Kim Shin Jo, a former North Korean commando recognized for his involvement in a failed assassination try on then-South Korean president Park Chung Hee in 1968, has died on the age of 82.
He was pardoned and later grew to become a pastor in South Korea, whereas his dad and mom had been executed by the North Korean regime.
In 1968, Kim was a part of a 31-member North Korean commando unit that tried to infiltrate the South Korean presidential palace to assassinate Park, who had been South Korea’s authoritarian chief since 1961.
The North Koreans had slipped undetected by the Koreas’ closely fortified border and got here inside hanging distance of Park’s palace. After battles that raged for 2 weeks within the close by hills, all however three of the intruders had been killed. Two survivors had been believed to have returned to North Korea, whereas Kim was the one one captured alive by South Korean forces.
In a information convention organized by South Korean authorities, Kim surprised the nation by saying that his group got here “to slit the throat of Park Chung Hee”.
The infiltration, which additionally killed about 30 South Koreans, occurred on the top of Chilly Conflict rivalry between the US-backed South Korea and the Soviet-supported North. After the incident, Park’s authorities launched reservist forces, established a navy unit tasked with attacking North Korea, had college students take navy coaching at colleges and launched residential registration card methods.
In media interviews, Kim stated he was pardoned as a result of he didn’t hearth a single bullet in the course of the shootouts and was persuaded by South Korean officers to disavow communism. He stated South Korean intelligence authorities later had him journey throughout the nation to make speeches important of North Korean methods at colleges, corporations and different locations.
Kim stated he later realized that his dad and mom in North Korea had been executed. Kim was ordained as a pastor in 1997.
Kim stated the 1968 assault was made on the order of North Korea founder after which chief Kim Il Sung, the late grandfather of present ruler Kim Jong Un. Kim Il Sung died of a coronary heart assault in 1994, handing over energy to his son Kim Jong Il, the daddy of Kim Jong Un.
“I earlier didn’t know why Kim Il Sung needed to kill President Park,” Kim Shin Jo stated in a 2009 interview with South Korea’s mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. “However I got here to know the rationale as I frolicked right here. Kim should have been afraid of a poor nation akin to South Korea turning into wealthy. Because the financial system improved, South Korea would safe more cash to purchase weapons. From Kim Il Sung’s perspective, he couldn’t assist killing President Park to realize communisation of South Korea.”
However in a 2007 autobiography by Park Geun Hye, daughter of Park Chung Hee, who grew to become South Korea’s first lady president in 2013, she stated when she met Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, the youthful Kim stated the 1968 incident was orchestrated by “extremists” as he apologised for the incident. Park Geun Hye stated Kim Jong Il informed her that all of them obtained unspecified due punishments.
Kim Jong Il’s reported feedback could not be independently verified. He died of a coronary heart assault in 2011.
