July 30, 1953 - Pyongyang: An alleged coup attempt by S Korean Communists fails. In Sept. 1951, Yi Sung Yup, Minister of Justice, formulated a military coup against Kim Il Sung. Yi had the support of his followers at the Kumgang guerrilla school. In February 1952, Kim Il Sung created another guerrilla school in Namyongback under Yi's supervision.
By November 1952, Yi assembled over 4,000 guerrillas positioned to strike Pyongyang. Yi planned to form a new cabinet with Park Hyong Yong (premier), Chu Yong Ha and Chang Si U (vice premiers), Kim Ung Bin (Defense Minister) and himself as the chief of a new Korean Communist Party.
Those prosecuted include:
Sol Chong Sik graduated from Mt. Union College (Ohio, USA) and Columbia University. He worked for the Information Bureau of the US Military Government in Korea from 1945 to 1948. He fled to North in 1948 and was the chief N Korean interpreter at the armistice talks in July 1951. Sol was born on Sept. 18, 1912 and went to Yonsei University in Seoul prior to his education in America. Sol was about the only US educated communist in N Korea.
On the same day, Park Hyong Yong - Vice Premier and Foreign Minister of N Korea is arrested.
On Dec. 3, 1955, Park was indicted of treason, espionage and massacre of S Korean patriots. On Dec. 15, 1955, Park was tried and sentenced to death.
Park was born in 1900 in Chunchung Namdo, S Korea. He graduated from the First High School in Seoul. He studied in Shanghai and went to Russia in 1920 where he attended the Communist University of Toilers of the East. He was arrested upon his return (Nov. 1925) to Korea and spent 18 months in jail. After his release, he worked as a Tong A Ilbo (Yo Ung Yong, editor) reporter in Seoul. He was arrested again in 1939 and Park got himself released by feigning insanity. He went underground upon his release and worked as a laborer until the liberation day.
Kim Il Sung's indictments against Park are:
The allegation that these old-time communists were American spies is hard to believe. The American intelligence community was not that sophisticated in those days. It is true that they had some contacts with the American "intelligence" agents cited in the trial. For example, Park Hyon Yon did study English under Underwood in Seoul and had some contacts with Americans in Shanghai. Yi Sung Yup did work for the US Military Government from 1945 to 1947 and met with Harold Noble. Yi Kang Guk did share a woman (Kim Su In) with an American intelligence agent. Col. John Robinson and Col. Nocols were indeed with the US intelligence.
Aug. 4, 1953 - Kim Il Sung convenes the 6th joint plenum of the Central Committee and replaces his senior comrades killed in the war - Kim Chaek, Vice Premier, and Kang Kong, Commander-in-Chief. Kim purges most of the surviving S Korean communists. He reinstates many of those party member he has expelled in 1950 - including his old partisan comrade Kim Il.
Aug. 15, 1953 - The Korean People's Army is completely re-equipped with modern Soviet arms. It is more than triple its pre-war strength.
1954 Seoul - US Intelligence Headquarters: We are housed in a mansion owned by a rich S Korean landowner. It has a Japanese garden and a pond swarming with huge colorful fish. I wonder how they survived the damned war. They say that these fish do not taste good.
There are some 20 Korean "critical" military specialists (CMS) looking for things to do. We keep ourselves busy translating captured N Korean war documents - combat reports, Kim Ilsung's speeches and other boring stuff. We also monitor N Korean radios and jot down brief digests of communist propaganda.
Photo: A Korean woman being interrogated by an American and an interpreter
I try to attend my regular classes at Seoul National University (SNU) as often as I can. Surprisingly, the campus has survived the war more or less intact! SNU is Korea's Princeton and one of 10 applicants is accepted. Korea's top scholars teach there and what meager funds the ROK government has for academic research are given to SNU.
During the War, many professors were either killed or went over to N Korea. People with connections went abroad to study and, more importantly, to escape the war. Many courses are taught by graduate students in a seminar style. Each student is assigned so many pages to read and digest; and "teach" the other students in a class. The professor merely coordinates seminar sessions.
I wear GI uniforms to my classes. I enjoy brandishing my war "critical" ID to my envious classmates. I manage to pass the final exams and stay in school. My professors are very understanding of my situation and go easy on my grades (C's and D's - but no F's!).
My classmates help me out by covering my frequent absenteeism and turning in "my" home works. Even though the war is over, I do get sent out on special missions to the front now and then. Quite a few N Korean agents get captured behind the cease-fire line and we get to interrogate them. Afterwards, they are turned over to S Korean units for further interrogation and disposition.
