21 Facts About Paik Sun-yup

Paik Sun-yup was a Republic of Korea Army four-star general who became the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1959 to 1960.

Paik Sun-yup was the second of three siblings, with an older sister and younger brother, being raised by a widowed mother.

In 1925 the Paik Sun-yup family moved to Pyongyang, where they lived under deplorable conditions in a single, rented room.

Unable to feed her family, Paik Sun-yup's mother attempted to commit family-suicide with her children by jumping from the Taedong River Bridge but was dissuaded from doing so by her eldest daughter.

Paik Sun-yup eventually had him reinstated into the army during the Korean War.

At 7:00 am, Paik Sun-yup was alerted to the invasion by the 1st Infantry Division's Chief of Staff.

Paik Sun-yup then pulled back to the Nakdong River along the Pusan Perimeter, the last-ditch defense of the allied forces, on the southern tip of Korea.

However, it was during this phase of the war that Paik Sun-yup was honored with the recapture of both his birthplace and the capital of North Korea, Pyongyang, on October 19,1950.

Paik Sun-yup, being fluent in Chinese, was personally able to interrogate the first Chinese prisoners of war who were captured; however, his warnings of the intervention went unheeded by the overall theater command, who did not believe that the PRC had entered the conflict.

Later, once the threat of the Chinese was fully realized Paik Sun-yup would go on to assume command of the defense of northwestern Korea but was continuously pushed back both by the superior numbers and ferocity of the Chinese Second Phase Offensive.

Paik Sun-yup was fundamentally opposed to the peace negotiations, fearing that it would lead to the abandonment of a unified Korea.

Paik Sun-yup's troops were now fighting a war of attrition, with both the United Nations and the Communist digging in and ever more fortifying their positions.

In May 1952, Paik Sun-yup expressed to President Eisenhower the strong opposition of the Korean people to an armistice.

Paik Sun-yup maintained a smooth relationship with the US military officers.

In July 1965, Paik Sun-yup served as the first Korean Ambassador to Canada, after which he was appointed the Minister of Transportation of Korea in October 1969.

Paik Sun-yup directed the construction of Seoul's public transportation infrastructure, which included the subway system.

Paik Sun-yup was appointed president of Korea Chemical Industries in April 1973, where he directed the construction of the largest fertilizing manufactory plant in Southeast Asia at the time.

Paik Sun-yup was later appointed president of adjunct Korea Chemical Pulp in 1974 and became president of the Fertilizer Industry Association in 1975.

On January 30,2019, a group in consisting of retired South Korean generals of which Paik Sun-yup served as an advisor, released a statement criticizing the administration of South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the Comprehensive Military Agreement which was signed with North Korea at the September 2018 inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang.

Paik Sun-yup died on July 10,2020, at the age of 99, four months short of his 100th birthday and was buried in Daejeon National Cemetery.

Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs claimed the reason Paik Sun-yup was buried in Daejeon National Cemetery was because the designated area for generals in Seoul National Cemetery was full.