Died 1950 | ||
Kim Dal-sam (1923 – March 20, 1950; 김달삼), also Romanized as Kim Dalsam and Kim Tal-sam, was a school teacher, leftist revolutionary and commander of South Korean Labor party (SKLP) troops during the Jeju Uprising.
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Background
Kim Dal-sam (born Yi Songjin) was born in 1923 and grew up in Jeju, Korea. During Japanese occupation, Kim spent time in Osaka, Japan before moving to Tokyo to study mathematics at Chuo University (Tokyo Central University). During World War II, Kim was conscripted by the Japanese government to work for the Hakbyeong shipbuilding company. In January 1945, Kim married the daughter of a man named Gangmunseok Gangyoungae.
After World War II, Kim taught Marxism-Leninism at a middle school in Jeju Province. He also became quite active in politics, serving as an organizer and director for the South Korean Labor party (SKLP) in the late 1940s. Kim was an outspoken critic of Koreans who collaborated with the Japanese during occupation and often protested against the government police force on Jeju, demanding unification with the North. Kim was vehemently opposed to the elections planned for May 10, 1948 by the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) because he thought they would further reinforce Korean division. In order to prevent these elections from happening, Kim led an armed rebellion against the government police forces on the island on April 3, 1948, which became known as the Jeju Uprising.
Role in the Jeju Uprising
As a leader in the Military Committee of the SKLP’s Jeju branch, Kim, along with Cho No-gu, planned the April 3, 1948 attacks on government police forces one month prior, in March, 1948. When the uprising commenced, Kim’s forces included 400 guerilla fighters and 4,000 members of “self-defense” groups located throughout the island.
On April 28, 1948, the fighting on Jeju stopped as Kim Dal-sam met with the leader of the police forces on the island, Kim Ik-ryeol, to negotiate a truce. Kim Dal-sam’s demands included “the surrender of all police forces, the confiscation of all weapons, punishment of police and rightists who had committed atrocities, withdrawal of rightist youth groups, and assurances that the May 10 elections would be cancelled.” Kim Ik-ryeol refused to accept Kim Dal-sam’s demands and hostilities started again three days later.
In August 1948, with the uprising in full-swing, Kim left Jeju to attend a conference of the Korean Communist party (KCP) on the border town of Haeju, North Korea. At the conference, Kim reported on the positive developments on Jeju, to which the other participants responded with “thunderous applause.” It was at this same conference that KCP and Soviet Union officials held elections to establish the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Kim returned to Jeju in early to mid-September.
After the Jeju Uprising and Death
After Republic of Korea (ROK) forces crushed the Jeju Uprising in March, 1949, Kim left Jeju for mainland Korea and fought for the (DPRK) in the Korean War. On March 20, 1950, Kim's body was found among the dead in the aftermath of a battle at Jeongseon.