1954 - Seoul: I am trying to do several things at the same time; (1) Study just enough to pass exams at the Seoul National University, (2) Keep my job with the US Intelligence guys; (3) Find free room and board by tutoring rich kids, and (4) Socialize with friends.
I volunteer to go out to remote villages and do some social work with UNESCO teams. We build water wells, teach basic hygiene and help with farm chores for poor peasants. All of us do this free, of course. There are some 50 students from various universities in Seoul participating in our UNESCO action groups - about half of them are coeds.
We learn the UNESCO song -"saras bunda, saras bunda,,," I don't know what it means but it is in an African language. Our UNESCO mission is to visit war-torn villages and do propaganda and help the villagers recover from the war - much like a communist partisan political action team. We also hand out blankets, foods and other basic necessities of life - all donated by UN member states.
Every Saturday, we meet at a restaurant near the Capitol building and fed a hot breakfast. Our leaders lecture us on how to be helpful and also how to handle unpleasant situations. S Korean Army psychological warfare officers provide trucks and armed guards for our trip to "front-line" villages. We find old people, women and children in our villages - only occasional men of military age.
Every family has at least one tragedy to regale. So many villagers have been killed by S Koreans, N Koreans and Americans, that the villagers do not trust us. Indeed, I can feel that deep in their heart, they hate us (of course, we represent the S Korean Government) and any form of government. The villagers don't care who sits in the Blue House - all they want is to be left alone. One of our missions is to show them that we do care and that we are on their side - and that we can and will help them.
Most villages need just about everything. Their farms are filled with live explosive, mines, ruined equipment and rotting bodies. Their drinking wells are contaminated; their livestock are gone; school buildings are gone or in use by military people. Their village elders are dead and their youths are either dead, missing or in the army. Since a S Korean soldier is paid less than $2 per month, he needs money from home.
Every family has a skeleton to hide - a kid or a close relative has gone over to the other side; and you don't want the S Korean police to find out - you will be branded "communists"; you will be tortured or blackmailed by your neighbors.
S Korean army engineers dig new wells and clear war-junks from farm fields. We try our best to convince the villagers that Seoul does care about the farmers. We remove bad cops and village bullies with the help of our officer companions. We set up school classes and hand out texts. Our team includes medical college students who tend to minor wounds and disease. Severe cases are sent to a nearby army field hospital - all for free, of course.
S Korean army soldiers volunteer to work the fields and restock farm animals. Actually, front-line villages are under military control and the area commander is responsible for the welfare of all civilians in his area. We UNESCO students are essentially civilian helpers for the commander. We get to eat lunch with the commander and his senior staff. These officers appreciate help from bona fide college students from Seoul. The officers and soldiers gawk at our young fresh coeds and treat them like Yi dynasty princesses. I suppose the coeds look like movie stars compared to farmers' daughters. We the guys of the UNESCO team do not get much attention.
The commanding general gives us a guided tour of his empire. His goal is self-reliance as far as food is concerned. He manages farms and livestock. He uses army trucks to fetch sea foods from coastal area so that his soldiers eat well. He has a bean sprout factory which grows bean sprouts for his army and the farmers in his command are. He has a huge kim-chee factory which makes more than what his army needs and he plans to sell the surplus.
The general's pet project is an educational program for his soldiers. Most soldiers come from poor families and have little education and skills. He makes sure that all of his soldiers learn to read and write - at least to the 6th grade level. Each soldier must learn a trade - driving a car or a truck, modern farming methods, shoe repair, auto repair, ironsmith, animal husbandry, and so on. I love this general - he is a patriot and a model of a military officer. I wish all generals were like him. Unfortunately, many Korean generals are corrupt and arrogant sons-of-bitches - besides they are mostly Japanese collaborators.
My American intelligence unit has two Mormon GI's. These guys, Averd Wilson and Jim Davis, speak Korean quite well, having done missionary works among the Koreans in Hawaii. The Mormon GI's are very friendly to "gooks" - they are NOT at all like the most of the Yankees.
Most Americans hate gooks, hate being in Korea, hate this "die-for-tie" war, hate the weather, hate the smell of Korea, and hate Truman. All they want to do is screw as many gooks ("mama-sans") and go on home - "get out of this hell hole."
Photo: My GI friend Averd Wislon
I let myself talked into becoming a Mormon - a Latter Day Saint.. I am baptized in the Han River (a Mormon elder dips me under the water.) For some reason, Mormons believe that Koreans are descended from the Lost Tribe and that it is their mission to convert Koreans into the Mormon Church. My friend Averd Wilson saves my soul and literally my life.
