Nam Il

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Nam Il, born Yakov Petrovich Nam on June 5, 1915, in the Russian Empire, was a Russian-born Korean military officer who rose to become a key North Korean leader. His family moved to Central Asia due to Soviet policy. He trained at Smolensk Military School and in Tashkent, reached the rank of captain in the Soviet Army, and fought in World War II, including the battles of Stalingrad and Berlin. In 1946 he was sent to Soviet-occupied North Korea to help Kim Il Sung.

During the Korean War, Nam Il served as Chief of Staff and later became a General of the Army. He was North Korea’s main delegate at the armistice talks in 1951 and was famous for an amber cigarette holder. After the war, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1953 to 1959 and worked with Pak Chong-ae to reduce Soviet influence over Kim Il Sung.

In 1957 he was promoted and became a deputy prime minister, serving as Vice Premier until his death in 1976. Nam Il was one of a few Soviet Koreans who survived the purges of the late 1950s. He died on March 7, 1976, when his car was crushed by a truck. The official report called it an accident, but many suspected foul play. He was given a state funeral and buried in the Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery in North Korea. His son, who lived in the Soviet Union, once tried to visit North Korea to investigate, but was discouraged. Nam Il’s image remains in historical photographs.