Jan. 1949 - Problems with S. Korea get serious. Border skirmishes increase. Newspapers show pictures of S. Korean soldiers captured on the N Korean soil. Grisly photos of N. Korean women and children mutilated by S. Korean soldiers are shown. Kim Il Sung says Rhee's assassins have killed Kim Ku and many other patriots in S Korea Kim says Rhee is going to pay dearly for his crimes.
Photo: Fat Chae extolling Rhee's March North (Buk-jin) to his US masters
Syngman Rhee says Kim is stirring up violence in S. Korea. He says Kim's agents are killing many Korean patriots. Rhee's military chief, Gen. Chae Byong Duk (Fat Chae, formerly with the Japanese Army) says S. Korea can whip Kim Il Sung in 3 to 4 days. His army is ready and waiting for Rhee's 'buk-jin' (march north) command.
Jan. 21, 1949 - China: Chiang Kai Sek resigns.
March 1, 1949 - Tokyo: Gen. MacArthur publicly states that US has no strategic interest in Korea. US has equipped 100,000 ROK army troops divided into 8 divisions. MacArthur feels that the ROKA can beat the N Korean People's Army. He says that Korea is not a tank country and so ROKA has no need for tanks. MacArthur fancies himself as the new emperor of the Far East - Japan, Korea and China. Japan's Hirohito bows to him. China's Chiang Kai Sek kisses his ass and Rhee licks his ass.
Gen. Bradley (chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff) says that MacArthur "has an obsession for self-glorification, no consideration for other men, and a contempt for the judgment of his superiors" - the Big Mac is a megalomaniac.
March 23, 1949 - The US NSC decides to beep up Rhee's army and accelerates US troop withdrawal from S Korea. Muccio is given the job of breaking the news to Rhee: Muccio starts "pointing out to Rhee the wonderful progress the new Korean Constabulary (ROKA) was making...Soon Rhee got up several times and publicly said that his boys were doing mighty well and could take care of the situation. Once he publicly committed himself that way, then I started working on him. Well, it's about time we could get our forces out of the way." Rhee was trapped and could not ask Muccio to keep US troops in Korea any longer.
Syngman Rhee publicly accuses the Americans of allowing North Korean communists to enter Korea in 1945. Rhee has forgotten that the communists stayed in Korea and Manchuria fighting the Japanese while he was away in America teaching Sunday school classes and that it was MacArthur who allowed Rhee into Korea over the objections of the Korean nationalists who had expelled Rhee in 1922 for embezzlement.
May 3, 1949 - China: Chiang Kai Sek flees to Formosa. Kim Il Sung is getting bold and getting rid of all non-communist elements. My brother Ung Sik is expelled from the Kim Il Sung University - the reason being his "incorrect" origin. Only the sons and daughters of peasants, workers and revolutionaries are allowed on the sacred ground of the University. My brother enters the Hamhung Medical College. My brother says that the Kim Il Sung University is full of morons and party hacks - a bunch of opportunists singing Stalin and Kim Il Sung praises day and night; not much of serious learning or studying of academic subjects.
May 4, 1949 - Kaesong: S Korean units under Col. Kaneyama attack N Korean Border Guard units in force. The battle lasts four days; 400 N Koreans are killed, 22 S Koreans are dead and over 100 civilians are dead. During the battle, two S Korean army companies defect to the North.. They are given a hero's welcome and promptly incorporated into the N. Korean Army -- comrade so and so' units. N. K army units are referred to in news by the commanding officers' full name -- Park Jun Kun Unit, Kim Jae Qu Unit and so on. You cannot tell if a unit is a whole army corps or a tiny 3-man patrol.
1949 - Seoul: An Tu-hui , under Rhee's order, kills Kim Ku. The whole country mourns. Kim Ku was one of the most popular Korean leaders especially among the young Koreans. He was my idea of a Korean nationalist. At the age of 21, Kim Ku killed the assassin of Queen Min, the last queen of the Yi dynasty, who was opposed to those Koreans advocating Japanese annexation of Korea. Kim Ku became famous as The Assassin. He was jailed by the Japanese for anti-Japan activities. He escaped to China and joined the Korean Provisional Government (KPG) in 1919. Ten years later, he became its president. He organized covert operations aimed at assassinating Japanese officials involved in the Korea annexation.
