Yakov Tikhonovich Novichenko (Russian: Яков Тихонович Новиченко; 28 April 1914 – 8 December 1994) was a Soviet military officer.

Novichenko served in the Red Army beginning in 1938, and participated in the Soviet liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule during the Soviet–Japanese War.

He was promised the prestigious Hero of the Soviet Union award by his commanding officer, but never ended up receiving it, which later caused him to be ridiculed by his neighbors.

But in 1984, after Kim prominently visited Novichenko and presented him with the Hero of Labor award, he developed a cult of personality in North Korea.

Yakov Tikhonovich Novichenko was born on 28 April 1914 in the village of Travnoye [ru], Tomsk Governorate, Russian Empire.

[3] When the Soviet Union entered World War II, he made a number of requests to transfer to the western front, but was denied.

[1] On 1 May 1946, Novichenko commanded a Soviet platoon tasked with guarding Kim and maintaining order at a large North Korean rally.

[1][4] Kim Il Sung was to give a speech outside Pyongyang station to commemorate the anniversary of the March 1st Movement.

[7] According to a Soviet eyewitness Ivan Boluchevsky,[b] near the end of the rally, a group of students inconspicuously approached the podium.

[1][c] According to another Soviet eyewitness, Novichenko began arguing with one of the young men over whether the man could sit on the stairs leading up to the stage.

[1] According to most accounts, because Novichenko was surrounded by people,[5][1] he ducked down and pressed the grenade under his stomach, using his own body to absorb the blast.

[4] A North Korean defector writing for the US-funded Radio Free Asia also claims Novichenko attempted to throw the grenade.

[1] Elizaveta Bogdanova,[g] supervisor of medical services at the hospital at the time, later recalled his condition:[12][7][1][h] Before us is a completely mutilated man, with not a single part left untouched.

[3] After Novichenko sufficiently recovered, he was discharged in December 1946 and returned home to his family in the village of Travnoye, some 300 km (190 mi) southwest of Novosibirsk.

"[l] When the local collective farm considered candidates for its new chairman, the district secretary reportedly said of Novichenko: "Someone who has lied once cannot be trusted again".

He avoided discussing his military service; if the word "grenade" was mentioned on the radio or TV, an awkward silence would fall upon the family, and he would walk outside to smoke.

[7] Around this time, he graduated from the Novosibirsk State Agricultural University and worked various jobs afterwards, including farming, manufacturing, and chairing the village council.

Filatov drove out to Travnoye to tell Novichenko that such a meeting was possible, while also noting that the Central Committee wouldn't themselves broach the idea, and would instead wait for a potential inquiry from Kim.

[13] On 21 May 1984, Novichenko was mowing his lawn when the KGB arrived in a black GAZ Volga,[7][3] and asked him to quickly clean himself up and prepare for a meeting with Kim.

[10][15] After the meeting, Filatov phoned Moscow and asked if it was still possible to have Novichenko receive the Hero of the Soviet Union award.

Their response was that it wouldn't be necessary, as Kim had already notified them that he was going to bestow North Korea's highest title, the Hero of Labor, upon Novichenko.

[10][15][5][8][p] In 1987, the sculptor Yi P'yŏn-il produced the statue "Yakov the Internationalist",[8][10][15] depicting Novichenko diving for the grenade, his military coat flapping like the wings of an angel, supported by the sheets of a large book.

[8][3][18] In a 2019 interview with one of Novichenko's daughters, it was revealed that the statue was presently located at the Mansu Hill Grand Monument.

[q] In addition, the North Korean embassy purchased a Novosibirsk apartment for Novichenko complete with furnishings, including a color television.

That was very important to him.Historian Andrei Lankov theorized that a long period of poor North Korea–Soviet relations was a significant reason why Novichenko only received the Hero of Labor decades after the fact:[10] [S]ince around 1983–84, North Korea, increasingly uneasy about China’s drift to market capitalism and Beijing’s de-facto alliance with the U.S., decided to move a bit closer to the USSR, so memories about the Soviet role in the Liberation, hitherto discouraged, were again allowed to resurface.

[3] The North Korean embassy has sent a delegation to visit Travnoye every year on 28 April, Novichenko's birthday, and has continued to do so.

[3] Novichenko's family visited North Korea in 2017, and his descendants march with his portrait at the annual Immortal Regiment event on 9 May.

[10][26][21][3] The train had even stopped for 20 minutes at the Novosibirsk railway station, where Novichenko's widow was waiting, but Kim Jong Il did not disembark.

Where was he, and where was Kim Il Sung?In 1932, Novichenko married a woman named Maria,[26] a milkmaid he had met while working on a kolkhoz.

[3][aa] Boris Krishtul [ru], production manager of One Second for a Feat, said of Novichenko:[7][ab] Before, I thought that heroes looked like heroes—stately, impetuous, militant.