Korean Mormons meet at chapel inside the US 8th Army Headquarters near Seoul. American Mormons pick up Korean Mormons at designated locations every Sunday and we hold Korean-American Mormon services in English. One of the American Mormons is Col. Nichols, an military intelligence officer. Col. Nichols lives with a pretty Korean woman (who turns out to a N Korean agent) who is also a Mormon.
Most Korean Mormons are young students interested more in learning English than the Gospel. However, there is an old Korean, Dr. Kim Hyo Jik, Vice Minister of Education ROK. Dr. Kim was converted to Mormonism while studying in America. He was president of a Marine College in S Korea before the War. During the War, he was appointed to the cabinet position by Rhee Syngman. Dr. Kim became a vice mayor of Seoul and died of heart attack during a city council meeting.
He has two sons and two daughters. He lives in a traditional yanban house, a virtual fortress with a high stone wall surrounding it, in Seoul. I get to be a close family friend of this very kind man. Most of my personal activities are with the Korean Mormons - picnics, potluck dinners, social works, etc.
Photo: Kim Sung Whan and I
Dr. Kim's eldest son, Kim Sung Whan, is one of my best friends and confidants. He is a music major at the Seoul University. He went to Italy and became a famous tenor
I notice an ad posted a college bulletin board, looking for a translator/interpretor. The ad is by Rev. Yi who is the Korean Albert Schweitzer. Rev. Yi admires Schweitzer's work in Africa caring for lepers and he wants to set up leprosaria in Korea. Yi gives me an English test and hires me on the spot.
My pay is just room-and-board. My main job is to translate Albert Schweitzer's books on Africa into Korean. My brother Ung Sik likes Schweitzer and he runs a leper colony on an island for the ROK Government.
Rev. Yi invites American army chaplains to give sermons to his congregation and I interpret. American Christians send money and clothing to Rev. Yi. His dream is to raise enough money to go to Africa and learn from Dr. Schweitzer. Rev. Yi goes to Seoul Medical College and becomes a medical doctor (just as Schweitzer is) in preparation for his trip to Africa.
Mormons in Seoul, both Korean and American, gather at Dr. Kim's house for socials. We sing Mormon hymns (my favorite is - "Come, come, Ye, Saints,,'). We feel empathy with Joseph Smith who was persecuted, tarred and killed by a mob. The Latter Day Saints have overcome many hardships and are prosperous today. We hope to do the same.
Photo: Me in Seoul University student uniform
Seoul: The bad news finally come. We are no longer needed and asked to leave the premise immediately. We turn in the "critical" ID cards and GI uniforms.
As I am about to walk out the compound for the last time, the commanding officer calls me back. He asks me if I liked the intel stuff. I sort of enjoyed my job and besides, I don't have any place to go. I am really and truly homeless! I can stay with some friends for a few days but not for any longer than that!. I have some money saved but it's barely enough for tuition - not for food and lodging.
It is a miracle that I am now a sophomore at the Seoul National University. I don't have the academic credentials for being a college sophomore, having spent little time and effort on studying, but I am not alone.
There are many in the S Korean Army who are technically speaking students - but they seldom attend classes. The profs do their patriotic duty and let us pass.
The Central Intelligence Agency is a grandson of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) created during WW2. Truman foolishly disbanded the OSS on Oct. 1, 1945 and reassigned OSS intelligence specialists to the War Dept. and the State Dept. The Central Intelligence Group, CIG, was created on Jan. 22, 1946 by Truman with about 100 employees. Its original mission was to coordinate intelligence information and nothing more; its only job was to digest the cacophony of data collected by military intelligence services and summarize them into a concise digest for the President.
Gen. Hoyte Vandenberg, the 2nd CIG director in 1946, expanded its operations to data collection in foreign countries. He got most of the old OSS people transferred to the CIG from the War and State Depts. and the CIG staff jumped to several thousands.
The National Security Act of July 1947 renamed the CIG to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and established the National Security Council (NSC). On Dec. 19, 1947, the first NSC meeting adopted NSC 4/A - which empowered the CIA to a broad range of covert actions in Italy. By this time Adm. Roscow Hillenkoetter was the director of CIA (DCI).
