White Shirts Society

Yeom Dong-jin, upon his 1935 graduation from the Military Academy. One of two known photos of him, as of 2021.[7]

Yeom Dong-jin was among the Koreans who went into exile in China and aligned themselves with the KPG and KMT. In 1934, he enrolled in a joint KPG–KMT course for Korean independence fighters at the Luoyang Military Academy, and trained as a guerrilla.[5][8] It is during this period when Yeom came into close contact with Kim Ku, one of the administrators of the course. After a scandal emerged in which Kim was accused of embezzling funds, Yeom became a prominent critic of Kim.[5]

All sources agree that, after graduating from the Academy, Yeom became associated with the Blue Shirts Society, a secret militant fascist group within the KMT. According to the later testimonies of former White Shirts Society agents,[lower-alpha 1] after the 1937 outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Yeom worked in the statistical survey department for the National Revolutionary Army. The group performed espionage and information-gathering activities for the KMT.[9]

The general consensus among Korean scholars is that Yeom was then captured by the military police of the Japanese Kwantung Army and tortured. Under duress from the torture, Yeom then agreed to become a spy on behalf of the Japanese.[9] However, according to US military intelligence, Yeom was captured and tortured by the Chinese Communist Party and not the Japanese. Despite this disagreement, all sources agree that the torture caused Yeom to lose his eyesight. Eventually, Yeom was somehow able to secure his release and return to his hometown of Pyongyang.[10]

Hyŏn in 1935

On September 3, 1945,[lower-alpha 8] the general consensus is that Daedongdan members Paek, Seonu, and Park Jin-yang assassinated Hyŏn Chun-hyŏk, the head of committee of the Communist Party of Korea for South Pyongan Province.[5][8][15][11][14] For the assassination, Paek was wearing the uniform of a left-wing militant group run by Hyŏn. Paek ran up to Hyŏn, shot him, and slipped away.[16]

The assassins were never caught and fled to the South. Yeom was briefly arrested in suspicion of being connected to the murder, but was soon released.[5] He then fled south along with other members.[17][14]

While it is now the general consensus that Daedongdan was behind the assassination, until the 1990s, it was widely believed that left-wing forces were behind the attack, particularly due to the confusion over the uniform. However, consensus shifted after the publication of Lee Yeong-shin's 1994 book Secret Organization White Shirts Society and the 2002 release of a 1986 audio recording of a Daedongdan member confessing to plotting the murder.[15][14]

In 2021, Jung theorized that the murder occurred primarily due to the factional conflicts in Pyongyang security shortly after the war. Paek's older brother was the head of a police faction that was in conflict with the organization led by Hyŏn. Jung thus speculated that the motive was two-fold: firstly it was an opportunity to portray Hyŏn's group in a negative light, and secondly it was an opportunity for Yeom and the group to eliminate a communist leader.[16]

The general consensus is that Yeom founded and became leader of the White Shirts Society (WSS) in either October or November 1945,[5][18] with most sources citing the November founding date.[19][20][10][lower-alpha 9] The group was founded in Nagwon-dong, Seoul, and headquartered in a Gungjeong-dong house that the wealthy Oh Dong-jin purchased from a Japanese man for the group.[10][5]

Shortly after the WSS's establishment, on November 23, 1945, the Sinuiju Incident occurred. Over a hundred anti-communist students eventually defected to the South in the aftermath, and many joined either the militant Central Political Task Force[lower-alpha 10] in the KPG and/or the WSS. Jung speculated that part of this was because they gravitated towards other North Korean escapees and respected Yeom's reputation.[23]

On February 19, 1946, the WSS appeared in a US military intelligence report. The head of the Gunsan police department claimed the WSS was headquartered in Jeonju, and had a presence in both North Jeolla Province and South Jeolla Province via three armed trucks. A politician from Jeonju also claimed on February 8 that the WSS was a right-wing terrorist group.[24]

