Soviet–Chinese joint delegation According to the news from senior North Korean officials who had fled to China and staff of the Chinese and Soviet embassies, China and the Soviet Union realized that the reformists' coup attempt had failed and the political situation in North Korea attracted great attention from both countries. On 5 September, North Korean Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Lee Sang-jo, requested to meet with Soviet deputy foreign minister
Nikolai Fedorenko and submitted his letter to Khrushchev. Lee Sang-jo said that Kim Il Sung was suppressing comrades who offered opinions and asked the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to intervene in the matter. On 6 September,
Boris Ponomarev, Minister of the Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, met with Lee Sang-jo. On 10 September, Ponomarev said during a meeting with Lee Sang-jo that the Soviet Union would not interfere in the internal affairs of the Workers' Party of Korea. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the current situation in the country, Mao Zedong and
Anastas Mikoyan, the First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, agreed in September to send a joint delegation to visit North Korea. The two also advocated to put pressure on Kim Il Sung through the delegation and ask him to abandon the purge of reformist members. At the same time, they agreed that, if circumstances permitted, they would abolish Kim Il Sung's positions as Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and Premier of the Cabinet, and find a suitable replacement. However, Mao Zedong also believed that it would be "very difficult" for Kim Il Sung to step down. In addition, to prevent Pyongyang from having an excessive reaction, Mao summoned Choe Yong-gon and said that the delegation's visit was to "help you solve problems rather than sabotage them." He also explained: "The problems that have occurred in your country also affect China and the Soviet Union. Therefore, we cannot not interfere with these issues." On 19 September, a delegation led by
Peng Dehuai and Mikoyan arrived in North Korea. Kim Il Sung was very unhappy with the uninvited delegation and, unusually, refused to receive the envoys. On the same day, the delegation and Kim Il Sung held a four-hour meeting. During the meeting, the Chinese and Soviet envoys asked Kim Il Sung not to carry out a large-scale purge and to implement intra-party democracy in order to gain the trust of the masses in the party. At the same time, the delegation suggested that the Workers' Party convene another plenary session of the Central Committee to correct the mistakes made at the last plenary session. Kim Il Sung accepted most of the delegation's requests, but on the following conditions: Pak Chang-ok could not serve as the vice premier of the cabinet again, Ch'oe Ch'angik could not serve as a member of the Central Standing Committee again, and officials such as Suh Hwi who fled to China could have their party membership restored, but could not remain in the Central Committee of the Party. The delegation accepted this suggestion and recommended that Kim Il Sung convene a Central Committee plenary session in September to acknowledge his previous mistakes. To explain his position to party members, Kim Il Sung held a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee before the Central Committee plenary session, and China and the Soviet Union were also invited to participate. At the beginning of the meeting, Kim reiterated that the reformists were wrong, but for the sake of party unity, he would forgive them. Mikoyan pointed out that the Workers' Party was wrong to deprive Yun Gong-chin of his right to speak at the previous Central Committee plenary session, and believed that the reformists fled because they were afraid of being arrested for expressing dissenting opinions. Therefore, the Workers' Party must give up pursuing the mistakes of its comrades and accept different opinions. Peng Dehuai then pointed out that the Workers' Party's punishment of the reformist members was "too hasty" and obviously represented that the party did not want to hear dissenting voices. Therefore, the Workers' Party should reflect on its actions at the Central Committee plenary session in September and publish the resolution in the newspapers. On 23 September, a new Central Committee plenary session was held under Soviet and Chinese surveillance. In his opening address, Kim Il Sung admitted that the punishment of Choi Ik-chang and others was “somewhat hasty” and believed that they had not worked for foreign countries. Therefore, Kim announced the restoration of Ch'oe Ch'angik and Park Chang-ok's official positions, as well as the restoration of Yun Gong-chin, Su Hwi and Ri Pil-kyu's party membership. Kim then promised to form a party, implement intra-party democracy and educate the comrades who had made mistakes more patiently. After hearing Kim's speech, Han Sang-doo, Hyun Jung-min, Han Tae-chon, chairman of
North Pyongan Province, and Ri Chung-won, an academician of the National Academy of Sciences, pointed out that Ch'oe Ch'angik and Pak Chang-ok were anti-party elements who lived corrupt lives under the banner of opposing personality cult, but they all agreed with the party's practice of restoring the party membership of the reformists. Finally, the Central Committee plenary session read out a resolution stating that the reformists had made serious mistakes “without a doubt” and that the party's previous decision to punish them was “somewhat simplistic.” However, for the sake of party unity, they would give them a chance to reform. Because the envoys were satisfied with Kim Il Sung's attitude of admitting his mistakes, the delegation did not depose Kim and returned home on 22 September.
