Kang Ryang-uk

Kang Ryang-uk (강량욱, 1904–1983), also spelled Kang Lyanguk, was a North Korean Protestant Minister and Chairman of the Christian Federation of Korea during the 1950s.

Kang was the maternal uncle of North Korean dictator Kim Il Sung. In his early years he was a school teacher (one of his pupils was Kim Il Sung). In the 1940s he studied Theology at the Pyongyang University, and after he completed his study he became a minister.

Kang became one of the close advisers of Kim Il Sung shortly after his return from the Soviet Union in October 1945. In 1946 he became the Chairman of the Christian League, later called the Korean Christian Federation. This organisation was in close contact with the Communist Party. In 1949 all Protestant Ministers were forced to join Kang's Christian Federation.

In the late 1940s, Kang became deputy Chairman of the Choson Democratic Party (Korean Democratic Party), which was a close ally of the ruling Korean Workers' Party.

Kang later served as a deputy prime minister of North Korea and a secretary of the Supreme People's Assembly.

Kang's second son, Kang Yong-sop, later succeeded him as head of the Korean Christian Federation.^[1]

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