SUICIDE OF HO KA-I, FORMER NORTH KOREAN VICE-PREMIER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A002500780001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 2, 2013
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 6, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/02 : CIA-RDP80-0081 OA002500780001-1
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code. as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorised person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is nrohlblted
50X1-HUM
SECRET
SECURITY INFORMATION
PLACE ACQUIRER
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 6 October 1953
NO. OF PAGES 2
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
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REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
1. HO Ka-i, Vice-Premier and former Secretary General of the North Korean Labor
Party (NKLP), committed suicide in July 1953 after he was reprimanded by KIM
Il-song and other North Korean. leaders for certain mistakes and failures.
HO had been demoted from his position as Secretary-General of the NKLP in
early 1952.
2. HO was harshly reprimanded because he failed to complete his assigned task of
rebuilding the Ch'osan irrigati9n dam.. HO had been given this job., in
addition to his duties as Vice- remier, in the spring of 1953 after the dam
was destroyed by UN bombing.
3. Although HO was a powerful member of the Soviet faction of the NKLP and second
in power only to KIM I1-song, he was demoted for the following reasons:
A. During the UN advance into NK in late 1950, many members of the NKLP
destroyed their party membership cards to evade detection and arrest.
HO himself fled to Harbin where his children were attending a Soviet
school.
B. When the Communist forces reoccupied. NK, HO returned and conducted a
purge within the party, persecuting and expelling members who had
destroyed or disposed of their party cards. The purge severely depleted
NKLP ranks. In December 1951 during the NKLP Fourth General Convention.,
KIWI Il.song criticized HO's actions as unduly severe and frequently
unjustified. KIM said that expelling members for destroying their cards
was uncalled for in view of the circumstances at the time.
4. In July 1953 when the NK leaders reprimanded HO for his failure to
complete the dam project and confronted him with his past errors., he
asked for a day to prepare a defense against the charges. He then committed
suicide.
Suicide of HO Ka-i, Former Ncr-c:h.
Korean Vice-Premier
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/02 : CIA-RDP80-0081 OA002500780001-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/02 CIA-RDP80-0081 OA002500780001-1
SECRET 50X1-HUM
During the Sixth General Convention of the NKLP in August 1953, the
position of Secretary-General was abolished and three vice-chairmen
were named; KIM Ili CHONG Il-yong and PAK Ch'onge.2r The chairman
was KIM Il-song.
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Comment. According to Pyongyang press dispatches of 11 August,
PMC- bong-ae told the Sixth General Convention of the NKLP that HO had
shielded the "anti-party and anti-state espionage" conspiracy that resulted
in the conviction of 12 NK leaders on 7 August. She said HO had committed
suicide "in betrayal of-the party and revolution."
Comment. Radio Pyongyang reported on 10 August that newly
elected vice-chairmen of the Central Committee of the NKLP were PAK
Chong-ae, PAK Chong-ok and KIM I1.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/05/02 : CIA-RDP80-0081 OA002500780001-1