Kim Ku returned to S Korea in October 1945. He and other patriots fought against the UN plan for separate elections which eventually led to the division of Korea. He was reviled in N Korea as an "assassin" and a traitor. Rhee has been waging a vicious campaign to eliminate domestic opposition to his rule by purging Korean independence fighters.
June 7, 1949 - Kim Ilsung merges the North and South Korean Workers' Party into a unified Korean Workers Party. Kim becomes its chairman. Park Hon Yong, the southern party boss, is the vice chairman. Park is more energetic and effective speaker than Kim Ilsung. Park became a communist in 1919. In 1925, he became leader of the Korean Communist Party's Youth League. He worked for independence and communism. In 1946, the US Military Government in Korea issued a warrant for his arrest for organizing disruptive activities. Park is a professional politician whereas Kim's fame is anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare. Kim is clearly a junior trying the learn the trade. (In 1953, Park was executed for espionage. He was accused of being a US CIA agent.)
Kim Il Sung has become a dictator. Kim has effectively emasculated his rivals: (1) the domestic group of indigenous Communists who stayed in Korea; (2) the Yenan (= Yanan) group of the revolutionaries who returned from China, and (3) the Soviet-Koreans who returned to Korea in the Soviet Army and chose to stay in Korea after the Soviet Army withdrew. Kim Il Sung had some 160 partisans from Manchuria who are completely loyal to him.
Kim Il Sung has been keenly aware of his lack of a political base in Korea. His guerrillas and comrades from Soviet-Korea are largely semi-literate and uninformed in the politics of Korea. He filled government and party posts with any who supported him in combating his political rivals by manipulating the Soviet-Koreans, who are alien to Korea and her culture. He has neutralized the Chinese Koreans (Yenan group) by dividing the group into factions. Most critically, he has complete control of the military and security forces. His takeover of North Korea amounts to a military coup with Soviet help.
The trump card Kim had was the support of the Soviet occupation forces and Col. Ignatiev's (killed in a 1950 bombing raid in Pyonyagng) political skills. The division of Korea at the 38th parallel kept most of the well-known Korean leaders in the South. Seoul is the capital of Korea and most Korean leaders thought their political future would be decided in Seoul and stayed in Seoul. Most importantly, his rival groups were not united.
Anti-Communist sentiment is on the rise. Kim Il Sung is becoming more dictatorial. Non-communists are getting purged from city governments, village councils and even schools. The secret police (Political Security Bureau) has informants everywhere. S Korea is sending more spies and saboteurs. I join an anti-Communist student group. Our job is to make home-made weapons. A pistol can be made from an umbrella pole (normally a hollow steel tubing) and a paper holder (normally spring activated). We sneak into the Korean People's Army firing range (a few miles from our school) and gather shells - Japanese, Russian and N Korean, many still live. Japanese anti-aircraft shells yield the most powder - but they are most dangerous because they have a proximity fuse and tend to explode. Cap gun caps make nice primers.
Spent shell casings are made into carbide guns. Carbide produces gas when in contact with water. A spent shell casing is stuffed with carbide and a bullet. Water is injected via the primer hole and after a few seconds, the pressure inside builds to the point at which the bullet is expelled. The idea is to hold the gadget in your gloved hand and aim it at an unsuspecting target. I doubt that anyone has actually used this contraption.
I acquire a real thing from a classmate. This kid's father is an army officer who collects Japanese pistols. I trade one of my air rifles for a semi-automatic pistol. It is missing the firing pin and the ammunition chamber - but it is a great improvement over my umbrella or carbide "pistol". I make a pin from a nail and decide to load one shell at a time. Anyway, it is a real gun and no one can tell if it has no ammunition chamber. I carry my pistol in my school bag - it goes everywhere I go.
June 1949 - The US occupation force turns over $110 million in equipment to the S Korean army - sufficient to arm 50,000 troops; 100,000 M1 rifles, 50 million rounds; 2,000 rocket launchers; 40,000 military vehicles, light field artillery and mortars. MacArthur makes sure that the S Korean army remains purely defensive with no offensive weapons (no tanks, war planes or warships). MacArthur assigns some 500 US military (KMAG - Korean Military Advisory Group) to control the Korean army. Gen. Roberts, chief of KMAG, finds the Korean army controlled by ex-Japanese servicemen who have dubious military expertise; the "whole place stinks - not just the ROK Army."
