Photo: Kang Yong Je, USAF 6006 agent, was killed in action on Dec 13, 1953, several months after the Armistice.
Photo: Kang Yong Je, USAF 6006 agent, was killed in action on Dec 13, 1953, several months after the Armistice.
At about midnight of December 13, 1953, a NICK spy-ship carrying Kang Yong Je and two other agents caught on fire and sank in North Korean waters after a covert action mission on North Korean soil. Kang and a companion were killed, but the third member, Lee Wan Yong, was rescued by the mother ship.
Kang's family was never notified of his death. In fact, the family was not aware that he worked for an American spy agency until a few years ago. Kang's son, In Mo, has been looking for his father for over 30 years, ever since his high-school years. Only this year, the young Kang accidentally ran into Lee Wan Yong and learned for the first time how his father died - a heroic death in service of the country.
There is no medal, no veteran's benefit, no letter of gratitude from anyone, not even a record of Kang Yong Je's service, while people of much lesser deeds are buried in medals, benefits and war monuments.
Kang Young Je's spy team was based at Bu-pyong (earlier at a Toyota apartment in Suh-dae-mun, Seoul). The team was one of a 3-team spy group led by Hong Soon Il, a Korean educated in America. Kang Young Je's team was led by Park Sun Dong.
The Korean agents were classified as CMS (critical military specialists). CMSs were off-limits to South Korean police and military. They carried a piece of paper (ID) which merely stated in effect - "do not mess the bearer of this document. In case of emergency, call this number". CMSs were made to swear not to tell anyone where they worked or what they did.
Photo: A Korean spy working for the US. Note that the man is wearing uniforms of the North Korean Security Command
The families of those agents lost in North Korea have been unable to obtain any information from the US government. Many FOIA attempts to force the US CIA to release whatever documents it has on the Korean agents have met with stone-walling - boxes containing the records have been misplaced, lost in a fire, etc. Those few documents that have been discovered are heavily censored and useless.
The families want Pres. Kim Dae Jung's good office to beseech Pres. Clinton for his personal involvement on behalf of those 3,000 plus Koreans who died for America and forgotten by America. Recently the US Congress passed a resolution recognizing the Vietnamese agents dropped in North Vietnam by the US CIA. Why not recognize the Korean agents, too?
Tofte was born in Denmark but lived in Manchuria for 8 years and spoke Chinese fluently. During WW2, he emigrated to US. He joined the British intelligence unit working out of New York. He was sent to Burma to organize native labor crews to ferry war supplies to China. He allegedly led guerrillas to fight the Japanese in Burma.
Tofte returned to US and enlisted in the US Army as a private. He was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) because of his background. In 1943, Tofte organized a mini-navy to supply Tito's guerrillas in Yugoslavia. At the end of WW2, the OSS was disbanded, and Tofte returned to his native country and worked as manager of an American airline. The airline was used to carry secret documents to US. He returned to Mason City, Iowa, USA in 1947 and managed a family business until 1950.
On June 27, 1950 - Hans Tofte was hired on "the spot" with an agency rank of major general and put on a plane to Tokyo. At this time the CIA Tokyo station had only six agents working out of a hotel room. MacArthur did not want any CIA man on his territory. Tofte started to build a spy empire in Korea - code named the Joint Advisory Commission, Korea (JACK). The second in command was Colwell Beers, a former OSS (Detachment 101) agent in Burma. New buildings were built to house the JACK at the Atsugi Air Force Base.
Tofte put US Marine Col. "Dutch" Kramer in charge of the CIA stations in Korea, JACK. Kramer established a training base on Cheju-do in August 1950 and moved his base to Yong-do in November 1950. Yong-do is a small island a few miles southwest of Pusan. It used to be a Japanese resort. Kramer kicked out all Korean natives from the island. Hans Tofte housed himself in a Japanese villa overlooking the ocean.
Photo: Korean agents learning how to parachute at a training camp in Yon-do, an island in the Pusan harbor.
Tofte asked for and got the USS Bass, a modified destroyer, for covert operations in the West Sea and the USS Perch, a former submarine tender, for JACK operations in the East Sea (Sea of Japan). USS Bass carried a 20-men detachment of under water demolition team (UDT) and a platoon of US Marines. The ships were used for agent infiltration and exfiltration.
Operation TP-Stole - Tofte's agents disconnected underwater cables used by the Chinese commands in Korea. Tofte produced a hit Japanese movie depicting a Soviet POW camp for Japanese prisoners. It was meant to be an anti-Soviet propaganda movie, but the Japanese, who were unaware of its CIA connection, loved the movie.
The US spy base camp at K-9 was shared by JACK (CIA), NICK (Donald Nichol's Air Force Technical Intelligence 6004 AISS), the 8th Army CCRAK Aviary (agent air drops) and several S Korean spy units. CAT and S Korean spy planes stopped here to pick up agents and partisans bound for destinations in Korea, China and Russia.
Each one of the three US Army corps - I (Tactical Intelligence Liaison Office), IX (CIC) and X (8227th Army Unit) - ran its own G-2 and G-3 operations whose agents were parachute-trained at the Aviary near K-9.
The US Army spy operations reported to the 8th Army Korean Liaison Office in Tokyo. The Far East Air Force ran its own spy outfit, the 6004 AISS (NICK for Donald Nichols). In addition, MacArthur ran the 519th MI Company, 308th CIC Company, Army Security Agency, and Army Translation and Interpretation Service (ATIS).