Purge of opponents was one of the few non-guerrillas who were not purged. Shortly after the Central Committee plenary session in August defeated his political enemies, Kim Il Sung began to deal with his opponents in order to eliminate the threat to his personal leadership. Among them, all reformists were stripped of their cadre rations and medical services, and their families were also punished and placed under police surveillance. Pak Chang-ok and Ch'oe Ch'angik, who were dismissed from their posts, were sent to work in a sawmill and a pig farm, respectively. At the same time, Kim Il Sung turned his attention to Yan'an faction officials. He subsequently declared that Ch'oe Ch'angik and Su Hwi were the masterminds behind the separatist and factional activities, and determined that the coup was the work of the Yan'an faction. To this end, he purged many Yan'an faction members from the Pyongyang City Party Committee. In addition, many cadres from the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Building Materials were dismissed for their association with reformist members. In September, with the arrival of the Sino-Soviet joint delegation, Kim Il Sung could only postpone the purge of the opponents and verbally agreed not to pursue the coup plotters any further. On 29 September, the
Rodong Sinmun published an article stating that the party would educate the troublemakers within the party through "re-education, persuasion and explanation" to help them correct their mistakes Pak Chang-ok and Ch'oe Ch'angik were thus reinstated to their original positions, and Yoon Gong-chin, Su Hwi and Ri Pil-kyu also regained their party membership. At the same time, Kim Il Sung summoned Soviet representatives through Park Jong-ae to convey the message that the Workers' Party would definitely exonerate them. However, this phenomenon lasted for less than two months In November, taking advantage of the attention of China and the Soviet Union to the Polish-Hungarian conflict, Kim Il Sung quickly launched an unfinished purge. He first used the pretext of reissuing party cards to remove a considerable number of Yan'an faction members. Subsequently, Pak Chang-ok and Ch'oe Ch'angik were dismissed from their posts again and sent to concentration camps. At the same time, Hong Sun-hwan, vice chairman of the Pyongyang Municipal Party Committee, was expelled from the party and removed from his post for allegedly having close ties with reformist members, and the food rations for Yun Gong-chin's family were cut off by the Pyongyang authorities. This purge did not end until the spring of 1957, by which time the main political enemies had been killed. Starting in the summer of 1957, Kim Il Sung launched a new purge that lasted for a year. This time, a total of 10,000 people were purged, of whom about 6,000 were executed and the remaining 4,000 were expelled from the party In addition to the remaining members of the Yan'an faction, the Soviet faction was also persecuted. Among them, Pak Chang-ok and Ch'oe Ch'angik were executed for assisting the United States and Japan in espionage missions; Kim Doo-bong mysteriously disappeared and was reported to have been killed in the same year; the principal of the party school, Ha Gap, committed suicide because he could not bear the repeated interrogations ; former Minister of Communications Kim Chang-hye was branded a traitor and purged; the families of Seo Hwi and Yoon Gong-chin were executed for their association. At the same time, the Pyongyang City Party Committee was also purged: 20 people, including former Secretary-General Gong Bong-chol and Kim Won-seol, were executed, and another 15 were imprisoned for a long period of time. Han Bin, a member of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, was first demoted to the National Library as its director, and later dismissed from all his posts. By the summer of 1958, apart from Kim Il Sung's confidants, the Yan'an faction and the Soviet faction had been almost completely wiped out. In 1960, Kim Il Sung launched the final purge. He first executed 150 “traitors” within the party, including 45 members of the Soviet faction. Then, he purged more than 2,000 middle and lower-level cadres within the party on the grounds of ideological corruption. By this time, only Kim Il Sung's supporters, such as Nam Il, Kim Chang-bong, Pak Jong-ae, and Heo Jung-suk, remained in the Yan’an faction and the Soviet faction.
