Chung Il-kwon

Chung Il-kwon
General Chung Il-kwon
Born	(1917-11-21)November 21, 1917 Ussuriysk, Primorsky Krai, Russia
Died	January 17, 1994(1994-01-17) (aged 76) Hawaii, United States
Allegiance	Manchukuo  South Korea
Service/branch	Manchukuo Imperial Army (1941–1945)  Republic of Korea Army
Years of service	1941-1957
Rank	Captain General
Battles/wars	Second Sino-Japanese War Korean War
Other work	politician, cabinet minister, South Korean prime minister

Chung Il-kwon (Korean: 정일권; Hanja: 丁一權, November 21, 1917 – January 17, 1994) was a South Korean politician, diplomat and soldier. A general in the Republic of Korea Army, he served as Foreign Minister 1963 to 1964, and Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970. He was one of allies of President Park Chung-hee.

His penname was Chungsa (Korean: 청사)

Chung was born in Ussuriysk in Primorsky Krai, Russia, where his father worked as an interpreter for the Imperial Russian Army. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, his father moved the family to Kyongwon County, North Hamgyong province in Korea. However, in 1930, the family relocated to what is now Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Manchuria, where Chung grew up in extreme poverty. Because he was raised in Korea when it was still occupied by the Japanese, he was given the name of Ikken Nakashima.

Due to his excellent grades in school, Chung won a place at the Manchukuo Imperial Army academy in Mukden, from which he graduated in September 1937. Again, his performance was regarded as excellent, and he was sent on to attend the 55th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in Tokyo, where he specialized in cavalry operations. He also assumed the Japanese name Nakajima Ikken (中島一權). During the Pacific War, he served in the Manchukuo Imperial Army as a military police captain. Following the Soviet invasion of Manchuria at the end of World War II, he was briefly captured by Soviet forces and interrogated by the KGB.