Kim Dal-sam

Kim Dal-sam (born Yi Songjin)[1]^:158 was born in 1923 and grew up in Jeju Province, 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 Workers Party of South Korea (WPSK) 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.[1]^:156–157 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.[1]^:159

As a leader in the Military Committee of the WPSK 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.[1]^:159,166

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.”[1]^:174 Kim Ik-ryeol refused to accept Kim Dal-sam’s demands and hostilities started again three days later.[1]^:174[2]^:31

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.”[1]^:178[2]^:34 It was at this same conference that KCP and Soviet Union officials held elections to establish the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).[1]^:176–178 Kim returned to Jeju in early to mid-September.[1]^:179[2]^:37

After Republic of Korea (ROK) forces crushed the Jeju Uprising in March, 1949, Kim left Jeju for mainland Korea in order to enter DPRK. On March 20, 1950, Kim's body was found among the dead in the aftermath of a guerrilla battle at Jeongseon County, before full-scale Korean war began.