Eagle Project

Since the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910, the Korean Peninsula had been formally annexed by the Empire of Japan. After the brutal suppression by Japanese authorities of the pro-independence March 1st Movement of 1919, thousands of Koreans fled the peninsula. A number of prominent Koreans congregated in Shanghai, Republic of China, where they founded a government-in-exile: the Korean Provisional Government (KPG). The KPG went on to conduct various anti-Japanese activities, including a nearly successful assassination attempt on the Emperor of Japan, Hirohito. However, it was not the only Korean independence organization; numerous others formed that often differed by ideology and location.

In 1937, shortly before World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan. This motivated the 1940 creation of the Korean Liberation Army (KLA): the military of the KPG. The KLA carried out limited activities in Xi'an, but was severely restricted by internal conflict and disputes with the Kuomintang, who provided most of the KPG's funding.[1] Meanwhile, World War II broke out in 1939, and the US entered the war on 7 December 1941 after the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

In an effort to secure more funding and the rights of the liberated Korea, the KPG began making greater efforts to reach out to foreign powers, particularly the Allies. After years of being mostly ignored by the major powers, they finally managed to convince the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) of the United States to cooperate with them.

Beginning in late 1944, KLA officials began discussing cooperation with agents from the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS). While there was a prevailing sentiment that the Allies would win the war, they expected the war with Japan to last at least another full year and possibly involve an invasion of Korea and mainland Japan. Thus, the KLA sought to offer its services to the OSS in exchange for improved status of the KPG after the war.[2][3]

Lee Beom-seok, then Chief of Staff of the KLA, then met with OSS Agent Captain Clyde Bailey Sargent, who was fluent in Chinese and a former professor at Chengdu University. Sargent then suggested to the head of the OSS General William J. Donovan that the OSS collaborate with the KLA. An agreement to collaborate was reached on October 1944.[3]

On 24 February, the OSS completed planning the Eagle Project, and received approval from US military headquarters in China on 13 March.[4][5]

The KLA informed Sargent that many of the selected candidates were college graduates and could speak rudimentary English. The plan was to iteratively narrow down 45 operatives over 8 months. These operatives would be assigned to either intelligence or communications squads and trained by the OSS in skills like wireless communication, espionage, explosives, scaling cliffs, and marksmanship.[3] After this, they'd be assigned to one of five Korean cities: Chongjin, Sinuiju, Busan, Pyongyang, or Seoul. There, they'd perform intelligence operations, sabotage Japanese operations, and stir up unrest.[5]

For the first training class, around 50 students congregated in Xi'an. Initially, Sargent and five other OSS agents served as instructors, and arrived in Xi'an by 11 May. Afterwards, about 40 OSS members total were in Xi'an, including many Korean-Americans who worked as translators. Classes began in earnest on 21 May, and ran for 8 hours a day. They were tested once per week, with failure meaning removal from the program. By the end of July, nine people had failed.[6]

The training experience encountered several difficulties, the main one being the language barrier. In order to alleviate this, they created a English conversation class under instructor Robert Myers and dispatched more translators from Washington.[7] Security was another issue; students were prohibited from going downtown without permission, and all mail was carefully inspected.[6]

By 4 August, the first round of training was completed, with 38 of the 50 passing. The second round of training began around early July in Lihuang, around 500 li southeast of Fuyang. The first round graduates allegedly performed well, and were highly praised by the instructors and later by Kim Gu, who visited shortly after their graduation. They decided to organize eight teams of four or five each to infiltrate the country by 20 August.[6]