View source for Ri Tu-ik

{{Short description|North Korean politician (1921–2002)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Ri Tu-ik
| native_name = 리두익
| image = File:Rituiknorthkorea.png
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| office = Member of the [[Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea|WPK Central Military Commission]]
| leader = [[Kim Il Sung]]
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| birth_date =1921
| birth_place = [[Jilin]], [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|03|13|1921|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Pyongyang]], [[North Korea]]
| citizenship = [[Citizenship in North Korea|North Korean]]
| nationality = [[Koreans|Korean]]
| party = [[Workers' Party of Korea]]
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| allegiance = {{flag|North Korea}}
| branch = {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Korean People's Army (1992).svg}} [[Korean People's Army]]
| serviceyears =
| rank = [[File:Vice-Marshal of the DPRK rank insignia.jpg|30px|link=]] [[Chasu|''Ch'asu'']] <small>(Vice Marshal)</small>
| commands =
| battles = [[Chinese Civil War]] <br> [[Korean Independence Movement]]<br>[[World War II]]<br>[[Korean War]]
}}
'''Ri Tu-ik''' ({{langx|ko|리두익/李斗益}}; born 1921 in Jilin, China - died March 13, 2002, in Pyongyang) was a North Korean politician of the [[Workers' Party of Korea]] and [[Chasu|Vice-Marshal]] of the [[Korean People's Army]], who was a member of the [[Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea]].
==Biography==
Ri Tu-ik joined Kim Il Sung's [[Korean independence movement|partisan struggle]] in the late 1930s and was part of his security escort. After training in guerrilla warfare in northeast China, as a member of the [[88th Separate Rifle Brigade|88th Special Reconnaissance Brigade]] ({{langx|ru|88-я отдельная стрелковая бригада}}) of the [[Red Army]], he led reconnaissance missions against the [[Korea under Japanese rule|Japanese occupation forces]] in Jilin and [[North Hamgyong Province]]. In 1945 he was first platoon leader and then in 1948 company commander in the security escort of Kim Il Sung.<ref>김선호 (2020). 조선인민군 : 북한 무력의 형성과 유일체제의 기원. 한양대학교 출판부. {{ISBN|9788972186809}}, p. 296</ref>
During the [[Korean War]], known in North Korea as "Victorious Liberation of the Fatherland", Ri was commander of a battalion in 1951 and then completed military training between 1954 and 1958 in the areas of joint warfare and special operations in the Soviet Union. On his return in 1958 he became commander of the 3rd regiment and later deputy commander of the 9th Division, before being appointed commander of the 9th Division in 1962. On October 8, 1962, he was also elected for the first time as a deputy of the Supreme People's Assembly. In 1963 he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed head of the operations department of the [[General Staff Department of the Korean People's Army|General Staff]] of the [[Korean People's Army]]. He then acted as the commanding general of the [[VII Corps (North Korea)|VII Army Corps]] between 1965 and 1973 and was an adviser to the [[Viet Cong]], the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, during the [[Vietnam War]] between 1967 and 1968.<ref>[http://unikorea.go.kr/eng_unikorea/relations/infoNK/weekly/?boardId=bbs_0000000000000040&mode=view&cntId=32209&category=&pageIdx=51 ''Weekly Report on North Korea''] (25. März 2002)</ref>
At the end of the 1968s Ri Tu-ik had a significant share in purges within the Korean People's Army and was promoted to Colonel General in 1968. At the [[5th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea|fifth party congress of the WPK in 1970]] he became a member of the [[Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea|WPK Central Committee]] for the first time. After he was the commander of the 2nd Army Group between 1973 and 1976, he served as the commanding general of the [[II Corps (North Korea)|2nd Army Corps]] from 1977 to 1980 and then became the commanding general of the [[IV Corps (North Korea)|4th Army Corps]] in 1980. On the [[6th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea|6th party congress]], which took place in Pyongyang from October 10–14, 1980, he was also elected a member of the [[6th Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea|Central Military Commission]]. He was promoted to general in 1985 and served as commanding general of the [[Pyongyang Defense Command]] from the late 1980s to 1992.<ref>[http://unikorea.go.kr/eng_unikorea/relations/infoNK/weekly/?boardId=bbs_0000000000000040&mode=view&cntId=32209&category=&pageIdx=51 ''Weekly Report on North Korea''] (25. März 2002)</ref>
Ri was promoted to Vice Marshal on April 20, 1992, and remained active in political life as a member of the Central Military Commission and Kim Jong Il's adviser even after [[Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung|the death]] of [[Kim Il Sung]] and his son Kim Jong Il's ascending to power in 1994. After undergoing medical treatment in the People's Republic of China in 1997, he ceased to appear in public after 1999. He died death on March 13, 2002, and was buried on March 15, 2002, in the [[Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery]] on [[Taesongsan|Mount Taesongsan]].<ref>[http://unikorea.go.kr/eng_unikorea/relations/infoNK/weekly/?boardId=bbs_0000000000000040&mode=view&cntId=32209&category=&pageIdx=51 ''Weekly Report on North Korea''] (25. März 2002)</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{North Korean marshals}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ri, Tu-ik}}
[[Category:North Korean generals]]
[[Category:Workers' Party of Korea politicians]]
[[Category:Korean communists]]
[[Category:North Korean expatriates in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:North Korean military personnel of the Korean War]]
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:People of 88th Separate Rifle Brigade]]
[[Category:People from Jilin]]
[[Category:Generals from Jilin]]
[[Category:Chinese people of Korean descent]]
[[Category:Koryo-saram activists for Korean independence]]
[[Category:Koryo-saram military personnel]]
[[Category:Korean resistance members]]
[[Category:Heroes of the Republic (North Korea)]]