Early life Kim Wŏnbong was born in 1898, in
Miryang, in the
South Gyeongsang Province of the
Korean Empire. He was born to father Kim Chu-ik () and mother Yi Kyŏng-nyŏm () and into the
Gimhae Kim clan. In his youth, he studied at a
seodang, a traditional Korean school. In 1908, he enrolled in a modern-style school. In 1910, he attended the Donghwa Middle School (). In 1913, he attended a school in Seoul. In 1916, he was in China, learning the
German language. In 1918, he enrolled in the
University of Nanking. In February 1919, he entered the
Sinhŭng Military Academy and underwent military education for six months, after which he dropped out of the academy.
Militant activism Kim moved to
Manchuria, where he established the
Heroic Corps in December 1919. The group sought the destruction of the
Empire of Japan and the independence of Korea. Inspired by the political philosophy of
anarchism, Kim led six years of armed resistance against Japan. During this period, the group out a number of terrorist attacks, including assassinations of Japanese officials and attacks on military bases. In January 1923, Kim and fellow Heroic Corps member influenced
Sin Ch'aeho's conversion to anarchism when they convinced him to write his "Declaration of the Korean Revolution". By the 1930s, Kim's group was collaborating with the Chinese
Nationalist government, which gave them
military training and
political education. Over the course of the 1930s, Kim's political outlook moved towards
socialism. In 1935, Kim established the
Korean National Revolutionary Party (KNRP), which largely distributed anti-Japanese propaganda. During this time, Kim's
anarchist communist faction of the Korean independence movement began to clash with
Kim Ku's right-wing nationalist faction. On 12 November 1937, Kim met with Yu Ja-meyong and to discuss the formation of a
united front with other radical organisations, including Yu's anarchist
League of Korean Revolutionaries and Kim Seongsuk's Marxist
Alliance for Korean National Liberation Movement. In December 1937, they established the
League for the Korean National Front (LKNF). In 1938, Kim Wŏnbong was appointed as
commander-in-chief of its military branch, the
Korean Volunteer Corps (KVC), which later merged together with other pro-independence forces, forming the
Korean Liberation Army.
Political career Following the
liberation of Korea, Kim moved back to
South Korea (then under
United States occupation) and threw his support behind
Syngman Rhee's government. He had initially decided against moving to the
Soviet-occupied north, due to his opposition to orthodox
Stalinism. But when
right-wing and
collaborationist elements in Rhee's government began to threaten Kim's life, in April 1948, he decided to defect to
North Korea out of self-preservation. There he joined the
Workers' Party of North Korea and became a close collaborator of
Kim Il Sung, helping to establish the country's communist government. Kim was
elected to the
1st Supreme People's Assembly, and served as its
first Vice Chairman. He also served in the
cabinet as head of the and , and as a
commanding officer in the
Korean People's Army. In 1950, Kim collaborated in the
invasion of South Korea, which began the
Korean War; after the war, Kim Il Sung awarded him with the ". By this time, Kim had adjusted his anarchist political philosophy to fit in with the state's prevailing ideology of
Marxism-Leninism. In a 1955 article for
Kulloja, Kim wrote of the importance of
persuasion and education in the establishment of a new society in North Korea. He emphasised that the
wellbeing of the working class ought to be a central consideration for the ruling Workers' Party, which he believed should build its new society
in accordance with the will of the masses. During the mid-1950s, debates flared up within the party around
de-Stalinization and Kim Il Sung's
cult of personality, during which Kim Wŏnbong had allegedly expressed concern about the building of a
one-party state in North Korea. He became a target for a subsequent
purge of elements perceived as hostile to the leader's consolidation of power. In a report to the
Soviet embassy on 17 November 1958, the party leadership announced that Kim Wŏnbong had been purged, claiming he was an agent of the United States and that he had attempted to support the
UN offensive into North Korea. In March 1959, an article allegedly written by Kim was published in
Kulloja, in which he praised the
Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and its "
Great Leader" for improving the country's
transportation infrastructure. Following this article's publication, his name disappeared from the public record. ==Legacy==