Source: Hankyoreh August 5, 1999 Issue #269
Photo: Kang In Mo (left), son of an agent killed in action and Lee Wan Yong, a former agent.
The life of former agents with the HID (pre-1960, Higher Intelligence Department of ROK) and with the AIU (Army Intelligence Unit of ROK) since 1960 differ like day and night.
The AIU agents could leverage their covert action training for civilian enterprises after their release. These agents received formal education during their stint as agents. Some of the ex-agents became rich businessmen.
In contrast, the HID agents received little formal training and acquired no skills they could use after their release.
Mr. Y worked for the intelligence service till the early 1970's and made trips to North Korea. He is proud of his missions in North Korea. Another ex-agent Mr. X became also a rich businessman. Most of the ex-agents have made in civilian life. The ex-agents get together often.
Not all of the surviving agents were as successful as Mr. X in the after-service life. More than a few of the ex-agents live sub-standard. Especially hard-pressed are the aging ex-agents of the 1950's. These senior citizens conducted guerrilla war in North Korea, but all they have to show now is a deep wound unhealed in their mind.
Perhaps because of this bitterness, these senior agents are more willing to talk about their missions than their younger comrades. Some were motivated by the miserable and difficult days as agents and some suffer from the wounds they received on their mission.
The few remaining senior survivors are bitter that the government has been ignoring their services for the country for the past 40 years. An ex-agent experiences depression in July of each year: he had to endure horrible events in July 1951 near Wonsan. He spends many sleep-less nights thinking about his fallen comrades in Wonsan. He said that he lives among the dead.
Some of the HID agents were forced to serve in the army because their years with the HID were not recognized and they filed a lawsuit against the government.
The sad case of the neglected aging ex-agents pale in comparison to the families of the agents lost in North Korea. The families have been searching for their loved ones for 30-40 years with no help from the government.
Photo: Yu Jin Woo has been offering tearful prayers for 38 years. She holds a photo of her husband Lee Jun Young, an agent lost in North Korea.
For 38 years, Yoon Jung Soon (65) has been praying for her husband Lee Jun Yong (67), an agent lost in North Korea. "Hi, dear - if you are alive, please come to me. My dying wish is to see your face one more time." Her husband was lost in 1961. His last word to her was: "I have to go north. I will return to see you soon. Please wait for me."
She said that her husband assured that he was going north as head of a Labor Reconstruction unit and that she had nothing to worry about, She said: "We were very poor and my husband agonized over our poverty. One day he went to Seoul and came back after several days with some money and new clothes. He brought me 4 cans of milk for our baby. I could not afford to eat well and so I did not have enough milk for the baby."
She asked her husband where he got the money. He told her: "I am going through training at the HID, which send people to North Korea." She asked him: "Why are you going north?" and tried to talk him out of it in vain. His mind was set.
He left her promising that she would receive some money in one month and that he would come back home safe and sound. She received just one letter from him and living expenses for two months. That was it - no more letters and no more money.
After the last word from her husband, her life has been a series of woes. She said: "I have done just about everything to stay alive with my kids. I have done a lot of hard labor and hawking. Now I am in bed disabled"
She somehow managed to raise two children. About three years ago, she came down with an incurable disease. These days, she can hardly move around in her house.
About three years ago, she mustered enough courage to send off a petition to the Defense Ministry asking for the whereabouts of her husband. The Ministry sent her a curt reply claiming that it had nothing to tell her. Recently she learned that there is no compensation for the agents hired after 1960 because they were short-term contractors. Their contracts have no clause for providing benefits to their family in case of their death or capture - i..e., no work, no pay.
Last March, Ma Sang Bong asked the Defense Ministry for the fate of his brother. The Ministry verified that his brother was sent north on a mission. He was allowed to see his brother's file at the Army Intelligence Unit. The records indicated that his brother served the Unit from July 1966 to November 1966. His brother was wounded in a mine explosion while trying to enter North Korea. He was hospitalized for 4 months. The government claims that he was released after he was healed, but Ma thinks that his brother was sent back.
Such is the treatement the Government hands to those who have served the country and their families.