NORTH KOREA'S URBAN PLANNER KIM JEONG-HUI

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Other Title
  • 北朝鮮の都市計画家・金正熙
  • 北朝鮮の都市計画家・金正熙 : 朝鮮戦争休戦(1953年)以前の履歴解明とその分析
  • キタチョウセン ノ トシ ケイカクカ ・ キン セイキ : チョウセン センソウ キュウセン(1953ネン)イゼン ノ リレキ カイメイ ト ソノ ブンセキ
  • An elucidation and analysis of his career before the Korean Armistice (1953)
  • 朝鮮戦争休戦（1953年）以前の履歴解明とその分析

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Abstract

<p> This paper focuses on Kim Jeong-hui, one of North Korea’s most famous urban planners. We elucidate his career before his return to North Korea in July 1953 from studying in Moscow. Furthermore, we also analyze this part of his career, discussing the following three points: (1) the historical background of Kim studying architecture at Nihon University during World War II, (2) his assumption of a leadership position in North Korean architecture soon after liberation Japanese colonial rule, and (3) the aim of his research at Moscow Architectural Institute that began in 1948.</p><p> We reconstruct Kim’s career before he went to study in Moscow based on information contained in his Moscow Architectural Institute doctoral dissertation (submitted in July 1953) and materials from its defense. Kim was born in 1921. After graduating from Osan School, he went to Japan and studied in the Department of Architecture of Nihon University’s College of Engineering. While enrolled, in 1943 he was arrested and tortured by the Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu (Tokkō/the Secret Police) on the suspicion of participating in the communist movement. He returned to Korea in 1944. After North Korea’s liberation from colonial rule, at an early stage, Kim became the vice-chairperson of the Union of North Korean Architects. In the autumn of 1947, he went to the Soviet Union to attend graduate school at Moscow Architectural Institute.</p><p> From our examination of this part of Kim’s career, three points become clear. First, this urban planner that played an important role in the building of the North Korean State was trained as an architectural engineer in the context of Japan’s drive to train engineers as part of its all-out wartime regime. Second, it is possible that Kim’s arrest by Japan’s Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu on ideological charges and subsequent torture played a role in his career advancement after liberation. Third, Kim went to study in Moscow to create urban planning guidelines for the construction of Pyongyang and other North Korean cities.</p><p> Immediately after liberation, Kim still did not have any experience actually engaging in architectural work. It appears that despite this he was able to quickly assume a leading role in North Korean architecture because of his ideology-related experiences when studying in Japan, as well as the network he had cultivated at that time. We conclude that how an individual lived amidst Japanese colonial rule had a considerable meaning and influence in post-liberation North Korea.</p>

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