Kim Kwang-hyop

Kim Kwang-hyop (, 1915–1970) was a North Korean anti-Japanese activist, military officer and politician. He served as Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

Biography

He was born in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, in 1915. In 1930, at the age of 16, he moved to China and graduated from Huangpu Military Academy, where he worked as an anti-Japanese partisan. In 1935, he joined the Chinese Communist Party, and in 1940 he served as the second member of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army's Second Army. After the fall of the Empire of Japan, he became the commander of the military district of the Northeast Democratic Army of the pro-Soviet Provisional People's Committee of North Korea.

At the onset of the Korean War he was the commander of the Second Army of the Korean People's Army. After the armistice of the Korean War, he was promoted to the Chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army. He served as a delegate to the Supreme People's Assembly in following the 1957 North Korean parliamentary election and from September that year until October 1962 he was also Minister of People's Armed Forces.