Kim Yong-bom
Kim Yong-bom (August 18, 1902 – September 7, 1947) was a North Korean revolutionary and politician who led the Communist Party from 1945 to 1946 and helped found what is today the Workers' Party of Korea.
He was born in Chongnam, South Pyongan Province, then part of the Korean Empire. In the early 1930s he studied in Moscow at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, where he met Pak Chong-ae, a communist feminist organizer. The two returned to Korea in 1932 disguised as a couple and later married.
In 1945, after the assassination of Hyŏn Chunhyŏk, Kim became Secretary of the North Korean Branch Bureau of the Communist Party of Korea, making him the first leader of the party that would become the Workers' Party of Korea. He served as General Secretary from October 13, 1945, to December 18, 1946, and later chaired the Central Inspection Commission from August 31, 1946, until his death on September 7, 1947. He died at age 45 in North Korea.
Kim Yong-bom is remembered as an early and foundational leader of North Korea’s ruling party.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 03:09 (CET).