Kim Il Sung (second from left) in 1945, with Soviet military officers

Shortly after the establishment of the Soviet-backed Provisional People's Committee of North Korea, the WSS made a number of assassination attempts on North Korean politicians within a span of two weeks.[25] According to interviews with former members of the WSS, these assassination attempts were done in collaboration with the CPTF and KPG.[5][22][19][lower-alpha 11]

All attempts failed. They attempted to assassinate Kim Il Sung on March 1, 1946, Choe Yong-gon on March 5 or March 7,[19] Kim Chaek on March 9, and Kang Ryang-uk on March 12.[19][17][25][lower-alpha 12] Choe and Kang would later become key allies for Kim Il Sung.[25] However, the attacks made the WSS infamous and brought them to the attention of both the US and USSR. According to a March 22, 1946, Soviet report about the WSS:[24]

[The WSS] is under the direct leadership of Kim Ku. It includes Koreans who returned from China and members of some youth groups. Their goal is to kill members of the Communist Party of Korea, the People's Party of Korea, and the leaders of the [Provisional North Korean government].

In addition, Bae alleged that around this time, several WSS agents attempted to help Cho Man-sik escape his house arrest at the Koryo Hotel. But Cho reportedly refused to escape, and said "If I go south, who will our comrades in the North have to rely on for survival?"[24][lower-alpha 13]

According to a written statement by Yeom, from January to September 1946, the WSS collaborated with the United States Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) and the military intelligence of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) in training and sending spies to North Korea. About 20 men were dispatched each month.[19] Ahn also noted that in early May 1946, WSS agents infiltrated the North to gather intelligence on Northern troop deployments. Of particular interest was learning what equipment had been sent by the Soviets.[10]

These cross-border espionage activities stopped due to financial difficulties, training issues,[19] and tightened security at the North–South Korean border.[19][10][lower-alpha 14] However, the CIC continued to collaborate with the WSS on other activities until the latter's dissolution.[19]

An alleged member of the group, Han Ji-geun, assassinated Lyuh Woon-hyung on July 19, 1947. According to most sources, the WSS was behind the murder.[17][26][8] However, the scholar Ahn Gi-seok contradicted this narrative in 2005 by claiming Han was not a member of the WSS.[10]

In 2021, Jung Byung Joon noted that Park Gyeong-gu, the WSS's Deputy Commander, had said in an undated interview that Lyuh was assassinated by order of the WSS.[19]

Yeom was first introduced to the men who would assassinate Lyuh via an advisor of the group, Kim Yeong-cheol.[5][19] The assassins, including Shin Dong-un and Kim Heung-seong,[lower-alpha 15] were given American-made .45 caliber pistols for the mission. Afterwards, Yeom worked with a pro-Japanese police officer Roh Deok-sul to cover up the case.[19][lower-alpha 16]

Between 1946 and 1948, the WSS created the "Manchuria Plan",[lower-alpha 17] in which they would build a right-wing guerrilla army north of the China–North Korea border.[19] Yeom enlisted the help of Kim Ku, who in turn reached out to his long-time ally Chiang Kai-shek. However, this plan never came to pass due to Chiang's 1949 loss in the Chinese Civil War.[10]

Most sources also believe the group assassinated Chang Deok-soo on December 2, 1947.[17][26][8][lower-alpha 18]

Kim Ku in 1949

On June 26, 1949, Ahn Doo-hee assassinated Kim Ku.[26][27] According to Cilley, Ahn had been an informant and then an agent of the CIC, and may have been ordered by Yeom to assassinate Kim.[28] Cilley also alleged that the Yeom and Kim had been plotting a military coup d'état against incumbent President Syngman Rhee before Kim's death.[27] However, Ahn Gi-seok casts doubt on whether Yeom ordered Kim's killing, citing the fact that Yeom's feelings towards Kim were mixed and that many WSS members highly respected Kim Ku.[10]

According to Ahn and Jung, after the establishment of the First Republic of South Korea in August 1948, the role of the WSS and other private militant organizations began to decrease.[10][19] While most agents had other jobs to return to, around 100 agents had no other place to go. A former WSS member who became an intelligence officer at the Republic of Korea Army Headquarters recruited many WSS members for his department.[10]

