Skip to content
Placeholder image for when a portrait image is not available

Kim Yeong-cheon

Appointed minister of the armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 2009.

Biography

Placeholder image for when a portrait image is not available
KIM YEONG-CHEON (1936- ). Appointed minister of the armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 2009, Kim Yeong-cheon was born in Gangwon Province. He was educated at the Mangyeongdae Revolutionary School and at Kim Il Sung Military University and also studied at the Frunze Military Academy (now in Kyrgyzstan) in the former Soviet Union. After apparently holding provincial positions in the Korean Workers' Party (KWP) and becoming an alternate member of the KWP Central Committee in 1980, he was noted as a lieutenant general in the armed forces in 1982. By 1986, he was director general of the Korean People's Army (KPA) Strategy Department and a full member of the KWP Central Committee. The following year, he received the Order of Kim Il Sung. He was elected to the ninth Supreme People's Assembly (SPA) for a Gangwon district in 1990. Promoted to full general in 1992, he became director general of the KPA Munitions Mobilization Bureau in 1993.

In 1994, he was commander of the Sixth Army Corps stationed in the far northeast of the country and a member of the funeral committee for Kim Il Sung. Although the Sixth Army Corps apparently mutinied against Kim Il Sung's successor Kim Jong Il in 1995 and was forcibly disbanded, Kim Yeong-cheon not only escaped censure but continued his advance. He served on the funeral committee for O Jin-u in February that year and was appointed a vice marshal and KPA chief of staff in October 1995. He was a delegate to the 10th SPA in 1998, and in 2007 became vice chairman of the National Defense Commission at the ninth session of the l1th SPA. He was appointed minister of the People's Armed Forces in February 2009. However, he ceased to appear in public from November 2009.

Because his time as chief of staff saw incidents such as a submarine incursion in 1998, various naval clashes, the development of long range missiles and nuclear testing, he has become associated in the Republic of Korea with a more aggressive policy. It is not clear, however, whether such policies can be attributed to him personally. He is also reputed to be have been close to Kim Jong Il and to engage in drinking parties with him. Again, such stories are impossible to verify.

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. (Historical Dictionary of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, by James E. Hoare, published by RLPG Books, appears by permission of the author and publisher).


Popular Documents

No Documents Were Found for This Resource