{"id":62712,"date":"2025-03-14T15:23:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T06:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=62712"},"modified":"2026-04-05T16:15:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T07:15:34","slug":"love-gulag-disappearance-cho-myong-gil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/love-gulag-disappearance-cho-myong-gil\/","title":{"rendered":"Love in the gulag: The disappearance of Cho Myong-gil"},"content":{"rendered":"

An extraordinary Soviet secret document has recently surfaced in Germany, shedding light on a fascinating figure buried deep within history\u2019s shadows. Titled \u201cAn Alphabetical List of Foreign Intelligence Agency Agents, Traitors to the Homeland, Participants of Anti-Soviet Organizations, Punishment Squad Members, and Other Pursued Criminals,” this 1969 KGB publication, stamped with the ominous \u201cTop Secret\u201d label, lists a surprising name: Cho Myong-gil, a Korean woman whose story is as tragic as it is captivating.<\/p>\n

Here is how the document goes:<\/p>\n

Cho Myong-gil<\/em>, also known as <\/em>Cho<\/em> Myong-ja<\/em>, born in 1928 in the town of Seishin, Kankyo-hokudo<\/em>*<\/em> Province (Korea), is of Korean ethnicity and a citizen of the DPRK. She is trained as a telephone operator, waitress, sewing machine operator and dancer.<\/em><\/h6>\n
She is of average height, slim build, with horizontal shoulders, black hair and eyes, a round face, a low forehead, arched eyebrows, a small nose with a straight bridge and slightly upturned base, a small mouth with thin lips, small ears, and a small birthmark above her left eyebrow.<\/em><\/h6>\n
Her cohabitant, Vakil Namatovich Gaitov, resides in the village of Slak, Alypyevsky District, Bashkir ASSR.<\/em><\/h6>\n
While living in Genzan<\/em>**<\/em> (North Korea), she joined an underground pro-fascist organisation known as the \u201cKorean National Socialist Party.\u201d Acting on its orders, she gathered espionage-related information in the area where Soviet troops were stationed. For this, she was arrested in 1946 and sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.<\/em><\/h6>\n
While serving her sentence, in 1955, she petitioned to remain in the Soviet Union, citing her planned marriage to a Soviet citizen. She pledged to work after her release at a textile plant in Tashkent or in Zepgiata, a settlement 18 km from Tashkent.<\/em><\/h6>\n
However, after her release on 17 December 1955, she instead travelled to the village of Slak, Bashkir ASSR, to live with her former labour camp cohabitant, Gaitov V. N., a camp guard. In February 1956, she left the Bashkir ASSR and disappeared.<\/em><\/h6>\n
A 1946 photograph is available. She is the subject of a search case with the KGB under the Council of Ministers of the Bashkir ASSR. She had previously been declared wanted by the KGB under the USSR Council of Ministers, listed in orientation notice No. 29 of 1967, serial No. 13.<\/em><\/h6>\n

* These are the colonial-era names for Chongjin and North Hamgyong Province.<\/p>\n

** This is the colonial-era name of Wonsan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cho Myong-gil\u2019s KGB profile in the Russian language.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Born in 1928 in the Korean town of Seishin (now Chongjin), Cho\u2019s journey was set in motion at the age of just 17, as Soviet forces entered the Korean Peninsula in 1945. Under the name Cho Myong-ja \u2013 a moniker reminiscent of a Japanese name \u2013 the young woman soon became entwined in a web of repression that would span decades. During Korea\u2019s turbulent period of Japanese rule, the colonial regime had aggressively encouraged Koreans to adopt Japanese names, and Cho\u2019s altered identity was likely born from this era.<\/p>\n

