White Clothes Society
The White Clothes Society (Korean: 백의사; RR: Baeguisa; MR: Paegŭisa) was a far-right terrorist organization which was mostly composed of young North Koreans who defected to South Korea after the end of World War II. The group was strongly anti-communist, and it is widely considered a fascist group by South Korean and American scholars.[1][2]
| White Clothes Society | |
|---|---|
| Also known as |
|
| Founder | Yeom Dong-jin |
| Foundation | November 1945 |
| Ideology | |
| Notable attacks | |
| Allies |  United States
 South Korea |
| Opponents |  Soviet Union
 North Korea |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 백의사 |
| Hanja | 白衣社 |
| Revised Romanization | Baeguisa |
| McCune–Reischauer | Paegŭisa |
The group ceased most of its activities by the end of the Korean War in 1953, and some of its members joined the Korea Liaison Office, the South Korean military's intelligence unit.
Name
The name of the group was inspired by the name of the Blue Shirts Society, a secret ultranationalist fascist faction of the Kuomintang in China.[3][4][5] The name is also a reference to the Korean expression "white-clothed people",[note 1] which refers to everyday Korean people, as Korean commoners wore white clothing.[3]
Background
From 1910 to the end of World War II, Korea had been under Japanese rule. Some Koreans went into exile, especially in China, where they fought against the Japanese. This included the later founder of the group Yeom Dong-jin, who enrolled in a Luoyang Military Academy supported by the Kuomintang and trained as a guerrilla fighter.[5] It is during this period of time where Yeom came into close contact with Kim Gu, and developed a strong dislike and distrust of him.[5] This culminated in a scandal, in which Kim's rival Kim Won-bong accused Kim of embezzling funds meant for students of the military academy.[5] Yeom and other students were furious and left the school.[5]
After the surrender of Japan, Korea was liberated. However, the peninsula was divided in half, with the Soviet Civil Administration in the south and the United States Military Government in the North.
Daedongdan
A predecessor to the group, Daedongdan,[note 2] was founded in Pyongyang on 3 September 1943.[5] Group members Paik Kwan-ok, Seon Woo-bong, and Park Jin-yang assassinated the head of committee for South Pyongan Province of the Communist Party of Korea, Hyun Jun-hyuk, on 3 September 1945.[5] Yeom was briefly arrested in the aftermath,[5] but fled south along with other members of Daedongdan.[4][6][3][7]
History
Yeom founded and became leader of the White Clothes Society in October or November 1945.[5][3] It was founded in Nagwon-dong, Seoul.[5] The majority of the group's members were followers of Kim Gu and fiercely anti-communist.[5] Members were sworn to secrecy in their activities.[5]
The Society was funded by the American Counterintelligence Corps (CIC).[4][8] It trained and sent spies to North Korea and opposed land reform, foreign rule, and major political leaders in North Korea.[4]
Assassinations and attempts
Working with Sin Ik-hui, the group attempted to assassinate several prominent Koreans in 1946.
Shortly after the establishment of the Soviet-backed Provisional People's Committee of North Korea, the group made four assassination attempts on its personnel within a span of two weeks.[7] They attempted to assassinate Kim Il Sung on 1 March 1946, Choe Yong-gon on 5 March, Kim Chaek on 9 March, and Kang Ryang-uk on 12 March.[4][7][note 3] Choe and Kang would later become key allies for Kim Il Sung.[7] Martin Weiser speculated in 2022 that these targets may have been chosen due to their links to the Korea Democratic Party, the largest party in North Korea at the time, although he acknowledged there was not any explicit evidence for this theory at the time.[7]
While these attempts did not succeed in killing their targets, some still died, including Kang's daughter and oldest son.[7] According to a recent North Korean publication, Kim warned Kang of a potential assassin shortly after his own attack.[7] Choe Yong-gon and Kim Chaek's assassination attempts are unmentioned in that source.[7]
The group also assassinated Lyuh Woon-hyung and Chang Deok-soo in 1947.[4][8]
On 26 June 1949, Ahn Doo-hee, a sworn member of the group, assassinated Kim Gu.[8] In 2001, declassified documents from the US National Archives and Records Administration confirmed that Ahn had been a member of the CIC.[8]
Aftermath
During the Korean War, most of the group was absorbed into the Korea Liaison Office.[4]
The group's activities were revealed through a report by United States Major George E. Cilley, a member of the Counterintelligence Corps (CIC).[3] The report was written right after the assassination of South Korean politician Kim Gu and the report was open to the world in 2002.[3]
Notes
References
Sources
- "백의사" [White Clothes Society], Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (in Korean)
- "백의사" [White Clothes Society], Doosan Encyclopedia (in Korean)
- Jung, Byung Joon (2021), "현준혁 암살과 김일성 암살시도―평남 건준의 좌절된 '해방황금시대'와 백의사" [Assassination of Hyun Junhyuk and Assassination Attempt on Kim Ilsung: ‘The Frustrated Golden Days’ of Pyongnam Korean Committee for the Preparation of the Re-establishment of the State and the Origin of White Shirts Society], 역사비평 [Critical Review of History] (in Korean), no. 136, pp. 342–388, retrieved 9 May 2023
- Park, Robert (18 March 2019), "Unsettled assassination", The Korea Times, retrieved 11 May 2023
- Weiser, Martin (1 June 2022), Betts, Bryan (ed.), "How right-wing terrorists nearly killed North Korea's future leaders", NK News, retrieved 11 May 2023
- Bae, Jin-yeong (October 2016), "치열하게 살다 안개처럼 사라져간 韓·中의 反共투사들" [The Korean and Chinese anti-communists who fought fiercely and disappeared like mist], Monthly Chosun Magazine (in Korean), retrieved 15 May 2023
- Kang, Jun-man (13 November 2006), 한국 현대사 산책 1940년대편 1 : 8·15 해방에서 6·25 전야까지(개정판) [A Walk Through Modern Korean History, 1940s Vol. 1: From the 15 August Liberation until the Eve of the Korean War (Revised Edition)] (in Korean), retrieved 15 May 2023
- Young, Benjamin R. (12 December 2013), "Meet the man who saved Kim Il Sung's life", NK News, retrieved 15 May 2023