Park Seong

Park Seong (August 4, 1871 - c.November 1955) was a member and the final leader of a small communist group called The Chosen Force. These were known as being the original communists in Korea.

Early activities

Park started out in 1910, when he read "The Communist Manifesto" by Karl Marx, joining the leader Kin Yang-Song with his friend Lee Gangjeon. He was one of the main conspirators in Kin Yang-Song's plan to burn down Japanese governmental buildings in 1918. He and another 25 other followers escaped and Kin Yang-Song. 70 others were caught and put to death.

After this plan failed, they decided to run north to the Soviet Union, finally reaching Chelyabinsk in 1936. He and a few others found papers stating that Kin Yang-Song’s motives weren’t in their best interests (for example selling his followers as slaves). It was at this point that Lee Gangjeon, Park Seong and a few other dedicated followers assassinated Kin Yang-Song. It was then that Lee Gangjeon was proclaimed the new leader of the Chosen Force.

Leadership of The Chosen Force

Park's first act as leader was to employ more dedicated followers from Chelyabinsk. This boosted their numbers to 400. His second was to march to China and drum up more support. Their number had reached their peak with 750 people taken in altogether. He then marched back to Korea in June 1945. They had many peaceful protests including one in the home of the Chosen Force, Daegu. However, Lee Gangjeon was killed, three months after North Korea had been established properly, by a South Korean protestor.

It was one day later that both Park and An Tae-Yong were nominated as potential leaders with Bae Jeong, Kim Jin-Ho and Song Minpyo. Within the 3 weeks after the nominations, 3 main candidates were announced as Park Seong, Song Minpyo and An Tae-Yong. The election showed an equal amount of votes. It was at that point that the two men decided to be joint leaders. This however did not last long as four weeks later he died of pneumonia. Park then tried gaining more support in China and the USSR as opposed to their original efforts in South Korea. In November 1955, he went mysteriously missing and was thought to have been found in a cave in the 1970's. Officially, it is thought to have been his body, however, it is disputed by many different groups.