The first intervention in a foreign affair by the CIA was in Italy. During WW2, Italian communists played a major role in fighting the Fascists. The post-WW2 Italian government included several communists and Truman did not like the situation. The CIA was given the task of eliminating the Italian communists. CIA operatives in Italy planted false stories about the Red, funded rightist organizations, highlighted Russian rapes in Eastern Europe, and veiled hints of military retaliation if the Reds remained in the government. American-Italians were marshaled and mounted a pro-American campaign in Italy. Eventually, the Italian reds were ousted.
On June 18,1948, the NSC 4/A was replaced by the NSC 10/2 which authorized the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC) for covert actions worldwide. The OPC director was to be appointed by the Secretary of State. But for funding purposes, it belonged to the CIA. An OSS veteran, Frank Wisner, was the first director of OPC. A few years later, Wisner was fired, went insane and committed suicide.
The CIA covert missions are spelled out in Section Five of National Security Council Resolution 10/2:
The NSC "10/2" authorizes covert operations that are secret and small enough to be deniable by the CIA.
The Director of CIA serves as chairman of the board of the entire US intelligence community: the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Security Agency (NSA - which deals with electronic intelligence), the intelligence branches of the military services, the State Dept. bureau of intelligence and research, the FBI and the Nuclear Energy agencies.
The CIA is divided into four major divisions: Plans (originally, the Office of Policy Coordination and Office of Special Operations), Intelligence, Research, and Support (equipment, logistics, security, and communication). The Plans Division runs spies, guerrillas and other covert operations: for example, it overthrew the leftist government of Iran in 1953, of Guatemala in 1954, obtained and published Khrushchev's secret speech in 1956, ran U-2 spy planes and directed the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.
One of the best description of the CIA is given by Ralph W. McGehee (Deadly Deceits - My 25 Years in the CIA), a 25-year CIA veteran -
"I want to reveal to those who still believe in the myths of the CIA what it is and what it actually does. My explanation will not include the usual pap fed to us by Agency spokesmen. My view backed by 25 years of experience is, quite simply, that the CIA is the covert action arm of the Presidency. Most of its money, manpower, and energy go into covert operations that, as we have seen over the years include backing dictators and overthrowing democratically elected movements."
"The CIA is not an intelligence agency. In fact, it acts largely as an anti-intelligence agency, producing only that information wanted by policymakers to support their plans and suppressing information that does not support those plans. As the covert action arm of the President, the CIA uses disinformation, much of it aimed at the US public, to mold opinion.
It employs the gamut of disinformation techniques from forging documents to planting and discovering "communist" weapons caches. But the major weapon in its arsenal of-disinformation is the "intelligence" it feeds to policymakers. Instead of gathering genuine intelligence that could serve as the basis for reasonable policies. the CIA often ends up distorting reality, creating out of whole cloth "intelligence" to justify policies that have already been decided upon. Policymakers then leak this "intelligence" to the media to deceive us all and gain our support."
"Even after the Agency's conspicuous failures in (Korea), Vietnam, Cuba, the Middle East, and elsewhere, the fable that the CIA gathers real intelligence dies hard. But If the Agency actually reported the truth about the Third World what would it say?
It would say that the United States installs foreign leaders, arms their armies, and empowers their police all to help those leaders repress an angry, defiant people; that the CIA empowered leaders represent only a small fraction who kill, torture, and impoverish their own people to maintain their position of privilege.
This is true intelligence, but who wants it? So instead of providing true intelligence, the Agency, often ignorant of its real role, labels the oppressed as lackeys of Soviet or (Chinese) communism fighting not for their lives but for their communist masters. It is difficult to sell this story when the facts are otherwise, so the Agency plants weapons shipments, forges documents, broadcasts false propaganda, and transforms reality. Thus it creates a new reality that it then believes."
One might add that the CIA failed (at least on the surface) to see the coming of the Korean War, of the Chinese Volunteers Army, of the collapse of the Soviet Union, so on so forth.
The US CIA in Korea.
Soon after the start of the Korean War, the CIA was directed to expand its operation in Far East. On June 27, 1950, Hans V. Tofte was given the task of building CIA covert operations in Japan, Korea and China.
Tofte was born in Denmark but lived in Manchuria for 8 years and spoke Chinese fluently. During WW2, he emigrated to US. He joined the British intelligence unit working out of New York. He was sent to Burma to organize native labor crews to ferry war supplies to China. He allegedly led guerrillas to fight the Japanese in Burma.
Tofte returned to US and enlisted in the US Army as a private. He was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) because of his background. In 1943, Tofte organized a mini-navy to supply Tito's guerrillas in Yugoslavia. At the end of WW2, the OSS was disbanded, and Tofte returned to his native country and worked as manager of an American airline. The airline was used to carry secret documents to US. He returned to Mason City, Iowa, USA in 1947 and managed a family business until 1950.
