PoliticsAugust 1956

August Faction Incident

In North Korea, the Yan’an and Soviet factions who criticized Kim Il Sung’s personality cult were purged, cementing his one-man rule.

During and after the Korean War Kim Il Sung purged Pak Hon-yong and other former South Korean Workers’ Party leaders. At the Party plenum in August 1956 members of the Yan’an and Soviet factions criticized his personality cult and his priority on heavy industry, but it was they who were purged.

Power was thereafter concentrated in Kim Il Sung.

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States and rulers at the time: North Korea — Supreme Leader Kim Il Sung

People

Kim Il Sung1912 – 1994
leader · Leader of North Korea (1948–1994): chairman of the Provisional People’s Committee, then premier and president. Purged rivals after the Korean War and built one-man rule
Pak Hon-yong1900 – 1956
related figure · Communist who rebuilt the Korean Communist Party after liberation and led the South Korean Workers' Party, became vice premier and foreign minister of North Korea in 1948 and was later purged

Before and after

Earlier: 1956 Chollima Movement
Later: 1968 January 21 Incident