Chŏng Sang-chin (; ; May 5, 1918 – June 15, 2013) was a Soviet and North Korean poet, bureaucrat, academic, and military officer. He was notably the only ethnic Korean among 60 Soviet paratroopers that first liberated parts of Korea under Japanese rule during World War II. He was also known by his Russian name Yuri () or the Korean nickname derived from it Ryul ().

He stayed in North Korea on orders from the Soviet government and spent 13 years total there, serving in various roles in the North Korean government and at Kim Il Sung University. However, after Soviet-aligned Koreans were purged from the North Korean government, he returned to the Soviet Union. He then became a critic of North Korea and worked as a reporter, writer, and Korean reunification activist.

He died in Moscow on June 15, 2013, at the age of 95.

Early life 
Chŏng was born in Vladivostok, Primorskaya Oblast, Russian Empire on May 5, 1918.

His father, Chŏng Ch'i-mun, was originally from Myongchon County, North Hamgyong Province, Joseon, but went in exile to Russia after the Japanese occupation of Korea. Chŏng's father was a vocal advocate for the liberation of Korea, and once said to his son:

Chŏng's mother was illiterate and remained so even until the 1950s. Chŏng's father, however, was well-versed in Chinese literature. Chŏng learned to read and write from his father by the time he was five years old.

At the time, Vladivostok was a hub for Soviet Koreans (who are also called Koryo-saram). As was common with Korean culture during that time, education was valued extremely highly. A Russian visiting Vladivostok reportedly observed that Koreans pursued education perhaps to a fault, as they insisted on rigorous schooling while in exile and on the brink of starvation. Chŏng initially enrolled in a Russian-language school, but after his father's furious protests, enrolled in a Korean-language school instead.

In 1936, he studied literature at the Wŏndong Korean College of Education in Vladivostok. By this point, he was a devoted communist.

Deportation to Kazakhstan 

However, in fall 1937, his studies were interrupted when he and many Koreans in the Soviet Union were forcibly deported to Kazakhstan. While on the month-long train journey, he and his friends huddled together to avoid freezing to death, and he recited poetry to them to comfort them. Tens of thousands of Koreans died on the journey. After disembarking from the train, he witnessed several Kazakh women handing out bread from the backs of donkeys. In an August 2007 interview, Chŏng said of this experience:

In October 1938, his father was arrested and executed by the Soviet government. Chŏng made a point of continuing in the Korean independence movement in his father's stead, and became disillusioned with both communism and Joseph Stalin. In total, around 2,800 Korean intellectuals were executed without trial. The location of his father's grave remains unknown .

His college reopened in Kazakhstan, and he graduated from it in 1940. Around this time, he befriended Cho Ki-chon, who lectured on world literature at the college. Later, Cho became a landmark poet in the North Korean literary canon.

Career 
Chŏng then taught literature at a secondary school in Kyzylorda. In 1941, he submitted his first poem to the Lenin Kichi, the Koryo-saram newspaper that he would later work for full-time in 1961. He continued submitting essays, translations, and literary criticism to the Banner even into the late 2000s.

World War II 
In 1941, after Japan entered World War II, Chŏng eagerly made seven attempts to enlist in the Soviet Army and see active combat, but was refused due to restrictions on Koreans joining the military. In 1942, he became a member of the Communist Party. He was finally called to combat in March 1945, during rising tensions between Japan and the Soviet Union. His mother reportedly said during his departure "Your father always regretted not being able to fight the Japanese, now you're going. I can't stand in your way."

He was sent to Vladivostok on Russky Island, as reconnaissance for the marine corps of the Soviet Pacific Fleet under the command of Viktor Leonov. On August 9, 1945, he rejoiced when he heard the Soviet declaration of war on Japan, as he saw it as a key opportunity to liberate Korea.

On August 11, he and 60 other paratroopers reportedly participated in the first Soviet military action in Korea during World War II: the liberation of Unggi County (later renamed Sonbong, literally "Vanguard", due to its role as the first liberated area). He was the only ethnic Korean in that group, which he found depressing, as it was largely a group of foreigners who was liberating his homeland. He had the rank of sergeant at the time, and was often called Yura (Russian: Юра) by his fellow Russians.

The liberation of Unggi was bloodless, but civilians still reportedly ran in fear of the Soviet troops. Chŏng stopped them, revealed that he was Korean, and announced their liberation. He and the civilians shed tears of joy. He later recalled this incident in a 1946 poem entitled Unggi Harbor! My Footsteps Drenched with Tears.