July - Aug. 1949 - Major fighting erupts in the S Korean town of Kaesong on the Onjin peninsula. This is followed by minor clashes all along the 38th parallel. Heavy artillery duels and cross-border raids by both sides occur almost daily. Another major battle occurs at Chunchon. The N Korean Border Guard does most of the fighting. My cousin Kim Chung Sik, a border guard squad leader, is off for a few days and stays with us. He shows me some odds and ends that he has picked from dead S Korean soldiers - a nice wrist watch, a pocket knife, cigarettes, S Korean paper money and so on. These items look so strange that I spend hours examining and holding them in my hands.
Chung Sik says: During the night, raiding parties sneak into enemy camps and engage in hand-to-hand combats. How do you tell friends from foes in the dark? Well, N Korean soldiers shave their head while S Korean soldiers don't. How do you prove how many S Koreans you have killed? You cut off the left ear and put it in your pocket. When you return from a raid, you hand over the ears to your leader - you get to keep whatever else you may have picked up except weapons and military documents.
Aug. 4, 1949 - Taiwan: Rhee meets with Chiang to plot a war against Kim Il Sung. Chiang offers his air force and troops to Rhee. Chiang wants to invade Manchuria after taking over N Korea.
Aug. 4, 1949 - N Korean Border Guard units attack S Koreans on the Onjin Peninsula. The S Koreans are routed. Col. Kaneyama urges a massive invasion at Cholwon but the S Korean army commanders are under strict orders not to cross the 38th parallel by Gen. Roberts, chief of the US advisers. Roberts has told Rhee in no uncertain terms that American aids will be cut off if S Koreans disobeyed his orders. Rhee is angry at Gen. Chae Byong Duk (a former Japanese army officer - now the Chief of Staff, S Korean Army) for obeying Gen. Roberts and threatens to replace him with Col. Keneyama.
Aug. 23 - Gen. Chae Byong Duk sends navy ships north of the 38th and four N Korean ships are sunk. Rhee states that "I feel strongly that now is the most psychological moment when we should take an aggressive measure and join with our loyal communist army in the North to clear up the rest of them in Pyongyang. We will drive some of Kim Il Sung's men to the mountain region and there we will gradually starve them out. Then our line of defense must be straightened along the Tuman and Yalu rivers." Muccio is told that Chae's boys have taken over the North Korean city of Haeju (north of Kaesong).
Aug. 1949 - The Soviets explode an atomic bomb years ahead of the CIA projections.
Oct. 1, 1949 - Peking: Mao proclaims - China has stood up. The People's Republic of China is borne. Mao asks all foreign troops, including the Soviets, to leave China immediately.
Photo: Mao Zedong proclaims - China has stood up!
Oct. 2, 1949 - Syngman Rhee establishes the Republic of Korea Air Force upon Donald Nichols's recommendation. The Air Force consists of a few used L-x US Army observation planes. Its primary mission is secret spy over-flights over N Korean military bases at Haeju, Pyongyang and Mirim-ri, for Nichols's 6004 AISS. Rhee later makes Nichols an honorary colonel of his air force.
Jan. 1, 1950 - New Year's Day: Kim Ilsung's radio speech calls on all S Koreans to rise up and destroy the traitor and the running dog of the American imperialists - Rhee Syngman and his cronies. Rhee's puppet government will be destroyed "from within and without....and support the guerrillas both morally and materially".
The air is tense - something really big is about to happen. It is rumored that all communist party members have been told, but the non-commies are kept in the dark. An old communist friend of our family informs my father that Rhee's puppet government is about to fall. He either does not know how or he is not telling us.
Jan. 12, 1950 - Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State, reaffirms that US has no strategic interest in Korea. A week later, the US Congress defeats a $60 million aid bill for S Korea. The hand writing is on all over the wall that S Korea stands alone. The only friend Rhee has is Chiang Kai Sek.
Jan. 19, 1950 - Kim Il Sung speaks at the Third Party Congress of the Ch'ondogyo Young Friends Party -
"Building and strengthening the revolutionary bases in the North for the purpose of unifying the country is not enough; We must wipe out the traitors in the South. The great task of national reunification must he accomplished quickly and by ourselves."
He cites the examples of the October Revolution in the Soviet Union and the recent success of Mao Zedong in China. He says that he is not afraid of a war; it is Rhee who should be afraid. He says that - "We will be victorious, but victory does not come on its own; victory must be won.".