Kim Il Sung's consolidation power The open challenges posed by the Yan'an faction and the Soviet faction to Kim Il Sung made him realize that his power base was unstable. Therefore, while carrying out a major purge, he also strengthened his rule through various means. Kim Il Sung first eliminated those outside the political circle who were considered unreliable. The academic community became the first target, with
Kim Il Sung University bearing the brunt: its Party Secretary Hong Rak-jung was executed in October 1956 for contacting members of the reformists, President Yu Sung-hun was imprisoned, and Song Kyun-chan, Dean of the Marxist–Leninist Academy, was stripped of his party membership. Many professors and students, including Kim Jong-do, the head of the History Department, were purged. At the same time, three thousand teachers in South Pyongan Province were dismissed for “political stance issues” Then, members of the military were implicated. Kim Chil-song, Commander of the Korean People's Army Navy, Pak Il-moo, Minister of Armor, and Pak Gil-nam, Chief Engineer, were arrested in 1957–1958 for allegedly having contact with Pak Chang-ok and Ch'oe Ch'angik, and their whereabouts are unknown. The judiciary was also persecuted at the same time, and its deputy minister, chief prosecutor, president of the Supreme Court and several directors were dismissed. Afterward, Kim Il Sung turned his attention to the satellite parties in the country. In November 1958, Hong Ki-hwang and Kim Dal-hyeon, the leaders of the
Korean Democratic Party and the
Chondoist Chongu Party, were accused of being spies for the United States and Japan and were sentenced to death. In February 1959, the two parties were purged. After that, the two parties were greatly weakened. In the
election in 1957, they won 22 seats in the
Supreme People's Assembly out of 215 seats. However, in the
by-election in 1959 and the subsequent elections, they won only 1 out of 56 seats and 8 out of 383 seats. Civilians also became targets of Kim Il Sung's crackdown. In April 1957, the Supreme People's Assembly passed a special law creating the
songbun system that divided citizens into three classes based on their birth status, including friendly forces, neutral forces, and hostile forces. Those classified as hostile forces, the lowest class, were not only subject to strict government surveillance, but also found it difficult to gain promotion opportunities in the officialdom and the military. This classification has been used ever since, and it is estimated that hostile forces account for 20% of the total population of North Korea. In addition, in order to achieve mutual surveillance, Kim Il Sung established the "Five-Household Responsibility System" in July 1958, in which each family was responsible for "ideological education and behavior between each other". Three months later, the
Ministry of State Security launched a year-long manhunt, and people accused of having stayed with the US and South Korean troops during the Korean War faced re-education to death sentences, involving 100,000 people. At the same time, Kim Il Sung also implemented a more hardline Stalinist rule. He vigorously promoted collectivization, and by the end of 1959, 95.6% of families nationwide had joined the ranks of collectivized production, the highest in the world. On the other hand, he also worked hard to crack down on private enterprises. By 1958, all private enterprises in the country had been nationalized. On the other hand, Kim Il Sung emphasized nationalism even more after the coup. He repeatedly emphasized the virtue and purity of the Korean people through his mouthpiece, the
Rodong Sinmun, and encouraged students to study
Korean seriously and learn less
Russian. He also brought up the crimes committed by the US military in the Korean War to unite the people. In order to weaken the Soviet Union's influence in the country, the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party issued a ban on Soviet drama in the autumn of 1956, and Russian was no longer a subject to be studied in universities. The number of times the Soviet Union was mentioned in official publications also decreased sharply. Kim Il Sung also carried out a large intensification of his cult of personality. Since 1958, the propaganda organs have repeatedly asked artists to sing praises of the Party and Kim Il Sung, and to actively produce works to overthrow class enemies and reactionaries. Kim Il Sung's name and the
Juche ideology he put forward appeared frequently in the
Rodong Sinmun, and the media frequently reported on the unprecedented prosperity of the North Korean economy and attributed it to Kim Il Sung In 1958, the Workers' Party established "Study Rooms on the Revolutionary Activities of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung" throughout the country to allow the people to learn about Kim Il Sung's deeds. These study rooms were found in government agencies, factories, rural people's communes and schools. In
North Pyongan Province alone, there were 863 Kim Il Sung study rooms. In 1959, the
Memoirs of Participants in the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Forces published by the Institute of Party History of the Workers’ Party of Korea claimed that Kim Il Sung had fought more than 100,000 battles during the 15-year anti-Japanese struggle and had never been defeated. Kim Il Sung further strengthened his control over the government through elections. In April 1956, Kim Il Sung made significant adjustments in the election of the Central Committee. Of the 71 members of the Central Committee, 43 were newly elected, and only 28 were re-elected. Of the 45 alternate members of the Central Committee, 43 were newly elected, and only 2 were retained. In 1957, Kim Il Sung launched the first national election since the Korean War. This time, only 75 people were successfully re-elected out of 527 seats, and the rest were newcomers. In the second election of the Politburo of the Workers' Party in 1961, the guerrilla faction won 6 out of 11 seats, the Soviet faction won 2 seats (Nam Il and Park Jong-ae), the Yan'an faction won 1 seat (Kim Chang-bong), and the non-factional members replaced the domestic faction to win the remaining two seats. By this time, the entire Workers' Party had been controlled by Kim Il Sung. Under these methods, Kim Il Sung had eliminated all threats by the early 1960s and consolidated his power. In addition, after eliminating Kim Do-man, Pak Kim-chul, Pak Yong-guk and others who were considered to have too much power in the Kapsan faction, which was considered an internal faction of the guerrilla faction, leading him to
purge them in 1967. By this time, Kim had successfully grasped control of the party, the military and the government, thus allowing his dictatorial rule over North Korea and laying the foundation for the hereditary rule of the
Kim family in the future.
