Kim Yong-Chun (PJW)

Kim Yong-Chun was the second and last Premier of North Korea.

A high-ranking military general in the People's Army of Korea, Yong-chun was close to Premier Kim Il-sung. Yong-chun would be purged in 1968 as he witnessed the rise of totalitarianism and cult of personality in North Korea. When the case of human rights abuses emerged from South Korea during it's totalitarian rule, Yong-chun decided to act. With a fellow cadre of military leaders, Yong-chun ousted Il-sung in December 1972, becoming the new Premier of North Korea.

Yong-chun acted closely with the Soviet Union and the United States during the Korean Crisis. Yong-chun gave his approval to the nuclear strike on the South Korean nuclear facilities, and later agreed to a joint operation to reunite the Korean peninsula. Yong-chun hoped to act a neutral bloc between the Soviet Union and United States-allied Japan, which became increasingly hard as both the Soviets and the Americans made more demands on him during the 1970s. Yong-chun, while just as authoritarian as his predecessor, came no where near the totalitarianism of Il-sung, and much of his rule was dedicated to rebuilding and re-integrating the south.

At the end of the decade, the United States' power had declined, and tensions with China resulted in Korea returning to the Moscow camp and joining the Warsaw Pact. China, claiming that Yong-chun had come to power unfairly, and angered at the loss of a satellite state on their border with the Soviet Union, demanded that the general step down. Yong-chun refused to, and war was rapidly approaching.

In April 1982, the Chinese invaded the Korean peninsula, resulting in the Sino-Soviet Exchange. As nuclear missiles flew, Pyongyang was hit by the Chinese, severely wounding the general, who died a few days later as Korea was plunged into anarchy.