March 1950 - Washington, DC: US has a total of 4 A-bombs in its nuclear arsenal. Truman who became President after Roosevelt's death in 1945, was elected in his own right to the presidency in 1948. He is anxious to put his name on the history book. He is prone to making decisions on impulse. His foreign policy decisions are made by Dean Acheson. Acheson is accused of "losing China to Mao" and of being soft on communism. He is looking for an opportunity to show his tough anti-Communist faith. Upon V-J, US has demobilized its armed forces. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) has decided that, given the limited military resources available - about one million men, S Korea is of little strategic value to US and that US should not defend S Korea in case of N Korean invasion. Both Truman and Acheson agree with the JCS.
March 27, 1950 - Kim Sam Yong and Yi Chu Ha, the key guerrilla commanders in S Korea, are captured. The main body of the guerrillas including more than 600 cadres trained at the Kangdong Political Institute (N Korea) has been eliminated. This disaster effectively puts an end to Kim Il Sung's dream of uniting the country through insurrections in S Korea.
April 1950 - Kim Il Sung and Park Hyon Yong visit Stalin. Park tells Stalin that
"200,000 communist guerrillas in South Korea are ready to rebel at the first signal from the North and the population of the South is waiting for land reform and other democratic transformation such as those already conducted in the North."
Kim assures Stalin that the war will short and sweet. Stalin thinks that US would jump in to save Rhee, but Mao and Kim convince Stalin that North would defeat South in a matter of a few days and that US would not have the time to move in. Stalin warns Kim that the Soviet Union has enough problems in Europe and so it will not be able to provide much help. Kim tells Stalin that no help will be needed - everything is under Kim's control. NB. In 1955, Kim used Park's exaggerated figure of 200,000 partisans, among other accusations, to put Park to death.
May 15, 1950 - US CIA reported:
"N Korea suffers from a shortage of skilled administrative personnel and from weaknesses in its economy and its official Party organizations. There is widespread, although passive, popular discontent with the Communist government. Despite these weaknesses, however, the regime has, with Soviet assistance, clearly demonstrated an ability to continue its control and development of northern Korea."
May 30, 1950 - Seoul: Rhee's candidates lose badly in the second National Assembly election. Yo Un-Hyong's followers make a major comeback. US Special Envoy Dulles flies to Seoul to assess the situation. Rhee wants Dulles to approve an invasion of the North. Rhee claims that he can whip the communists in a few days. All he needs is Dulles' approval.
The US CIA reported:
"The northern Korean regime is also capable, in pursuit of its major external aim of extending control over southern Korea, of continuing and increasing its support of the present program of propaganda, infiltration, sabotage, subversion, and guerrilla operations against southern Korea. This program will not be sufficient in itself, however, to cause a collapse of the southern Korean regime and extension of Communist control over the south so along as US economic and military aid to southern Korea is not substantially reduced or seriously dissipated."
It appears that Kim Ilsung and CIA had the same assessment.
The US CIA reported:
"N Korean Army has 66,000 men including 16,000 ex-Chinese troops, supplemented by 20,500 border guards, 1,500 airmen and 5,100 seamen plus 60,000-70,000 Koreans in Chinese Red Army in reserve. Equipment include 65 T-34 tanks, 35 Yak-9 fighters and negligible navy. US CIA reports: "Trained and equipped units of the Communist "People's Army" are being deployed southward in the area of the 38th Parallel.".
CIA estimates were off by as much as 150% on the low side. This error enhanced the US confidence that the S Korean Army could repel any invasion from North.
The CIA had been in existence for only three years. Dr. Ray Cline was responsible for clanking out monthly "Estimate of the World Situation" on sensitive areas. Korea is covered now and then. Cline admits that "Mostly I simply wrote down analytical comments based on my reading of newspapers and periodical literature, adding items from the research analysts wherever possible." Cline claimed that MacArthur has kept the CIA out of Japan and Korea.
The Korean Liaison Office in Seoul is a secret spy operation (G2) run by MacArthur's Far Eastern Command in Tokyo. The US agents placed in N Korea report detailed troop movements, evacuation of civilians from the border areas, concentration of armored units, removal of civilian traffic from the Wonsan - Cholwon railway, and so on.
The S Korean Higher Intelligence Dept (HID) manages to induce a N Korean Air Force pilot to defect to S Korea. The IL-10 fighter pilot brings a concrete N Korean war plan with him. It is not clear how much of this hard intelligence reached the CIA. Neither CIA nor MacArthur sounds an alarm for any immediate invasion by the People's Army.
