page_title: Kim Hong-il (general)
section_title: Military career
hierarchical_section_title: Kim Hong-il (general) / In South Korea / Military career
caption_attribution_description: General Kim Hong-il, Commandant of Korean Army Militray School
context_page_description: Kim Hong-il was a Korean independence activist and a general of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Korean War, who later became a diplomat and politician in South Korea. Born in North Pyongan, he did his early schooling in China and Korea, and had a brief career as a teacher before his connections with the nascent Korean independence movement led to his imprisonment. He fled into exile in China in 1918, and served in the Kuomintang's National Revolutionary Army from 1926 to 1948, following which he moved to the newly independent South Korea to join the Republic of Korea Army. He commanded South Korea's I Corps during the first year of the Korean War, and was then sent to Taipei as South Korea's ambassador to the Republic of China, which by then had retreated to Taiwan. His assignment there ultimately lasted nine years. He returned to South Korea in 1960 following the April Revolution which ended the rule of Syngman Rhee, and served briefly as Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Park Chung-hee junta. He ran for the National Assembly, first unsuccessfully in 1960 and 1963, and was then elected in 1967 and became a major figure in the opposition New Democratic Party.
context_section_description: In August 1948, Kim moved to South Korea to join the newly formed Republic of Korea Army. He was assigned to be the principal of the Korea Military Academy. In 1949, he finished writing the Outline of National Defense, one of the earliest works of the new country's Ministry of National Defense regarding military strategy.
  After the outbreak of the Korean War on 25 June 1950, Kim became the commander of the I Corps. During the First Battle of Seoul, the I Corps held a position at Kumchon, North Hwanghae, to the north of Uijeongbu. Once he learned of the North Koreans' 28 June capture of Seoul, Kim had his forces retreat to the south bank of the Han River and set up a defensive line, which they were able to hold for six days until 3 July when North Korea had recovered sufficiently from the demolition of the Hangang Bridge to begin sending tanks across the river. Historian Jongsuk Chay credited the time earned by this operation with "saving the Republic of Korea from communism". Kim went on to fight in the Battle of Pusan Perimeter later that year. However, his conflicts with President Syngman Rhee and American military officers led to his discharge in March 1951.
caption: Official portrait of Kim in 1948 as principal of the Korea Military Academy
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