Decades later, Kim Il Sung claimed that he and the Korean People's Army (KPA) had liberated Unggi instead of the Soviets. Chŏng said of this claim in 2007:

They then fought in the Seishin Operation against the Japanese, who had retreated from Manchuria into Chongjin. Despite allegedly being severely outnumbered and losing 29 fighters, they won on August 18.

Fighting lasted around 24 days, until the September 2 surrender of Japan.

Activities in North Korea 
Chŏng was initially recalled to Vladivostok, but a week later was sent to Soviet-occupied Wonsan under orders from Moscow. In October 1945, he became deputy director of education of the city. Amongst his fellow Koreans, he went by the nickname "Ryul", which was derived from his Russian nickname "Yura".

On September 18, 1945, he was informed by command that he was to meet Kim Il Sung for the first time on the next day. Chŏng was reportedly excited to meet Kim, expecting him to be a graying and physically imposing rebel, befitting his reputation as a fierce guerilla. He was surprised to find Kim youthful, fresh-faced, and thin. Kim arrived around 8 am by the Soviet boat 'Pugachev', accompanied by 60 members of the KPA. Chŏng asked Kim where he and the fighters had been during the bloodshed, and Kim gave a muted response. Chŏng then suspected that the Soviet government had intentionally held Kim back.

In 1946, Chŏng and several others published a book of poetry inspired by the liberation of Korea called Eunghyang. The book, particularly due to one of its poems Dawn Map, was accused of being overly decadent and was met with censorship from Pyongyang. The author of Dawn Map then defected to South Korea.

In July 1946, he was appointed deputy director of the Ministry of Education in South Hamgyong Province. Here, he met fellow author Han Sorya. Chŏng had previously read Han's writing, in which Han heaped praise upon Kim Il Sung, but in person he allegedly found Han to not know much about Kim on a personal level. But after these articles caught the eye of Kim, they quickly elevated Han to a position of prominence in the North Korean literary scene.

In spring 1947, he became Vice Chairman of the North Korean Federation of Literature and Arts. Around this time, he also met Pak Chang-ok, who had actually been two years above him back in university. He also observed and was impressed by Kim Gu and Hong Myong-hui at the North–South conference of April 1948. Chŏng admired Hong's work and character greatly, and often sought out his advice after he remained in North Korea. In summer 1948, Chŏng became head of the Department of Russian Languages and Literature at Kim Il Sung University.

Between September 2, 1948, and September 9, 1953, he served in the newly formed Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as the first Second Vice Minister of the . He later served as First Vice Minister between December 1, 1953, and April 12, 1954, and again between March 24, 1955, and September 2, 1955. He often assisted Ho Jong-suk with her work, as she was frequently ill around this time. He also occasionally met with Kim Il Sung.

On June 25, 1949, Chŏng heard Kim Il Sung's announcement of the invasion of South Korea on the radio. He was personally surprised by the announcement, and believed Kim's claim that the South had invaded the North first. At the time, he was head of artillery supply in the Korean People's Army. Shortly afterwards, he heard from friends within the North Korean government that, after receiving reluctant approval from the Soviet government, Kim had manufactured a reason to invade the South.

After the July 1953 armistice was signed, Chŏng spent two weeks in Seoul as the head of the North Korean effort to exchange prisoners of war. In August 1955, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the liberation of Korea, he visited the Soviet Union as part of a cultural delegation composed of 18 North Korean artists and toured various cities, including Moscow, Leningrad, Tashkent, Almaty, and Novosibirsk.

Purge from North Korea 
However, upon his return from the cultural tour in September 1955, Chŏng learned via a public announcement that he and several other Soviet Koreans were to be stripped of their posts. He was then appointed to the relatively unimportant role of Director of the Science Library of the DPRK Academy of Sciences.

After the March 5, 1953 death of Joseph Stalin, Kim increased his opposition of Soviet influence in North Korea. Tensions between the pro-Kim and pro-Soviet factions grew, culminating in the failed 1957 August Faction Incident, in which Soviet- and Chinese-aligned Koreans tried to purge Kim Il Sung. Chŏng was allegedly among Kim's most distrusted Soviet Koreans around this time. He had never abandoned his Soviet citizenship, partly out of fear that he too could one day be purged. His mother came to visit him from Kazakhstan; she urged him to return to Kazakhstan where his family was.

