Post by hi224 on Jun 14, 2020 20:43:49 GMT
If you’ve ever travelled to South Korea by plane before, chances are you’ll arrive at Incheon International Airport. As you approach the airport by plane, you might look out the window and see the handful of lush, green islands scattered around the peninsula below you and imagine an atmosphere of calm and peace.
However only 49 years ago on one of these small islands, the island of Silmido, 31 South Korean prisoners were trained by the South Korean Air Force to infiiltrate North Korean borders and assassinate Kim Il-Sung.
The prisoners were known as Unit 684, and their unit was formed in retaliation for Unit 124 – a unit of elite North Korean commandos that had infiltrated South Korea in January 1968 to kill South Korean President Park Chung-hee. Members of Unit 124 came within 100 metres of the Blue House (South Korea’s presidential residence) in what is called the ‘Blue House Raid’, before being killed, captured, or committing suicide.
Unit 684 was assembled in 1 April 1968 in retaliation for the Blue House Raid, and for three years from 1968 to 1971, the 31 prisoners endured gruelling training. 7 of the 31 members died - one prisoner died of fatigue, two were executed for desertion, another was executed for threatening a trainer, and three other prisoners were executed after they escaped the island and held a local woman captive and raped her.
The deployment of Unit 684 was pushed back as relations between North and South Korean warmed, and their mission was ultimately cancelled following successful Red Cross talks between the two countries on 21 August, 1971.
Then on 23 August 1971, Unit 684 revolted against their guards, killing most of them, and hijacked an intercity bus that travelled between Incheon and Suwon. The 24 surviving members of Unit 684 that planned to take the bus to the Blue House and kill the president Park Chung-Hee. The group were reported to be armed communist guerrillas (much like Unit 124), and were surrounded by military and police in Daebang-dong (now Dongjak-dong), Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Twenty members of the unit were shot or committed suicide with hand grenades as they realised they could not escape the seige. The remaining four survivors of Unit 684 were captured and sentenced to death by a military tribunal and executed on March 10, 1972.
Following all of this, the Air Force burned documents relating to the incident and engaged in an active cover-up of the unit and its mission. Shortly after the bus hijacking, General Sae-gyu Lee of the 7th Army Reserve discovered that the "armed communist guerillas" were in fact South Korean Air Force commandos and was later taken to Namsan (the headquarters of the KCIA) and tortured.
Information about Unit 684 only became public knowledge following publication of a book in 1999 on the unit and their mission, and the release of the action film 'Silmido' in 2003. However as records were destroyed and all members of Unit 684 were killed or executed, it seems that some details of Silmido and Unit 684 will remain a mystery.
The film Silmido depicts the prisoners revolting after they overhear their guards being directed to kill them to keep Unit 684 a secret, now that relations between North and South Korea have warmed. The driver of the bus hijacked by Unit 684 said that the prisoners told him the government had tried to trap and kill them on the island (Korean link). Relatives of the deceased prisoners also claim the government planned to kill the members of Unit 684 to keep the project secret after their mission to assassinate Kim Il Sung was terminated (link).
However, surviving guard Yi-Tae Kim describes here, "I once was very frustrated, so I asked my boss, `Should I kill them all?` but it was only talk and never was such an order placed from my superiors."
Another former guard Dong-su Yang says here, "They revolted because they felt that they were never going to get the chance to go to North Korea and that they would never be allowed to leave the island. They were in despair."
Did the South Korean government really plan to execute Unit 684 on Silmido, or was it really just a revolt borne of frustration and despair? Will we ever know what really happened on Silmido, and what really happened to Unit 684?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/209th_Detachment,_2325th_Group
edition.cnn.com/2018/02/18/asia/south-korea-failed-assassination-squad-unit-684-intl/index.html (Images too)
www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20050824000044
www.nytimes.com/2004/02/15/world/south-korean-movie-unlocks-door-on-a-once-secret-past.html?pagewanted=1
koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2920722
northatlanticblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/the-south-korean-unit-684/
namu.wiki/w/%EC%8B%A4%EB%AF%B8%EB%8F%84%20%EC%82%AC%EA%B1%B4 (Korean)
However only 49 years ago on one of these small islands, the island of Silmido, 31 South Korean prisoners were trained by the South Korean Air Force to infiiltrate North Korean borders and assassinate Kim Il-Sung.
