North and South Korea Divided by the DMZ Est. in 1945
(WWII also ended Japanese occupation since 1910)
North Korea’s One-Family Rule
Officially Since 1948
With the most-latest news about
North Korea and their nuclear testing and threats and such, I thought it was a
good time to see who we are dealing with, and just how evil North Korea has
been and threat they still pose.
By way of information background, I originally served in Seoul at ROKMC
HQ with the Marine Corps component of the Navy Advisory Group (1961-63), then
again off and on while on active duty in between two Vietnam tours, and while
on temporary duty between 1973-1979. After I retired from the Marine Corps, I
took a job in Seoul as a civilian intelligence officer in 1989 until I left in
1991. I studied Korean at DLI in Monterey, CA for one year, and then I specialized
in both Korea and Russia (I also studied Russian at DLI for one year). I really
like Korea – the people, the culture, and especially Korean food (smile). Hope
you enjoy this post, and thanks for stopping by.
So, let’s take a look at history:
The DMZ dividing North and
South Korea has had numerous cases of incidents and incursions by the North,
however the North’s government never acknowledges direct responsibility for any
of these incidents. These have included these major events since the Korean War
ended on July 27, 1953 (with a cease
fire and never a truce … the longest cease fire in history BTW):
Quick Timeline of North Korea
acts of violence:
(1) Digging massive number of
tunnels under the DMZ,
(2) Attacking the Blue House in
Seoul to assassinate President Park (January 1968),
(3) Capturing the USS Pueblo
(also in January1968),
(4) Killed the First Lady (Yuk,
Young-soo) while trying to assassinate President Park, Chung-hee (August 15,
1974).
(5) Murder in the DMZ tree cutting incident of two U.S. Army officers
(August 1976),
(6) Bombing in Rangoon in
attempt to assassinate President Chun, Doo-whan (October 1983),
(7) Blowing up KAL flight 858
from Baghdad to Seoul killing 115 (November 1987) (bomber Miss Kim).
(8) Sinking of a ROK Navy ship
and artillery fire across the DMZ in civilian homes up around the Inchon area
on Y-P-do and P-Y-do.
(9) Numerous other kinds of foul
play on-going.
Specifics:
October 1966 – October 1969: Korean DMZ Conflict, skirmishes along the DMZ: 43 American, 299 South Korean, and 397
North Korean soldiers killed.
January 17, 1968: 31 North Korean commandos crossed the border disguised as South Korean
soldiers in the Blue House
(Presidential Palace) raid,
an attempt to assassinate President Park Chung-Hee at the Blue House.
The failed mission resulted in 29 commandos killed (one committed suicide) and
the other two captured. Two South Korean policemen and five civilians were
killed by the commandos. Other reports indicated as many as 68 South Koreans
were killed and 66 wounded, including about 24 civilians. Three Americans were
killed and another three wounded in an attempt to prevent the commandos from
escaping back via the DMZ.
1.
October 1968:
130 North Korean commandos entered the Ul-chin and Sam-cheok areas in Gangwon-do. Eventually 110 of them
were killed, 7 captured, and 13 escaped.
2.
March 1969:
Six North Korean infiltrators crossed the border near Chumun-jin, Gangwon-do and
killed a South Korean policeman on guard duty.
3.
April 1970:
Three North Korean infiltrators were killed and five South Korean soldiers
wounded at an encounter in Kum-chon, Gyeonggi-do.
4.
November 20, 1974: The first of what would be a series of North Korean infiltration
tunnels under the DMZ was discovered. The joint ROK-U.S. investigation team
tripped a North Korean booby-trap, killing one American and wounding 6 others.
5.
March 1975:
The second North Korean infiltration tunnel was discovered.
6.
June 1976: Three
North Korean infiltrators and six South Korean soldiers were killed in the
eastern sector south of the DMZ. Another six South Korean soldiers were
injured.
7.
August 18, 1976: The tree cutting Axe Murder Incident in the DMZ resulted in the death of two U.S.
soldiers and injuries to another four U.S. soldiers and five South Korean
soldiers. (Note: I was serving as UN observer at the time).
8.
July 14, 1977:
An American CH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down after straying
into the north over the DMZ. Three airmen were killed and one was briefly held
prisoner. That was the sixth such flight incident since the armistice was
signed.
9.
October 1978:
The third North
Korean infiltration tunnel was
discovered.
10. October 1979: Three North Korean agents attempting to infiltrate
the eastern sector of the DMZ were intercepted, killing one of the agents.
11. December 6,
1979: A U.S. Army patrol in the DMZ
accidentally crossed the line into a North Korean minefield. One soldier was
killed and four were injured.
12. March 1980: Three North Korean infiltrators were killed attempting
to enter the south across the estuary of the Han River.
13. March 1981: Three North Korean infiltrators spotted at Kum-hwa, Gangwon-do, with one being killed.
15. May 1982: Two North Korean infiltrators were spotted on the
east coast, with one being killed.
16. March 1990: The fourth North Korean infiltration tunnel was
discovered, in what may be a total of 17 tunnels in all.
17. May 1992: Three North Korean infiltrators dressed in South
Korean uniforms were killed at Cheor-won,
Gangwon-do. Three South Koreans were also wounded.
18. December 17,
1994: An American OH-58A Kiowa helicopter
crossed some 10 km inside North Korean territory and was shot down.
19. October 1995: Two North Korean infiltrators were intercepted at
Im-jin River. One was killed, while the other escaped.
20. April 1996: Several hundred North Korean armed troops enter
the Joint Security Area and elsewhere on three occasions, in violation
of the Korean armistice agreement.