In February 1949, General Charles Willoughby, the chief of intelligence for General Douglas MacArthur, sent an envoy to Yeom and requested they work together to acquire information on the North. As a result of this interaction, on June 1, 1946, the Korea Liaison Office was established. The remaining WSS agents ended up working there.[10][17]

On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began with the First Battle of Seoul. Yeom did not evacuate the city and disappeared, with most scholars speculating that he was captured and killed.[10][19]

After the war, the group's headquarters passed into the ownership of the Attorney General Lee In.[lower-alpha 19] After the May 16 coup in 1961, the Korean Central Intelligence Agency took ownership of the property. It later served as the exact site of the 1979 assassination of President Park Chung Hee.[10][5]

The White Shirts Society was named for the white clothes historically worn by Korean commoners

The group's name was inspired by the names of other fascist organizations, but especially by the name of the Blue Shirts Society.[17][5][29] The Blue Shirts were in turn inspired by other fascist groups with similar names, including the Italian Blackshirts, the Romanian Greenshirts, and the Spanish Blueshirts.[5] The name is also a reference to the Korean expression "white-clothed people",[lower-alpha 20] which refers to everyday Korean people, as Korean commoners historically wore white clothing.[18][27]

For leadership, it is widely agreed that Yeom served as the commander-in-chief. According to several sources, Park Jin-goo was the Deputy Commander.[5][17][lower-alpha 21]

In 2021, Jung Byung Joon described the leadership as follows:[19]

Cilley claimed the organization had a "Revolutionary Group" or "Special Attack Corps". The Corps' commandoes were divided into five groups, with each group containing four members. When an assassination order came through, commandoes would swear a blood oath to give their lives to the cause if needed. He claimed Kim Ku's assassin Ahn Doo-hee was a member of the first group of the Corps.[27]

According to Ahn Gi-seok, the group had a secret initiation ritual. The initiation would be held in a secret room inside the headquarters that had two locks on the door. The initiate would meet Yeom first, kneel, and raise their right hand. They'd then make the following pledge:[10][30][lower-alpha 27]

As an initiate of the White Shirts Society, I pledge the following.

One, for the sake of the establishment of an independent government in the fatherland, I will risk my life to complete any mission given to me.

One [sic], I will obey the commands of the White Shirts Society even at the risk of death.

One, no matter the circumstance, I will never betray the fatherland or the White Shirts Society.

The initiate would then make a cut on their finger and sign a contract with blood.[10]

According to interviews with group members, the WSS and CIC collaborated on training and sending spies to the North.[19] According to Ahn, the training was held at a WSS stronghold in Jeongneung-dong.[lower-alpha 28] The selection criteria was strict; all selectees were required to be able to fluently speak in the local dialect of the region they were being sent to. For each province, two native-born agents would be selected. According to Ahn, Park Hyeon-yeong served as the administrator for the training.[10][lower-alpha 29]

According to a written statement by Yeom, the WSS worked with the CIC since January 1946.[19] The declassified Cilley report confirmed that Cilley had known Yeom since approximately October 1947.[13][lower-alpha 30] The report also confirmed WSS agents were used for in CIC initiatives between 1947 and 1948.[13]

According to Ahn, Yeom was first connected to the CIC via Sin Ik-hui, with whom he had been close during their exile in China. Sin invited Yeom to his house and introduced Yeom to the Korean-American CIC agent Lee Sun-yong. Lee conveyed a request to Sin from US General John R. Hodge, who wanted Sin to either disband his political organization or use it to spy on the North for the US. Furious, Sin stormed out of the room. However, Sin's aide Jo Jung-seo proposed that the WSS take up the espionage role instead. Yeom's main link to the CIC became Lee's superior officer Major Whitaker,[lower-alpha 31] the head of the Seoul branch of the CIC, who promised to protect the WSS as long as it provided the US information on the North.[10]

The group was also connected to another CIC agent Jang Seok-yun.[5]

The Korean Provisional Government upon its founding in 1919

Many of the WSS leadership were either actively or previously associated with the KPG. The groups were particularly linked via the long-time friendship between Yeom and Sin Ik-hui.