On October 22, 1955, Chŏng, Pak, and several others appeared before the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Korea, where they were chastised by Kim Il Sung as lacking juche: "self-reliance". According to Bae Jin-yeong of the Monthly Chosun, this was the first usage of the term juche in North Korea, which later became the name of the state ideology.

In October 1957, after receiving permission from Kim Il-sung to leave the country, Chŏng and thirteen Soviet Koreans left North Korea and returned to the Soviet Union. He tried to say goodbye to Ho Jong-suk, whom he had considered a good friend, but she coldly dismissed him. In 2007, he said he would have liked to meet her again above anyone else from his time in North Korea. After Chŏng and the others left North Korea, reprisals against Soviet Koreans reportedly greatly slowed. Chŏng later said of his departure:

Later life and death 
After returning, Chŏng first went to Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, where he studied journalism for four years at a Soviet government school. He then returned to Kazakhstan, where he worked in the editorial department of the Lenin Kichi newspaper between 1961 and late 1991. He wrote an editorial in the December 19, 1990, final edition of the Banner before it changed its name to Koryo Ilbo in 1991. While he had expected the Soviet Union to one day collapse beginning in the late 1930s, he had not wanted it to happen. However, upon observing the how the Kazakhs relished their newfound independence after its collapse, he changed his mind.

From 1991 to 1998, he served as president for a fund that supported repressed Soviet Koreans in North Korea. From 1992, he and several other North Korean defectors founded and served as Chairman of the Foundation for North Korean Democratization and Liberation, which was headquartered in Tokyo. From 2001 to 2005, he was appointed by the South Korean President Kim Dae-jung to be on the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council. Chŏng remained firm in his belief that North Korea would eventually democratize, and criticized its government sharply. In 2007, he said "The Soviet Union [...] brought a tragedy more terrible than Japanese colonialism to the Korean peninsula. This is eloquently embodied by the miserable reality of North Korea".

Chŏng continued writing even until the late 2000s. He not only published poetry and literary criticism, but even travel experiences and reviews of movies and plays. In 2005, he published a book of his memoirs entitled A Swan Song from Amur Bay: Memoirs of North Korean and Soviet Literary Artists in South Korea. He moved from Almaty to Moscow in January 2009 along with his daughters.

Even until 2012, Chŏng reported feeling healthy. He stated he had been consistently physically active since his deportation to Kazakhstan in 1937, exercising an hour per day every morning. He was also described by several reporters in the years before his death as surprisingly mentally sharp in his old age.

Chŏng died in Moscow on June 15, 2013, at the age of 95. He was cremated, and his ashes are held in the Korean cemetery in Shcherbinka.

Legacy and awards 
In 2007, Chŏng said he was most proud of his role in the Seishin Operation. He also reportedly played a significant role in spreading Soviet literature in North Korea.

He received an Order of the Red Banner in August 1945, and the Medal "For the Victory over Japan" in September 1945 from the Soviet government for his service in Korea. He also received the Jubilee Medal in 1985 for his service during World War II. As part of the Leninist Banner staff, he received the Order of Friendship of Peoples award in 1988.

Personal life 
Chŏng was reportedly over  tall and physically attractive. According to a 2012 interview with Chŏng, Kim Il Sung himself complimented Chŏng on his looks.

He converted to Christianity while stationed in Korea in 1945, after reading a bible translated into Korean. He was fond of Soviet culture, although critical of its totalitarian government. He highly admired authors such as Leo Tolstoy and Alexander Pushkin.

He was married four times and had two daughters. He expressed regret near the end of his life for not having been more active in his children's lives.

Bibliography

Poetry 

 Eunghyang (poetry collection) (1946)
 Unggi Harbor! My Footsteps Drenched with Tears

Essays and Books 
 The Poet and Reality
 On Romanticism
 A Swan Song from Amur Bay: Memoirs of North Korean and Soviet Literary Artists (2005)

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1918 births
2013 deaths
People from Vladivostok
North Korean politicians
Koryo-saram
Soviet Navy officers
Academic staff of Kim Il-sung University
Korean independence activists
North Korean activists
North Korean poets
North Korean writers
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
Soviet people of Korean descent
North Korean defectors
Korean journalists
Soviet journalists
Kazakhstani journalists