On June 27, 1950 - Hans Tofte was hired on "the spot" with an agency rank of major general and put on a plane to Tokyo. At this time the CIA Tokyo station had only six agents working out of a hotel room. MacArthur did not want any CIA man on his territory. Tofte started to build a spy empire in Korea - code named The Joint Advisory Commission, Korea (JACK). The second in command was Colwell Beers, a former OSS (Detachment 101) agent in Burma. New buildings were built to house the JACK at the Atsugi Air Force Base.
Tofte puts US Marine Col. "Dutch" Kramer in charge of the CIA stations in Korea, JACK. Kramer establishes a training base on Cheju-do in August 1950 and moves his base to Yong-do in November 1950. Yong-do is a small island a few miles southwest of Pusan. It used to be a Japanese resort. Kramer expels all Korean natives from the island. Hans Tofte establishes a "home" in a Japanese villa overlooking the ocean on the island.
Tofte asked for and got the USS Bass, a modified destroyer, for covert operations in the Yellow Sea and the USS Perch, a former submarine tender, for JACK operations in the East Sea (Sea of Japan). USS Bass carries a 20-men detachment of underwater demolition team (UDT) and a platoon of US Marines. The ships were used for agent infiltration and exfiltration.
May 1, 1954 - K-9 (Seoul Airport at Pohangdong): The US AF 6006 air base: I am assigned to the "6006", an authentic real life spy organization. It is a "front" for CIA's Office of Policy Coordination - Korean operations (JACK) for air support (Aviary). It is headed by Col. Hans Tofte (CIA rank is "major general").
Tofte is blonde, half bold, mid-50, stoutly built and about my height. He speaks with a thick Danish accent in short sentences. Tofte has many legends in how own time; some say that has stolen a Russian MIG before the Korean War; others say that he has hijacked a ship carrying Chinese war material (Operation TP-Stole); that he disconnected underwater cables used by the Chinese commands in Korea. Tofte produced a hit Japanese movie depicting a Soviet POW camp for Japanese prisoners. It was meant to be an anti-Soviet propaganda movie, but the Japanese, who were unaware of its CIA connection, loved the movie.
The base camp at K-9 is shared by JACK (CIA), NICK (Donald Nichol's Air Force Technical Intelligence 6004 AISS), the 8th Army CCRAK Aviary (agent air drops) and several S Korean spy units. CAT and S Korean spy planes stop here to pick up agents and partisans bound for destinations in Korea, China and Russia.
Each one of the three US Army corps - I (Tactical Intelligence Liaison Office), IX (CIC) and X (8227th Army Unit) - runs its own G-2 and G-3 operations whose agents are parachute-trained at the Aviary near K-9. The US Army operations report to the 8th Army Korean Liaison Office in Tokyo. The Far East Air Force runs its own spy outfit, the 6004 AISS (NICK for Donald Nichols). In addition, MacArthur runs the 519th MI Company, 308th CIC Company, Army Security Agency, and Army Translation and Interpretation Service (ATIS).
With so many quasi-independent spy operations competing with each other, the Tokyo and Washington brass had confusing pictures of the enemy intelligence. The Tokyo Command made a number of attempts to consolidate intelligence operations in vain - Far East Command Liaison Group 8240th Army Unit, Far East Command Liaison Detachment, Korea, 8240th AU, Combined Command Reconnaissance Activities, Korea (CCRAK) 8240th AU and so on. The CCRAK is headquartered at the Seoul Methodist Mission Building.
To confuse the intelligence "market" further, S Koreans ran their own spy operations - Higher Intelligence Department, ROK Army G-2, Office of Naval Intelligence, National Police Intelligence and Air Force 6006 Air Intelligence and Reconnaissance Squadron modeled after NICK (US 6004th AISS).
All CIA officers are white from wealthy American families. They hate the gooks. Even though the 6006 AIRS is an "air force" unit, its officers come from Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force - and non-military. CIA "officers" have dual ranks - a "service" rank is the real one and a CIA rank which can be anything depending on their mission. For example. Hans Tofte is Lt. Colonel but "Major General" in the CIA. Many CIA officers are the elite, privileged upper-class whites from deep South.
