Pak Chong-Ai

Born 1907. Korean political and public figure.

Pak Chong-ai, who joined the revolutionary movement in the early 1930’s, was imprisoned by the Japanese colonial authorities in 1935 and 1944. In 1945 and 1946, she was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of North Korea and from 1946 to 1970 served on the Central Committee of the Korean Workers’ Party (KWP). She was chief of the women’s section of the Central Committee of the KWP from 1946 to 1948 and chairman of the Central Committee of the Democratic Women’s Union of Korea from 1946 to 1965. A deputy to the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (PDRK) from 1948 to 1972, she was a member of the assembly’s Presidium from 1948 to 1971. Within the Central Committee of the KWP she served as secretary from 1950 to 1953, as deputy chairman from 1953 to 1961, and as a member of the Political Committee from 1951 to 1970. She was minister of agriculture from 1960 to 1962 and deputy chairman of the Presidium of the SPA from 1962 to 1971. In 1951, Pak Chong-ai received the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Between Nations.