1. Cho Man-sik, known by his art name Godang, was a Korean independence activist.
33 Facts About Cho Man-sik
1. 2.
Cho Man-sik became involved in the power struggle that enveloped North Korea in the months following the Japanese surrender after World War II.
3.
Originally, Cho was supported by the Soviet Union for the eventual rule of North Korea.
4.
However, due to his opposition to trusteeship, Cho Man-sik lost Soviet support and was forced from power by the Soviet-backed and pro Soviet communists in the north.
5.
Cho Man-sik is generally believed to have been executed soon after the start of the Korean War, possibly in October 1950.
6.
Cho Man-sik was born on 1 February 1883 in Kangso-gun, South P'yongan Province, Joseon.
7.
Cho Man-sik was raised and educated in a traditional Confucian style but later converted to Protestantism and became an elder.
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From June 1908 to 1913 Cho Man-sik moved to Japan to study law in Tokyo at Meiji University.
9.
Cho Man-sik admired the teachings of Jesus Christ and Leo Tolstoy.
10.
Cho Man-sik later used these ideas of non-violent opposition to resist Japanese rule.
11.
Cho Man-sik is famous for publicly rejecting the Japanese Imperial government's policy of pressuring Koreans to legally change their surnames into Japanese.
12.
In 1922 Cho Man-sik established the Korean Products Promotion Society with the objective of achieving economic self-sufficiency and that Koreans could obtain solely home-produced products.
13.
Cho Man-sik intended the Society to be a national movement supported by all religious organizations and social groups, particularly ordinary Koreans.
14.
Cho Man-sik agreed to co-operate, and on 17 August 1945 formed the Provisional People's Committee for the Five Provinces.
15.
Cho Man-sik joined the cabinet of the People's Republic of Korea, making the Provisional People's Committee for the Five Provinces its northern branch.
16.
Cho Man-sik affiliated this committee to the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence.
17.
Cho Man-sik was at this time the most popular leader in Pyongyang due mainly to his constant resistance to the Japanese and his formation of the Korean Products Promotions Society.
18.
Soviet officers regularly met with Cho Man-sik and tried to convince him to head the emerging North Korea administration.
19.
Cho Man-sik however disliked communism and did not trust foreign powers.
20.
Cho Man-sik would have agreed to co-operate with the Soviet authorities only on his own terms, such as extensive autonomy.
21.
Cho Man-sik's conditions were not accepted by the Soviet leaders and supervisors.
22.
On 3 November 1945, Cho Man-sik established his own political party: The Democratic Party of Korea.
23.
Soviet faith that Cho Man-sik could become a North Korean leader with Soviet ideals diminished and new hope was placed on the Korean communist and pre-Soviet officer Kim Il Sung.
24.
Under Soviet pressure, Cho Man-sik was obliged to reorganize the Provisional People's Committee for the Five Provinces, and accept more communists onto the councils.
25.
The opposing ideologies of Kim and Cho Man-sik led to a clash between the two men, and the forced power-sharing failed to sit well with either of them.
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On 1 January 1946, Andrey Alekseyevich Romanenko, a Soviet leader, met with Cho Man-sik and tried to persuade him to sign support of the trusteeship.
27.
The Soviet Civil Administration discredited Cho Man-sik by spreading rumors that he collaborated with Japan.
28.
Cho Man-sik stood in the 1948 vice-presidency election, but by then the Communist influence in the country's affairs was too strong, and he was unsuccessful, receiving only 10 votes from the National Assembly.
29.
Cho Man-sik was later transferred to a prison in Pyongyang, where confirmed reports of him end.
30.
Cho Man-sik is generally believed to have been executed along with other political prisoners during the early days of the Korean War, possibly in October 1950.
31.
The North Korean defector Park Gil-yong claimed Cho Man-sik was killed by the Korean People's Army in a massacre of 5,000 inmates during its evacuation of Pyongyang.
32.
Cho Man-sik's removal opened the way for Kim Il Sung to consolidate his power in the north, a position he was able to hold for 48 years until his death in 1994.
33.
In 1970, Cho Man-sik's deeds gained posthumous recognition when the South Korean government awarded him the Order of the Republic of Korea in the Order of Merit for National Foundation.