With so many quasi-independent spy operations competing with each other, the Tokyo and Washington brass had confusing pictures of the enemy intelligence. The Tokyo Command made a number of attempts to consolidate intelligence operations in vain - Far East Command Liaison Group 8240th Army Unit, Far East Command Liaison Detachment, Korea, 8240th AU, Combined Command Reconnaissance Activities, Korea (CCRAK) 8240th AU and so on. The CCRAK was headquartered at the Seoul Methodist Mission Building.
Compounding the intelligence "market" further, S Koreans ran their own spy operations - Higher Intelligence Department (HID), ROK Army G-2, Office of Naval Intelligence, National Police Intelligence and Air Force 6006 Air Intelligence and Reconnaissance Squadron modeled after NICK (US 6004th AISS).
Virtually all CIA officers were white from wealthy American families. They hated the gooks. Even though the 6006 AIRS (NICK) was an "air force" unit, its officers came from the US Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force - and non-military.
The CIA "officers" had dual ranks: a "service" rank (the actual rank) and a CIA 'agency' rank which could be anything depending on their mission. For example. Hans Tofte was a Lt. Colonel in real life, but a "Major General" in the CIA. Many CIA officers were the elite, privileged upper-class whites from deep South.
Col. Kramer and most of his white officers hated and despised all Asians - Communists and non-Communists alike. He treated the Korean "criticals" (the agents) like a bunch of slaves. One thing good about Kramer and Nichols was that they 'took care' of their people. When an operation went well, the Korean agents got a bonus (a 100-pound sack of rice, contraband from Japan, USA, etc.). Most of the time, they handed out the goodies themselves beaming like a Santa Clause.
The AF 6006 air "squadron" was a grandson of Gen. Claire Chennault's "Flying Tigers" air force in China. It was manned by American mercenaries. At the end of the civil war in China (in 1949), it was moved to Formosa and renamed Civil Air Transport (CAT) - now a CIA operation.
Photo: A CAT plane is being loaded with cargoes at he Pusan airport. Note the Nationalist China marking on the tail
CAT was originally formed by Gen. Claire Chennault and Whiting Willauer in 1946 to provide air transportation in China. Gen. Chennault commanded the 14th Air Force in 1945. The cargo business was supplemented by covert action missions for the CIA dating back to Oct. 10, 1949, China's national day.
CAT was ejected from China in January 1950 and followed Chiang Kai Sek to Formosa. By early 1950, CAT's commercial and CIA business had dried up and Chennault and Co. faced imminent bankruptcy. On March 24, 1950, CIA purchased CAT outright. In July 1950, the CIA assigned 3 CAT planes to ferry native spies between Korea and Japan.
Col. Hans Tofte arrived in Tokyo on July 16, 1950 to head the OPC in Japan. By the end of 1950, Tofte had agent networks placed in N Korea primarily intended for rescuing downed airmen. A brand new complex was completed at Atsugi and the OPC (Far East) increased its personnel from 6 in July to over 1,000. As the front lines stabilized, the OPC mission changed from airmen rescue to guerrilla operations. Tofte reported to Frank G, Wisner, Deputy CIA Director, Office of Policy Coordination OPC. Wisner committed suicide in 1965.
The "6006" ran the Korean Labor Organization - KLO. The main function of the KLO was to provide physical labor for the American troops - such as carrying ammo's and other supplies on their back, taking care of the dead bodies, unloading cargo ships in Pusan and so on. The KLO was manned by N Korean refugees - a gold mine for spy recruiters. In addition, the "6006" recruited spies among captured N Korean soldiers and civilians. Late 1950 and early 1951, CIA agents interviewed refugees from N Korea and POWs on Koejedo. Those who were anti-Communists were enticed or pressed into joining the spy operation.
Photo: from left to right - Hans Tofte, Alfred Cox, Hong Kong OPC Chief, and Richard Stilwell, CIA OPC Chief for Far East
The existence of KLO was kept secret until a few years ago, although its existence was well-known among the refugees. It was heavily infiltrated by N Korean agents (and hence well-known to the enemy). During the war years 1951 to 1953, KLO was off limit to S Korean military or police - or for that matter the US military. KLO had its own kangaroo courts which tried, convicted and executed people suspected of being communist informants.
KLO was run by N Korean refugees under the direction of US spy-masters. In 1954, S Korean newspapers published stories of the abuses going on at KLO camps and the police began criminal investigations. By this time, KLO was not of much value to the UN war operations and the US spy-masters let it die.
During 1951-1955, the JACK alone injected nearly 2,000 agents in N Korea, Siberia and Manchuria. Most of them went into hiding or captured (usually hanged). Very few became operational. Many were coerced into the service ("if you are truly anti-red, you would want to fight the red"). Some went for the money. Some used the "job" to return home. Some liked the trade and its "romance".
Photo: North Koreans normally hang captured spies. These three men were captured near Pyongyang wearing KPA Security officers' uniforms. A sharp counter-spy agent noticed that their jeep did not have the proper secret code.
Of course, there were anti-Communist idealists, a minority, who wanted to do the right thing. Korean agents were trained by CIA instructors at Yong-do (Korea), Chigasaki (Japan) or the Saipan (US Navy Technical Training Center).
They learned parachuting, firearms, demolition, radio signals, evasion procedures, setting up secure bases, and other guerrilla tactics. The graduates were grouped into small bands and injected (either parachuted or shipped by boats) into target areas where they were expected to recruit locals, gather military intelligence, engage in sabotage and rescue downed airmen. The most important task of the agents used to be rescuing downed airmen during the war; but after the armistice, paramilitary operations and espionage became the primary mission.