21. May 1996: Seven North Korean soldiers crossed the DMZ, but
withdrew when fired upon by South Korean troops.
22. April 1997: Five North Korean soldiers crossed the DMZ in the
Cheor-won sector and fired at South Korean positions.
23. July 16, 1997: Fourteen North Korean soldiers crossed the DMZ causing
a half-hour exchange of heavy gunfire.
24. October 26,
2000: Two US aircraft observing a ROK
army military exercise accidentally cross over the DMZ.
25. May 26, 2006: Two North Korean soldiers entered the DMZ and crossed
into South Korea. They returned after South Korean soldiers fired warning
shots.
26. October 7,
2006: South Korean soldiers fired
warning shots after five North Korean soldiers crossed briefly into their side
of the border.
27. October 27,
2009: A South Korean pig farmer, who
was wanted for assault, cut a hole in the DMZ fence and defected to North
Korea.
28. October 29,
2010: Two shots were fired from North
Korea toward a South Korean post near Hwa-cheon and
South Korean troops fired three shots in return.
29. October 6,
2012: An 18 year old North Korean
Army private defected to South Korea. He was apparently not detected as he
crossed the DMZ and had to knock on an ROK barracks door to draw attention to himself.
The soldier later told investigators that he had defected after killing two of
his superiors.
30. September 16,
2013: a 47-year old man was shot dead
by South Korean soldiers while trying to swim across the Tanpo-cheon stream
near Paju to North Korea.
31. 1976,
in now declassified meeting minutes: Deputy Secretary of Defense William Clements told Henry Kissinger that
there had been 200 raids or incursions into North Korea from the south, though
not by the U.S. military. Details of only a few of these incursions
have become public, including raids by South
Korea (in 1967) that sabotaged some 50 North Korean facilities.
Not DMZ related, but significant:
August 15, 1974: At 10:23 am (South Korean
Independence Day) First Lady Yuk,
Young-soo (Mrs. Park, Chung-hee) was shot and killed by Mun,
Se-gwang, a North Korean sympathizer who had lived in Japan as
part of the Zai-nichi Korean party during an attempt to assassinate President
Park Chung-hee at the at the Seoul National Theater during his speech.
President Park was uninjured after four shots were fired at him on stage. The third
bullet hit the First Lady in the head. She died later at Seoul National
hospital after emergency surgery failed to save her.
October 9, 1983: The so-called “Rangoon bombing” was a North Korean assassination attempt
against South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan. Two of the bombers were captured, one confessed to being a North
Korean military officer on that North Korean ordered plan.
November 29, 1987: KAL flight 858 was on a scheduled international passenger flight
between Baghdad, Iraq to Seoul. The plane exploded in mid-air upon
the detonation of a bomb planted inside an overhead storage bin in the
airplane's passenger cabin by North Korean agents.
The two agents, acting upon
orders from the North Korean government, planted the device in an overhead
storage bin before disembarking from the aircraft during the first stop-over
in Abu Dhabi, UAE. While the aircraft was flying over the Andaman Sea to
its second stop-over in Bangkok, the bomb detonated and destroyed
the Boeing 707. Everyone on board, 104 passengers and 11 crew members,
most of whom were South Koreans, were killed. The attack occurred 34
years after the Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the hostilities
of the Korean War on 27 July 1953.
The two bombers were traced
to Bahrain,
where they both took ampules of cyanide hidden
in cigarettes when they realized they were about to be taken into custody. The
male of the two died, but the female, Kim Hyon-hui
survived and later confessed to the
bombing. She was sentenced to death but later pardoned by then President
Roh Tae-woo,
because it was deemed that she had been brainwashed in North Korea and her testimony
implicated Kim Jong-il, who at that time was the future leader of
North Korea (after death of Kim, Il-sung his father) (Note: Who were the grandfather and
father of current “Leader” Kim, Jung-un who now faces Donald J. Trump).
That Kim, Jong-il was named
as the person ultimately responsible for the incident. The State Department specifically
refers to the bombing of KAL 858 as a “terrorist act” and, until 2008, listed
North Korea as a state sponsor
of terrorism.
The bomber, Kim, Hyon-hui now
still lives in Seoul. She married her former body guard – they have two
children. At the time of her trial she was called “Bomber Kim.”
As a matter of fact thousands
of defectors from North Korea now live in the south. But, North Korea, even on
that point, never admits that fully. They simply will say that they were captured
by the south and now used for propaganda, or in some cases they label them as “traitors.”
My assessment and summary of this: Each
phase of the Kim's ruling family in North Korea is marked by a new and worse
event ranging as listed above. However, their move into the “Nuclear Age” is by
far the worse and it underscores their
main purpose:
To sell their goods for cash
to the highest bidder. All the while
they claim it’s for their own self-defense against perceived American attacks
in the planning (which they say all the time), and will use those weapons if they
are attacked. North Korea always plays the victim card while attacking others.
North Korea is perhaps the
poorest country on earth and yet poses a dangerous military threat. They still
practice hardcore communist tactics.
China, their #1 trading
source and “big brother” always looks the other way and more recently told us
to “solve the problem we created.” What utter nonsense. North Korea is basically
the same as school yard bully or spoiled child who constantly seeks attention,
but in their case with massive violence and crudeness.
One trait stands out above all others: They are totally unpredictable and very, very
dangerous as well as cruel and crude as well as very violent worldwide and to
their very own people who basically are starving to death. They thrive on
protecting the regime with the Kim name no matter what or how.
Hope this helps to understand
North Korea especially now since they have moved into the nuclear age and pose
a greater threat than ever.
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