The two groups were particularly linked via a group founded by Sin on December 6, 1945, called the Central Political Task Force (CPTF). The CPTF was a covert paramilitary organization that operated under the KPG's Ministry of Internal Affairs. Their objective was to influence politics, usually through means of intelligence or violence, to the favor of both the KPG and even Sin personally.[31] However, the two organizations were not explicitly linked; Sin reportedly even offered Yeom a position in the group, which Yeom declined in order to avoid explicitly associating the WSS with the KPG.[10] Lee Seong-ryeol, a WSS agent, said in an early 2000s interview:[5][lower-alpha 32]

In terms of organizational management, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the WSS = the CPTF.

Northwest Youth League publicly demanding the withdrawal of Soviet troops (May 31, 1948)

The Northwest Youth League (NYL) is also considered to be closely tied to the WSS.[5] The NYL was an anti-communist youth group founded via a merger of several smaller groups on November 30, 1946. Their members were mostly if not entirely from North Korea, and were infamously violent. They had a number of high-profile clashes with both the left-wing and the police.[32]

Yu Chin-san, a likely cadre in the WSS, led one of the groups that merged into the NYL.[5]

The WSS has also been linked to the right-wing labor union Great Korean Independent Labor League (GKILL). GKILL was founded in response to the left-wing General Federation of Trade Unions of Korea.[5]

Members shared the WSS's desire to eliminate all communist and anti-government politicians. Most were right-leaning defectors that came from North Korea, and a majority of them were followers of Kim Ku.[5][27][20]

Members came from many employment backgrounds. Yeom made a significant effort to have members become police officers or join the South Korean Ministry of National Defense.[10] Other agents worked as firefighters, merchants, industrialists, and farmers.[5][27][20] Yeom also recruited members of labor unions in the South.[10] Cilley speculated that the group operated not only within the Korean peninsula but also in Manchuria, although he noted there was uncertainty in both the scope and size of the group.[27][20]

They were sworn to secrecy in their activities, and constantly monitored to ensure they kept secrets and obeyed orders. Those accused of wrongdoing were examined via "comrade trials".[lower-alpha 33] If found guilty of a lesser crime, the member would be subjected to a "cripple's punishment":[lower-alpha 34] solitary confinement in a guarded cell within the headquarters for either ten days or a month. If found guilty of a greater crime, they would be subject to expulsion.[10][lower-alpha 35]

Yeom also made a point of hiding the identity of members from each other. Ahn Gi-seok notes that, because of this, there is a theory that there were over 30,000 members of the WSS by 1948, but that the theory is impossible to verify.[10]

Members of the WSS were arrested for petty crime on several occasions. While they claimed their crimes were unrelated to the WSS, Jung speculated that they were intended to procure funds for the group.[24]

On May 2, 1946, Seonu Bong and member Kim Yung-gi were sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison and 3 years of probation for an attempted robbery.[lower-alpha 36] They were released on November 30, 1946. They attempted another robbery on January 5, 1947, that was thwarted, although they managed to escape. On February 12, 1947, they extorted over 100,000 won from a businessman in Donam-dong, which Jung speculated was to fund the WSS's espionage operations. On February 27, while attempting another robbery, they were caught and arrested in Jongno District. On June 1, 1947, they each received sentences to two years in prison.[24]

• 

  Kim Du-han, the "political gangster", in 1955
  Kim Du-han – The infamous "political gangster" Kim Du-han has been considered functionally a member of the group. During his lifetime, he denied being a member, and called himself an "advisor" at best. However, according to Lee Yeong-shin's 1994 book, Yeom considered Kim a "lackey" (꼬봉) and issued him instructions and missions to forward the goals of the WSS.[5]