The prisoners were known as Unit 684, and their unit was formed in retaliation for Unit 124 – a unit of elite North Korean commandos that had infiltrated South Korea in January 1968 to kill South Korean President Park Chung-hee. Members of Unit 124 came within 100 metres of the Blue House (South Korea’s presidential residence) in what is called the ‘Blue House Raid’, before being killed, captured, or committing suicide.
Unit 684 was assembled in 1 April 1968 in retaliation for the Blue House Raid, and for three years from 1968 to 1971, the 31 prisoners endured gruelling training. 7 of the 31 members died - one prisoner died of fatigue, two were executed for desertion, another was executed for threatening a trainer, and three other prisoners were executed after they escaped the island and held a local woman captive and raped her.
The deployment of Unit 684 was pushed back as relations between North and South Korean warmed, and their mission was ultimately cancelled following successful Red Cross talks between the two countries on 21 August, 1971.
Then on 23 August 1971, Unit 684 revolted against their guards, killing most of them, and hijacked an intercity bus that travelled between Incheon and Suwon. The 24 surviving members of Unit 684 that planned to take the bus to the Blue House and kill the president Park Chung-Hee. The group were reported to be armed communist guerrillas (much like Unit 124), and were surrounded by military and police in Daebang-dong (now Dongjak-dong), Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Twenty members of the unit were shot or committed suicide with hand grenades as they realised they could not escape the seige. The remaining four survivors of Unit 684 were captured and sentenced to death by a military tribunal and executed on March 10, 1972.
Following all of this, the Air Force burned documents relating to the incident and engaged in an active cover-up of the unit and its mission. Shortly after the bus hijacking, General Sae-gyu Lee of the 7th Army Reserve discovered that the "armed communist guerillas" were in fact South Korean Air Force commandos and was later taken to Namsan (the headquarters of the KCIA) and tortured.
Information about Unit 684 only became public knowledge following publication of a book in 1999 on the unit and their mission, and the release of the action film 'Silmido' in 2003. However as records were destroyed and all members of Unit 684 were killed or executed, it seems that some details of Silmido and Unit 684 will remain a mystery.
The film Silmido depicts the prisoners revolting after they overhear their guards being directed to kill them to keep Unit 684 a secret, now that relations between North and South Korea have warmed. The driver of the bus hijacked by Unit 684 said that the prisoners told him the government had tried to trap and kill them on the island (Korean link). Relatives of the deceased prisoners also claim the government planned to kill the members of Unit 684 to keep the project secret after their mission to assassinate Kim Il Sung was terminated (link).
However, surviving guard Yi-Tae Kim describes here, "I once was very frustrated, so I asked my boss, `Should I kill them all?` but it was only talk and never was such an order placed from my superiors."
Another former guard Dong-su Yang says here, "They revolted because they felt that they were never going to get the chance to go to North Korea and that they would never be allowed to leave the island. They were in despair."
Did the South Korean government really plan to execute Unit 684 on Silmido, or was it really just a revolt borne of frustration and despair? Will we ever know what really happened on Silmido, and what really happened to Unit 684?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/209th_Detachment,_2325th_Group
edition.cnn.com/2018/02/18/asia/south-korea-failed-assassination-squad-unit-684-intl/index.html (Images too)
www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20050824000044
www.nytimes.com/2004/02/15/world/south-korean-movie-unlocks-door-on-a-once-secret-past.html?pagewanted=1
koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2920722
northatlanticblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/the-south-korean-unit-684/
namu.wiki/w/%EC%8B%A4%EB%AF%B8%EB%8F%84%20%EC%82%AC%EA%B1%B4 (Korean)
