Kim fled China to avoid the Japanese occupation, and was trained at the Whampoa Military Academy in the late 1920s or early 1930s. He became a communist and probably was on the Long March. During the late 1930s and the 1940s he was in the Eighth Route Army and became brigadier or divisional commander.[2]
Korean war
On the outbreak of war, 25 June 1950, Kim was a lieutenant general commanding 1 Corps of the Korean People's Army (KPA).[2] On the death in action of Lieutenant General Kang Kon, Kim succeeded him as chief of staff to General Kim Chaek, front commander.
By 1951 Kim Ung was KPA front commander,[3] succeeding Kim Chaek, who was purged for his failure at the Incheon Landing, Kim Ung held the post until the end of the war.[2]
^ abcdeSpencer Tucker (2003). Who's Who in Twentieth Century Warfare. Routledge. pp. 168–9. ISBN9781134565153.
^Rober M. Collins (2014). "Korean Peoples Army". The Ashgate Research Companion to the Korean War. Ashgate research companions. Professor Donald W Boose Jr, Professor James I Matray (editors). Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 257. ISBN9781472405838.