June 3, 1950 - Things are getting really intense. N Korean army units march south in broad daylight. Our town garrison has moved out a few weeks ago. Both Radio Seoul and Radio Pyongyang are issuing nasty threats and counter threats. New border crashes involve larger units. Radio Seoul is playing the 'Kill Traitor Kim Il Sung' song more persistently.
June 7, 1950 - The top advisor of the Soviet forces, Gen. Vasilyeyev and advisor Chief of Staff. Gen. Vostonikov meet with the People's Army Supreme Council - including Kim I1 Sung, Kim Tubong, Choe Yongkon, Pak Honyong, Ho Kay I, Pak Il U, Ho Chong Suk and Kang Kon. The final decision to invade South is made. Kim I1 Sung authorizes Kang Kon, Chief of Staff and a long time comrade, to get his troops in motion.
June 9, 1950 - Gen. Kang Kon meets with the divisional and corps commanders and informs them of the impending invasion. This information is not disclosed to any lower ranking officers. The rank and file are to be told that there would be a large scale exercise on June 25.
June 11, 1950 - Kim Kuang Hyob, Chief of Operations, convenes a general staff meeting and announces -
"Comrade Officers! Listen and pay attention! Our People's Army have, up to now.. carried out combat training up to division level, but we haven't had a big exercise to prepare for an invasion! So, this time. we are going to have a field maneuver exercise that will make a general mobilization of all divisions! In this exercise, the combat divisions will participate, of course. The reserve divisions and the various kinds of special troop units will also participate, using all the aircraft, tanks, and equipment they have!
"Because this maneuver exercise will be the most significant training that the People's Army have had since its inception, thoroughness in operations, command. and mission execution is required! Exercises up to now have shown us, on numerous occasions, weaknesses and inexperience in commanders and staffs. But, this time, weaknesses such as this will not do. If they cannot execute in a completely successful fashion, they will be sent to the appropriate military court and punished!
Since this will be the first large field exercise since the establishment of the People's Army, we don't know exactly how long it will run, but I think it will last about 2 weeks! Therefore, the various personnel should not carry possessions that are a burden. They should only prepare about 2 weeks worth of clothing and socks! Since there is a need to take along maps, sketch maps, etc., officers, who don't have field packs, must be ready day! Finally, since this maneuver exercise is under the greatest military secrecy, you must absolutely not tell even your families, wives, or friends!"
Gen. Kim Kwang Hyob presents the battle command assignments as follows: (1) 1st Corps: Commander - Kim Ung, Commissar - Kim Chae Ung, Chief of Staff - Yu Sin. (2) 2d Corps: Commander - Kim Kwan Hyob, Political Commissar - Im Hae, Chief of Staff - Choi In, Operations Officer - Lee Hak Ku. Staff officers return to their battle stations and prepare for the grand exercise.
June 19, 1950 - Pyongyang: The Supreme Peoples Assembly calls for the peaceful reunification of Korea through free elections. My father says that a war is about to break out and that N Korea is going to win.. Stalin orders out all Soviet advisers - some 7,000 from N Korea; Stalin does not want to risk war with US - "It's too dangerous to keep our advisers there. They might be taken prisoner. We don't want there to be evidence for accusing us of taking part in this business. It's Kim Il Sung's affair."
June 20, 1950 - Gen. Omar Bradley, the Chairman of the US JCS, asks MacArthur about the persistent intelligence reports of an imminent N Korean invasion. The chairman is assured that the S Korean army is strong enough to fight back the northern army. Not quite believing MacArthur, Bradley privately asks Gen. Roberts, the chief of the US advisers in Korea - the man in the best position to know, for his assessment and Roberts gives Bradley his personal guarantee that S Korea is capable of defending itself.
June 23, 1950 - S Korean howitzers and mortars start shelling Unpa on the Onjin Peninsula at 10 p.m. and continue until 4 a.m., June 24. On June 25, the "Fierce Tiger" unit (Mangho Dae) attacks N Korean Border Guard units at Turak Mountain.
The 4th Division of the People's Army receives its battle order - cross the border at Tongduchon at 0400 hours, June 25, 1950 and proceed to Tokjong, Yijungbu and Seoul. Thomas D. McPhail, the US Intelligence chief in Korea, informs his superiors of the impending invasion from the North. McPhail has several agents in N Korea. But nobody pays attention - so what? The N Koreans will be sorry, if they invaded. Donald Nichols, chief of the 6004 AISS files similar reports to Tokyo and Washignton, but no one is reading these reports of imminent invasion.
