 1976. He was also promoted to Vice Marshal in 1985 and Marshal in 1992.

After Kim Jong-il was made Chairman of the National Defence Commission in 1993, O replaced him as its first vice-chairman. He also was the second ranking member of the Kim Il-Sung funeral committee in 1994, immediately beneath Kim Jong-Il. He was also the last surviving WPK Presidium member along with the new leader.

He was one of three military officers in the North Korean Armed Forces who reached rank of Marshal with the title "Marshal of the Korean People's Army" .

O received medical treatment in France.

He died of lung cancer in 1995, a year after Kim Il-sung.[2] After O's death, Kim Jong-il left the minister's position vacant for more than seven months before naming a new minister, Choi Kwang.

A funeral committee of 240 members was appointed for O.[3] It included :[4]

• Kim Il; Choe Hyon; Pak Sung-chul; O Jin-u; et al. (1982). Twenty-year-long Anti-Japanese Revolution Under the Red Sunrays: September 1931 – February 1936. 2. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. OCLC 914716941.
• O Jin-u (1974). "Once All the People Are Armed, They Can Drive Back Any Enemy". Establishing the People's Revolutionary Government: A Genuine People's Power. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. OCLC 441622192.
• — (1975). "The Gun Report that Rumbled in North Manchuria". Victory at Laoheishan. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. pp. 13–22. OCLC 449795434.
• — (1977). "On an Expedition to North Manchuria". Taking a Machine Gun Himself. Pyongyang: Foreign Languages Publishing House. OCLC 6423895.

• Martin, Bradly K. (2004). Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: A History of North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. New York: Thomas Dunne. pp. 61–62. ISBN 0-312-32221-6.

• "O Jin U". Private Institute for Korean Studies in Japan. Archived from the original on December 18, 2005. Retrieved 2008-02-03.