Over the next six months, I am introducing one of my characters not only in Book 1 but in the whole series, at the rate of one a week, so every week you will get to know them as I do when I write about them. This week its-
General Jun Lee Sung
General Jun Lee Sung was born in August 1954; the son of General Wan Zu Sun and Hee-Young Sun.
Military institutes, including the Pyongyang Academy, which became No. 2 KPA Officers School in January 1949, and the Central Constabulary Academy, which became the KPA Military Academy in December 1948, soon followed. These institutions were considered essential for the education of political and military officers for the new armed forces. Jun Lee’s father had been one of their star pupils, graduating in 1950, just before the Korean War, before working his way up the promotional ladder to the rank of General in 1987 at the age of 58.
During the opening phases of the Korean War in 1950, the Korean People’s Army, or KPA, quickly drove the South Korean forces south and captured Seoul. Jun Lee’s father played an instrumental role during this phase, leading his men to victory. By the time Jun Lee had come on the scene, his father was stationed at Pyongyang as a Captain, instructing at the Academy. By now, the war had left his father scarred; something that he himself came to acknowledge later in his own military career.
As a child, Jun Lee was raised with a huge heart, after mainly being brought up by his mother while his father was away. He and his siblings, brother, Wun Too, and sister, Ven Loo, were fascinated by all things American, and loved to play baseball, albeit with a stick and a handmade ball. Jun Lee also would watch the sailing boats with awe, swearing that one day he would learn to sail. He loved the way they moved gracefully through the water, with nothing propelling them except the wind.
Like most army children, young Jun Lee grew up within the military system, and, although his heart was elsewhere, his honour was to follow his father. He joined the army at the age of 16; electing to join the Infantry, and worked his way up the ranks, attaining the rank of Sergeant Major in 1982.
He attended the Central Constabulary Academy, then later that same year, re-joined XI Corps; staying with them until transferring to the Korean People’s Army Special Operation Force (KPASOF). This was an asymmetric force, with a total troop size of 200,000. Since the Korean War, which was widely known as the Korean War of Liberation, it has continued to play a role of concentrating infiltration of troops into the territory of the Republic of South Korea and conducting sabotage missions. This was something that Jun Lee became very good at.
XI Corps saw combat during the Libyan–Egyptian War in 1977, followed by the Angolan Civil War until 2002. Around 2004, as an instructor, Major General Jun Lee Sung trained Hezbollah fighters in guerrilla warfare tactics, prior to the Second Lebanon War in 2006. President Gin Jum Kim, having designed the Alliance, now needed a well-respected leader to lead the ground forces in Taswegia. At 54 years of age, Major General Jun Lee Sung was promoted to the position of General in 2010, bettering his father’s record by four years.