Changes in relations with China and the Soviet Union After the Korean War ended, North Korea adopted a pro-Soviet foreign policy. In September 1953, shortly after the war ended, the Soviet Union provided North Korea with 1 billion rubles in grant aid and extended the repayment period of the 298 million rubles loan from the war, and reduced the interest rate from 2% to 1%. In December 1955, Kim Il Sung even declared to the people that "loving the Soviet Union is loving North Korea." During this period, the relationship between North Korea and the Soviet Union was unprecedentedly friendly. On the contrary, despite China providing 1.6 billion rubles in grant aid, waiving 1.45 billion yuan in loans during the war, and funding students to study abroad, North Korea adopted a dismissive attitude towards China. According to observations by the
Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the living conditions of the China's
People's Volunteer Army stationed near Pyongyang were very poor, and the North Korean leadership rarely visited the area. At the same time, North Korea denied the contributions of the People's Volunteer Army to the Korean War. In the war exhibition hall in Pyongyang, only one of the 12 exhibition halls was dedicated to the Volunteer Army, and the remaining exhibition halls explained that the combat operations of the Korean People's Army had nothing to do with the Volunteer Army. North Korea's actions aroused dissatisfaction from China. As a result, after China recalled its ambassador to Pyongyang in 1952, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not send a new ambassador until January 1955. On the other hand, at the reception held at the
North Korean Embassy in Beijing, Premier
Zhou Enlai, who was also the Minister of Foreign Affairs, “almost did not talk to the North Korean representatives”. However, with the emergence of the coup, this situation gradually changed. In 1956, the first year after the coup, Kim Il Sung attributed the coup to the instigation of China and the Soviet Union. Therefore, he became hostile to both countries. North Korea first signed a treaty with the Soviet Union, stipulating that North Korean cadres with Soviet nationality could only choose one nationality, North Korea or the Soviet Union. In addition, North Korea greatly reduced the number of students going to the Soviet Union for study. Subsequently, only graduate students were allowed to study in the country. At the same time, North Korea tried to sow discord between China and the Soviet Union. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continuously spread news that was unfavorable to China, such as the Beijing government's view that the Soviet Union had a wrong view of the Poznan incident and the Chinese vice foreign minister's private meeting with the ambassadors of Vietnam and Mongolia. On the other hand, North Korea also evaded China's requests, such as the restoration of food rations for the family of Yun Gong-chin. In this year, the relationship between North Korea and China and the Soviet Union was also not good. In 1957, the
Sino-Soviet split worsened, which made it necessary for China to win over North Korea's support. In mid-September, China invited North Korea to visit China. On October 25, Kim Il Sung sent a congratulatory telegram to Mao Zedong on the seventh anniversary of the People's Volunteer Army's stationing in North Korea, and relations between the two countries gradually warmed up. In 1958, Zhou Enlai decided to withdraw all the Volunteer Army stationed in North Korea. Since then, relations between the two sides have eased, and the friendly relations between China and North Korea have continued to improve in the following decades. To this day, North Korea remains China's most important ally, and the two countries have a direct military alliance. As for the Soviet Union, since the Soviet Union did not regard North Korea as an important ally, after the relations between the two countries deteriorated, the Soviet Union did not actively improve the relations between the two countries, which led to the estrangement between the two countries continuing until Leonid Brezhnev overthrew Nikita Khrushchev's rule in 1964, which was then improved. Nevertheless, there were still some economic exchanges between the two countries during this period. In March 1959, the Soviet Union and North Korea signed a new economic cooperation agreement, under which the Soviet Union provided North Korea with 500 million rubles worth of machinery and technical assistance to help build power plants, chemical plants and woolen mills, etc. In 1960, the Soviet Union also waived 760 million rubles of outstanding loans from North Korea. == Reactions ==