Ho Ka-i
Ho Ka-i | |
---|---|
Vice Premier of the Cabinet | |
In office 4 November 1951 – 2 July 1953 | |
Premier | Kim Il Sung |
First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee | |
In office 24 June 1949 – 2 July 1953 | |
Chairman | Kim Il Sung |
2nd Secretary | Yi Sung-yop |
3rd Secretary | Kim Sam-yong |
Personal details | |
Born | Khabarovsk, Russian Empire | 18 March 1908
Died | 2 June 1953 Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea | (aged 45)
Nationality | Korean |
Spouses |
|
Korean name | |
Chosŏn'gŭl | 허가이 |
Hancha | 許哥誼 |
Revised Romanization | Heo Ga-i |
McCune–Reischauer | Hŏ Ka-i |
Occupation | Politician |
Alexei Ivanovich Hegai (
Early life
Aleksei Ivanovich Hegai, also known as Ho Ka-i, was born on 18 March 1908 in Khabarovsk in Russia. His father was a teacher at a Korean school in the Russian Empire. Ho Ka-i was never given a Korean name when he was born, unlike many Russian Koreans. His Korean name is assumed to be an adaptation of his Russian family name.[2]
He was orphaned at a young age; his mother died in 1911 and a few months later his father died by suicide. Ho Ka-i and his younger brother were raised by their uncle, who worked as a digger in gold fields in Khabarovsk. In 1920, at the age of twelve, Ho Ka-i began working at a tobacco factory in Khabarovsk to bring in some money to help support the family.[3]
Ho Ka-i started to get involved in
At the age of nineteen, he married a Soviet Korean, Anna Innokentevna Li, and they would eventually have five children, forcing him to abandon his studies in order to support his family. Working under the Communist Party, he served as secretary for many years, upgrading his family out of the lower class because of his dedication and his service to the party.[5]
In 1933, Ho Ka-i left for Moscow, studying at the
During the years leading up to his departure to
Pre-Korean War
Ho Ka-i was sent to Korea to help create the Communist Party there. In 1946, Ho Ka-i, alongside Kim Il Sung, Kim Tu-bong, Chu Yong-ha, and Choe Chang-ik made up the Political Committee, which was formed to decide the new leader of the government. Ho Ka-i was elected to represent the Soviet Occupation Authorities.[10]
At a Second Party Congress Session during March 27–30, 1948, Ho Ka-i delivered an unscheduled speech, condemning some officials, who had previously apologized, for not admitting their mistakes.[11] Ho Ka-i accused O Ki-sŏp and Ch'oe Young-dal for being prideful and defending themselves at the cost of party progress, going so far as to accuse O Ki Sŏp of his attitude and individual heroism. Being accused of individual heroism was dishonorable because being part of a communist regime; the emphasis was on the whole, and not on the individual person. By not admitting their mistakes, Ho Ka-i said their apologies were not valid and just empty words. Ho Ka-i claimed that because they had apologized without admitting that they were wrong, the men were just doing what they were supposed to and not really sorry and thus, would make the same decisions again.[12]
In Korea, Ho Ka-i rapidly moved up the ranks of the North Korean communist leadership. At the third plenum of the Second Central Committee on September 24–25, 1948, Ho Kai replaced Chu Yong-ha as the vice-chairman of the party as well as the chairman of the inspection committee, where Kim Il Sung was the chairman.[13] On 24 June 1949, the first joint plenum of the two central committees of the Workers' Party of North and South Korea occurred as Kim Il Sung was formally elected chairman of the Workers' Party and Ho Ka-i as second vice-chairman as well as first secretary.[14] The Soviet authorities thought Ho Ka-i to be an expert in organization, causing him to move up in party ranks. Ho Ka-i was third in ranking, only behind the chairman and Pak Hon-yong, the vice-chairman. During this time, Ho Ka-i married his second wife, after his first wife died in Pyongyang in 1947 of tuberculosis. Nina Tsoi and Ho Ka-i were married on 1 January 1949. Nina Tsoi was the daughter of Piotr Invanovich (Ch'oe Pyo-dok), a Korean officer in the Red Army who "survived the mass terror of 1937-9."[15]
Ho Ka-i and Kim Il-sung's confrontation
In September 1951, Kim Il Sung and Ho Ka-i had a dispute over how to reorganize the tattered party and how to handle party members who were not completely loyal.[16] The party was split on how they should set up its government and what sort of actions they should take in doing so.
Kim Il Sung said that the Korean war had helped to distinguish between the loyal and disloyal members of the party and those who went against the party should be punished via legal channels, avoiding any indiscriminate purges. Ho Ka-i, who was the chair of the inspection committee, did the exact opposite, conducting indiscriminate purges of low-ranking party members to check their loyalty to the Party. Numbers from North Korea suggest that Ho Ka-i expelled and punished over 450,000 of the party's 600,000 members during the war.[17] Kim Il Sung felt that Ho Ka-i was using harsh measures, punishing any member who failed to show the newly issued membership card, but Ho Ka-i failed to cooperate.[18]
The main issue between the two men was whether to build an elite communist party that takes after the Soviet Union or a mass party which the Soviet occupation authorities had suggested. Ho Ka-i opted to follow the Soviet Union model while Kim Il Sung wanted the mass party which the Soviet occupation authorities suggested. Ho Ka-i, according to Kim Il Sung at a later date, had desired an elite communist party while Kim wanted a strong mass party that built up all of the country's unique features.[19]
Later, Kim Il Sung reinstated all the expelled members and Ho Ka-i, instead was purged.[1] Kim Il Sung took advantage of Ho Ka-i's misfortune, ridiculing Ho Ka-i about party matters as well as accusing him of being secretive and acting on personal heroism.
In November 1951, Ho Ka-i was removed from his posts. This act greatly weakened the influence of
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Lankov 2013, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Lankov 2002, p. 137.
- ^ Suh 1988, Chapter 5.
- ^ Lankov 2002, p. 138.
- ^ Lankov 2002, p. 140.
- ^ Lankov 2002, p. 139.
- ^ Lankov 2002, p. 141.
- ^ Lankov 2002, p. 142.
- ^ Lankov 2002, pp. 142–143.
- ^ Suh 1988, p. 80.
- ^ Suh 1988, p. 87.
- ^ Suh 1988, p. 92.
- ^ Suh 1988, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Suh 1988, p. 108.
- ^ Lankov 2002, p. 146.
- ^ Suh 1988, p. 123.
- ^ Park & Kim 1979, p. 168.
- ^ Lankov 2002, p. 148.
- ^ Lankov 2002, p. 150.
- ^ Lankov 2002, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Lankov 2002, p. 91.
Bibliography
- Lankov, Andrei (2002), From Stalin To Kim Il Sung: The Formation of North Korea 1945-1960, Rutgers University Press, ISBN 1-85065-563-4
- ISBN 978-0-19-996429-1.
- Park, Jae-Kyu; Kim, Jung- Gun (1979), The Politics of North Korea, Westview Press, ISBN 0-86531-653-8
- Suh, Dae-Sook (1988), Kim Il Sung The North Korean Leader, Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-23106-573-6
- Szalontai, Balazs (2005), Kim Il Sung in the Khrushchev Era, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-80475-322-9