Pak Hon-yong (; 28 May 1900 – 18 December 1955) was a Korean independence activist, politician, philosopher, communist activist and one of the main leaders of the Korean communist movement during Japan's colonial rule (1910–1945). His nickname was Ijong (이정) and Ichun (이춘), his courtesy name being Togyong (덕영). During the Japanese occupation of Korea, he tried to organize the Korean Communist Party. When the Japanese authorities cracked down on the party, he went into hiding. After Korea's liberation, August 1945, he set up the Communist Party of Korea in the South, but under pressure from American authorities he moved to North Korea (then People's Committee of North Korea) in April 1948. He attended a meeting with Kim Gu and Kim Kyu-sik on the subject of Korean reunification. On record, he collaborated with Kim Il-sung in the Korean War. Park Hun-young was surprised by the strength of President Syngman Rhee's crackdown. Rhee massacred Southern dissenters, as in the Jeju Uprising, the Mungyeong Massacre and the Bodo League Massacre. In 1955, on account of the defeat in the Korean War, he was sentenced to forfeiture of all property and death. Although the Soviet Union and China tried to dissuade Kim Il-sung from executing Pak, Pak was eventually executed for the fabricated accusation of being an American spy. Life Early life Pak was born to a yangban family of the Yeonghae Park lineage in Sinyang-myeon, Yesan County, Chungcheongnam-do. However, he was the illegitimate son of a concubine. In 1919, he graduated from Kyŏngsŏng Ordinary High School, now Kyunggi High School. In March 1919, he was involved in the March 1st Movement and later independence movements. Political activities In 1921, he joined the Shanghai branch of the Communist Party of Korea, Irkutsk faction. At this time, he was secretary of the Korean Communist Youth League. In January 1922, he participated in the Comintern Far East People's Representative Council in Moscow. Pak Hon-yong was arrested in Korea in April 1922 and was charged with being a Communist Party organizer. He was released in 1924 and became active as a reporter for the newspapers Dong-a Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo. Underground On 18 April 1925, Pak Hon-yong became one of the founders of the Communist Party of Korea. From this point until the end of World War II his activities were clandestine. In 1926, he appeared in court. During the trial, he feigned insanity and ate