But it was not only her name that tied her to a fateful destiny. Cho Myong-gil joined the Korean National Socialist Party, an organization founded shortly after World War II. Originally called the \u201cNational Party,\u201d this organization soon added \u201cSocialist\u201d to its name \u2013 probably to appease the Soviets. This proved to be a fatal misstep \u2013 its striking similarity to Nazi Germany\u2019s NSDAP led the Soviets to view it as a \u201cpro-fascist\u201d group. Furthermore, according to the memoirs of Pak Pyong-yop, a high-ranking escapee from North Korea, another reason the authorities grew suspicious of the National Socialist Party at the time was their belief that it was involved in the assassination of Hyon Jun-hyok, a left-wing independent activist, in September 1945. The assassination was allegedly carried out by an organization called the Taedong League. However, upon reviewing the earliest Soviet documents, it becomes clear that the Party and the League were, in fact, separate entities, suggesting that the \u201cNational Socialists\u201d were likely not involved in the assassination.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the hunt for party members began. In 1946, Cho was arrested by Soviet forces, marking the beginning of her long ordeal. Imprisoned in a Soviet labour camp, she became an anomaly within Stalin\u2019s regime, forming a rare and improbable bond with a camp guard, Vakil Gaitov. Their relationship \u2013 one defying the strictures of a time when such connections were unthinkable \u2013 would shape the next chapter of Cho\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Upon her release in December 1955, Cho was expected to settle in the Soviet Union, with promises of employment in a textile plant. But fate had other plans. Instead of abiding by the agreement, Cho vanished, fleeing to the village of Slak, Bashkir ASSR, to join Gaitov. Together, they disappeared, slipping through the cracks of KGB surveillance, successfully evading the grip of Soviet authorities.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A photo of Slak, the home village of the Gaitovs: https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:\u0421\u043b\u0430\u043a_-_panoramio.jpg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last known trace of Cho Myong-gil was in February 1956, the same month when Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin. While the Soviet Union began to release political prisoners soon after, Cho remained a wanted fugitive, hounded by the KGB\u2019s manhunt as late as 1969. The tragic irony of her story lies in the fact that her life was ultimately consumed by the silly name of the party she once joined \u2013 its false association with Nazism marking her for a lifetime of surveillance and suffering.<\/p>\n

Her fate, though, remains shrouded in mystery. Vakil Gaitov, too, disappears from the historical record, leaving no trace of their final moments together. Though some of his relatives are recorded, both Vakil and Myong-gil is conspicuously absent from any family records. It appears that, despite their best efforts, the KGB never located the couple.<\/p>\n

Cho Myong-gil\u2019s life reads like a cruel game \u2013 her love, her defiance and her ultimate tragedy intertwined in a dark dance of survival. Her story is not merely one of loss and oppression but also of love\u2019s unbreakable resilience in the face of insurmountable odds. She found solace and strength in the most unlikely of places, and though her fate was tragic, her tale is one that reminds us of the enduring power of the human spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An extraordinary Soviet secret document has recently surfaced in Germany, shedding light on a fascinating figure buried deep within history\u2019s shadows. Titled \u201cAn Alphabetical List of Foreign Intelligence Agency Agents, Traitors to the Homeland, Participants of Anti-Soviet Organizations, Punishment Squad Members, and Other Pursued Criminals,” this 1969 KGB publication, stamped with the ominous \u201cTop Secret\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":187,"featured_media":62715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[773,776,848,849,995,1017,1499,1656,1941,295],"class_list":["post-62712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-analysis-and-opinion","tag-north-hamgyong-province","tag-chongjin","tag-wonsan","tag-war","tag-prison-camps","tag-russia","tag-japan","tag-dprk","tag-espionage","tag-crime"],"yoast_head":"\nLove in the gulag: The disappearance of Cho Myong-gil - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An extraordinary Soviet secret document has recently surfaced in Germany, shedding light on a figure buried deep within history\u2019s shadows.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/love-gulag-disappearance-cho-myong-gil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Love in the gulag: The disappearance of Cho Myong-gil\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An extraordinary Soviet secret document has recently surfaced in Germany, shedding light on a figure buried deep within history\u2019s shadows.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/love-gulag-disappearance-cho-myong-gil\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-14T06:23:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-05T07:15:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/03\/signal-2025-03-13-115211_003.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"699\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fyodor Tertitskiy, Kookmin University\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fyodor Tertitskiy, Kookmin University\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/love-gulag-disappearance-cho-myong-gil\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/love-gulag-disappearance-cho-myong-gil\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Fyodor Tertitskiy, Kookmin University\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/04590bc15c697ec9ef17b3bebd5f3f31\"},\"headline\":\"Love in the gulag: The disappearance of Cho Myong-gil\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-14T06:23:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-05T07:15:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/love-gulag-disappearance-cho-myong-gil\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1031,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/love-gulag-disappearance-cho-myong-gil\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/signal-2025-03-13-115211_003.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"north hamgyong province\",\"chongjin\",\"wonsan\",\"war\",\"prison camps\",\"russia\",\"japan\",\"dprk\",\"espionage\",\"crime\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Analysis & Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/love-gulag-disappearance-cho-myong-gil\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/love-gulag-disappearance-cho-myong-gil\\\/\",\"name\":\"Love in the gulag: The disappearance of Cho Myong-gil - 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