Han Duk-su

Han Deok-su (February 18, 1907 – February 21, 2001) was a North Korean activist who founded the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) in 1955.

Life
Han Deok-su was born on February 18, 1907 in Imperial Korea as the eldest son of Mr. Han Gi Man and Mrs. Jang Nae Gok. After attending Daegu Gyeseong High School for four years, Deok-su left Korea to study in Japan in 1927, wishing to become a vocalist, but was unable to pass the entrance exam for a music school. Two years later, he instead entered the Department of Social Sciences at Nihon University in Tokyo and worked as a newspaper deliveryman before dropping out. Afterwards, he turned his attention to the labor movement, and in 1931, he joined the Tokyo branch of the general trade union under the National Council of Japanese Trade Unions. In August 1933, Deok-su moved to Atami and became a standing member of the Higashizu Labor Union. In September 1934, he was arrested and sentenced to two years in prison with a three-year stay of execution on the charge of having organized a labor dispute among his fellow Korean laborers, who had been under forced labor at the construction site of the Tanna Tunnel.

Despite repeated arrests and imprisonments, Deok-su still fought for human rights and dignity of the Korean compatriots during the Japanese colonial days, which ended on August 15, 1945. After September 1945, he served as a representative of a Kantō district association of Koreans and a member of the preparatory committee for Chongryon. He was elected director of the general affairs bureau, and later director of the cultural and educational affairs bureau of Chongryon, which was founded in October 1945 and formed on May 25, 1955. He was also elected co-chairman of Chongryon in 1947.

Additionally, Deok-su served the Fatherland Front Central Committee as its member since 1949, and as a member of its chairmen's group from 1957 until his death in February 2001. He strived to reorganize the Korean compatriots' movement in Japan following Kim Il Sung's Juche-oriented line after 1952, including re-publishment of Choson Sinbo and resumption of the work of "Korean News Agency" based in Tokyo.

Death and legacy
On February 21, 2001, Han Deok-su died in Tokyo, Japan from pneumonia. Afterwards, a funeral committee was appointed with So Man-sul as its chairman and Ho Jong-man as vice chairman.