Yevgeny Ivanovich Kim (Russian: Евгений Иванович Ким; 27 February 1932 – 12 November 1998) was an intelligence officer in the KGB and the recipient of the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1960 he graduated from the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the Leningrad State University with a degree in Japanese philology. Kim was fluent in Japanese, Korean, English and Spanish languages.[2]
Kim served in the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR from 1960. In 1966, as intelligence agent, he began to work in an unidentified country with a complex intelligence-operational situation. There he showed himself to be an expert intelligence agent, distinguished by high professionalism, broad outlook, good analytical and organizational skills. Working undercover until 1989, he successfully managed the autonomous illegal residency created with his direct participation and had contacts who were sources of valuable documentary information; through these contacts Kim obtained information on priority issues which were highly appreciated and implemented according to the highest priority. Currently, the identification of the country in which Kim worked remains classified. It is assumed that he worked in China, where other Soviet Koreans in KGB were assigned in those days, but this is unconfirmed.[3] Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service S.E. Naryshkin voiced the name of Kim as an important agent of an illegal immigrant working in Japan.
Abroad, Kim managed to achieve a high post in the civil service and began to transmit valuable information to the USSR. A couple of times, the KGB arranged trips for Kim to meet with his wife and son, who remained in Moscow as the Slavic appearance of his wife could create risks during his assignment. But such trips were very rare. However, he later divorced from his wife following the death of his son from drowning. He returned home for one day, to prepare for his son's funeral.[4]