Col. Kramer and most of his white officers hate and despises all Asians - communists and non-communists alike. He treats us, the Korean "criticals", like a bunch of slaves. One thing good about Kramer and Nichols - they take care of their people. When an operation goes well, we get a bonus (a 100-pound sack of rice, contrabands from Japan, USA, etc.). Most of the time, they hand out the goodies themselves beaming like a Santa Clause.
The AF 6006 air "squadron" is a grandson of Gen. Claire Chennault's "Flying Tigers" air force in China. It was manned by American mercenaries. At the end of the civil war in China (in 1949), it was moved to Formosa and renamed Civil Air Transport (CAT) - now a CIA operation.
CAT was originally formed by Gen. Claire Chennault and Whiting Willauer in 1946 to provide air transportation in China. Gen. Chennault commanded the 14th Air Force in 1945. The cargo business was supplemented by covert action missions for the CIA dating back to Oct. 10, 1949, China's national day.
CAT was ejected from China in January 1950 and followed Chiang Kai Sek to Formosa. By early 1950, CAT's commercial and CIA business had dried up and Chennault and Co. faced imminent bankruptcy. On March 24, 1950, CIA purchased CAT outright. In July 1950, the CIA assigned 3 CAT planes to ferry guerrilla agents between Korea and Japan.
Col. Hans Tofte arrived in Tokyo on July 16, 1950 to head the OPC in Japan. By the end of 1950, Tofte had agent networks placed in N Korea primarily intended for rescuing downed airmen. A brand new complex was completed at Atsugi and the OPC (Far East) increased its personnel from 6 in July to over 1,000. As the front lines stabilized, the OPC mission changed from airmen rescue to guerrilla operations.
Tofte reports to Frank G, Wisner, Deputy CIA Director, Office of Policy Coordination OPC. Wisner is to go insane and commit suicide in 1965.
The "6006" runs the Korean Labor Organization - KLO. The main function of the KLO is to provide physical labor for the American troops - such as carrying ammo's and other supplies on their back, taking care of the dead bodies, unloading cargo ships in Pusan and so on. The KLO is largely manned by N Korean refugees - a gold mine for spy recruiters. The "6006" recruits spies among captured N Korean soldiers and civilians. Late 1950 and early 1951, CIA agents interviewed refugees from N Korea and POWs on Koejedo. Those who were anti-Communists were enticed or pressed to join the operation.
The existence of KLO is secret, although it was well-known among the refugees and heavily infiltrated by N Korean agents (and hence well-known to the enemy). During the war years 1951 to 1953, KLO was off limit to S Korean military or police - or for that matter the US military. KLO had its own kangaroo courts which tried, convicted and executed people suspected of being communists.
KLO was run by N Korean refugees under the direction of US spy-masters. In 1954, S Korean newspapers published stories of the abuses going on at KLO camps and the police began criminal investigations. By this time, KLO was not of much value to the UN war operations and the US spy-masters let it die.
During 1951-1955, the JACK had injected nearly 2,000 agents in N Korea, Siberia and Manchuria. Most of them went into hiding or captured (usually hanged). Very few became operational. Many are coerced into the service ("if you are truly anti-red, you would want to fight the red"). Some go for the money. Some use the "job" to return home. Some like the trade and its "romance".
Of course, there are anti-Communist idealists, a minority, who want to do the right thing. Korean agents are trained by CIA instructors at Yong-do (Korea), Chigasaki (Japan) or Saipan (US Navy Technical Training Center).
They learn parachuting, firearms, demolition, radio signals, evasion procedures, setting up secure bases, and other guerrilla tactics. The graduates are grouped into small bands and injected (either parachuted or shipped by boats) into target areas where they are expected to recruit locals, gather military intelligence, engage in sabotage and rescue downed airmen. The most important task of the agents used to be rescuing downed airmen during the war; but now it is paramilitary operations.
Photo: Korean agents learning how to parachute at a training camp in Yon-do, an island in the Pusan harbor.
N Korea is a police state - citizens are grouped into cells. Each cell is watched over by a party member or a patriot. Cell leaders are watched over by police and informants. It is not feasible to inject any agent who comes from outside. Agents have to be from within. Some four million (no one knows how many) N Koreans fled south in 1950 - among the refugees were tens of thousand N Korean servicemen and low to middle ranking party members. In addition, we had over 100,000 POW's.
Between the refugees and POW's, we had a rich supply of spies. All through 1950 to 1956, the CIA trained and infiltrated some 3,000 (some 1,200 from 1950-51) agents into N Korea - very few of them would survived for more than one day. There is a joke at the agency - if our guys radio back from N Korea, you bet your boot that the commies got them working for them.
