The Korean Gandhi

I want to talk about a new character for this post. This person was instrumental in Kim’s success as a candidate, although he was unbeknownst to this. He arguably could’ve held the post that the Kim family now holds today, but under much different circumstances. His name, is Cho Man Sik (조만식).

Just to give you an overview of his political relevance and stature:

He received an education in law and legal structure from a Japanese University. He was an iconic leader of the Korean nationalists in 1945 and also the head of a movement for economic self-development. Most notably, he was often referred to as the “Korean Gandhi” because of his stance on non-violent civil disobedience. A good example of this was his refusal to ‘adopt a Japanese surname, in exchange for his Korean surname.’

Although largely unknown, the North Korean political sphere was heavily dominated by nationalist ideals, as opposed to those of communism. A local people’s government founded by Cho was headed by 17 nationalists and 3 communists. This tidbit is important because the ratio would later change as a result of Soviet Deception regarding Cho, and nationalists as a whole.

[The most important thing to note about Cho, was his involvement in catapulting Kim to a position of political dominance.]

Cho was himself approached by Soviet leadership to be groomed for what would eventually be Kim’s role. However, he was reluctant to accept due to his “strong aversion to communism and mistrust of foreign superpowers.” This led to Kim’s selection for the role instead.

In 1945, Kim was largely unknown to the general public. The Soviets decided to hold a conference to boost Kim’s notoriety. On October 14, 1945, “Lebedev (Soviet NKVD leader) opened the rally and presented Kim as a national hero and outstanding guerilla leader.” That day, Kim spoke alongside Cho in what was perceived to be a conference held by two of the most prominent political figures in North Korea. Kim was later appointed to a position within the ranks of the “Democratic Party,” an organization founded by Cho with minor Soviet involvement.

Following the revelation that “ministers of the Soviet Union, U.S. and Britain…. made a decision to establish a joint trusteeship over Korea for a period of 5 years,” Cho resigned from his position in the Democratic Party and was followed by a multitude of his supporters.

This led to problems regarding the authenticity of the group, which was slowly becoming dominated by communists. Thus, in an effort to recoup the legitimacy, the Soviets attempted to persuade Cho to return to his post. Being the Korean Gandhi he was, Cho refused to relinquish his political ideals to appease soviet leadership.

Unfortunately this left very few options for the USSR. One of which, was ousting Cho as a foreign spy, which they did, by pushing that he was “in contact with South Korean reactionaries” and in “secret cooperation with Japanese police.” “Cho was promptly arrested” and his supporters expelled. His position was given to another communist guerilla leader, subsequently making the USSR the ‘majority shareholders’ of the Democratic Party.

In essence, Cho was important because he allowed Kim (unintentionally) to piggyback off of his prowess as a powerful and authentic Korean leader. This allowed Kim to maintain public attention and eventually gain control, once the public perceived the nationalists to be polluting the Democratic Party.

I apologize if this is longer than it should be. I tried to cut some irrelevant details, but still retain the core content of the post. If you took the time to read it though, let me know what you think!

Thanks!!

-TLDR; Powerful and well known Korean leader, Cho, becomes associated with Kim, thus allowing Kim to piggyback off of his notoriety. Eventually Cho's stubbornness leads to his demise and the destruction of an authentic leadership, with Cho, in a powerful North Korean party. This party is then overtaken by the USSR to maintain a veil of legitimacy for Kim's campaign. 

(This information is taken from Andrei Lankov, a respected historian of this time period)

Lanʹkov, A. N. From Stalin to Kim Il Sung: The Formation of North Korea, 1945-1960. New              Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2002.