"But Chinese Communist communications were not new British and American cryptologists. No one who received COMINT product, MacArthur's own G-2 in Tokyo, should have been surprised by the PRC intervention in The Korean War. " MacArthur: "entry of the Chinese Communists was a risk we knowingly took at the time we committed our forces." 

COMINT and PRC Intervention in the Korean War, US National Security Agency S-CCO

US NSA Base in Seoul

Soon after the armistice went into effect, the Army Security Agency disbanded its Low Level Interception teams and I was reassigned to its main base in Seoul. This was a blessing for me because now I could attend classes at Seoul University more regularly. The ASA, now renamed the National Security Agency, base unit was housed in a large mansion once owned by a rich South Korean landowner. It had a Japanese garden and a pond swarming with huge colorful fish. I wondered how they survived the war. People said that these fish did not taste good and no one would want to eat them. They claimed that the protruding bulges and other deformities, characteristic of the fish, were actually tumors!  I assumed this nonsense was made up by the Japanese to discourage hungry Koreans from devouring the expensive show fish. Why would anyone raise fish 

The mansion was surrounded by 6-foot high cement and rock walls all around with a small guarded steel gate. Tall trees hid the walls and high-voltage wires strung over the walls. Anyone walking by the compound would have had no way of knowing that it was a den of spies. The base had about 20 Korean agents looking for things to do. We kept ourselves busy translating captured North Korean war documents, combat reports, Kim Il Sung's speeches and other materials. We also monitored North Korean radio, jotting down brief reports of the communist propaganda. Occasionally, we were dispatched to the north on special missions. On the back of our mind, we knew our time would run out soon and we would have find another of way of life. Our main concern was that the South Korean police would grab us as draft dodgers when the time came.

I attended classes at Seoul National University as often as I could. Surprisingly, the campus survived the war more or less intact, It was South Korea's Princeton and only one of 10 applicants was accepted during peace time. Korea's top scholars taught there and what meager funds the ROK government had for academic research was given to this university. It was established by the Japanese decades ago under the Japanese name of gei-jo fai-gaku, "Geijo University", with geijo meaning Seoul in Japanese. After Liberation, its name was changed to Seoul National University, SNA, but most of us went by "University of Seoul" or "Seoul University".

I wore GI uniforms to my classes and I enjoyed brandishing my war “critical” ID, issued by the United Nations Command, to my envious classmates. I somehow managed to pass the final exams and stayed in school. My professors were very understanding of my situation and went easy on my grades, giving me C's and D's - but no F's. My classmates helped me out by covering my frequent absenteeism and turning in “my” homework. Even though the war was over, I did get sent out on special missions to the front now and then. Quite a few North Korean agents were captured behind the cease-fire line and we got to interrogate them. After we were done with then, the captives were turned over to South Korean units for further interrogation and disposition.

UNESCO Propaganda Team

In 1954 Seoul, I was trying to do several things at the same time; I studied just enough to pass exams at the Seoul National University, kept my job with the US Intelligence unit, found free room and board by tutoring rich kids, and managed to socialize with friends. I volunteered to go out to remote villages and do some social work with the UNESCO. Our UNESCO team built water wells, taught basic hygiene and helped the poor peasants with farm chores. We did this free, of course. There were some 50 students from various universities in Seoul participating in our UNESCO action groups, and about half of them were coeds.

We sang the UNESCO anthem: “saras bunda, saras bunda,,,”  The song was in an African language and none of us knew what the words meant. Our UNESCO mission was to visit war-torn villages and do propaganda work for Rhee Syngman's government and help the villagers recover from the war, much like a communist partisan political action team. We also handed out blankets, foods and other basic necessities of life, all donated by the UN member states.

Figure 22a: My UNESCO patch worn during my propaganda work for Rhee Syngman

Every Saturday, we met at a restaurant near the Capitol building and ate a hearty breakfast of curry rice. Our leaders lectured us on how to be helpful and also how to handle unpleasant situations. South Korean Army psychological warfare officers provided trucks and armed guards for our trip to the front-line villages. There we found old people, women and children and, only occasionally, men of military age.

Every family had at least one tragedy to endure. The South Koreans, North Koreans and Americans had killed so many villagers that the villagers did not trust us. I could feel that deep in their heart, they hated us because we represented the South Korean Government. The villagers didn't care who sat in the Blue House, all they wanted was to be left alone. One of our missions was to show them that we did care and that we were on their side, and that we could and would help them.

Most villages needed just about everything. Their farms were filled with live explosives, mines, ruined military equipment fo all kinds and rotting bodies of all armies. Their drinking wells were contaminated; their livestock were gone. School buildings were either gone or in use by the military. Their village elders were dead and their youth were either dead, missing, or in the army. Since a South Korean soldier was paid less than $2 per month, barely enough for a haircut, he needed money and food from home, and so, having a son in the army meant less money for the family.

Every family had a skeleton to hide, a kid or a close relative had gone over to the other side, and you didn’t want the South Korean police to find out or you would be branded “communists” and tortured, or blackmailed by your neighbors. There were many instances of innocent people getting extorted by their former friends and their own kin.  Young girls were forced to have sex and people were forced to sell their homes and lands at rock-bottom prices.  Doing so was much more preferable to suffering through police interrogation and tortures.  The South Korean police operated on the principle that you were guilty unless you passed their tortures without "confessing". Few humans could stand their tortures and "confessed" to whatever the police wanted you to confess. 

South Korean army engineers dug up new wells and cleared war-junk from the farms. We tried our best to convince the villagers that Seoul did care about the farmers. We removed bad cops and village bullies with the help of the army counter intelligence officers, who had the authority to arrest anyone, including army generals. We set up school classes and handed out textbooks. Our team included medical college students who tended to minor wounds and diseases. Severe cases were sent to a nearby army field hospital for free medical attention.  The war was over and we had to win the people over to our side.

South Korean army soldiers volunteered to work the fields and restock farm animals. Villages in the front area were under military control and the area commander was responsible for the welfare of all civilians in his area. He was the king and executioner. We UNESCO students were essentially civilian helpers for the commander. Occasionally, we got to eat lunch with the commander and his senior staff. These officers appreciated help from bona fide college students from Seoul. The officers and soldiers gawked at our young fresh coeds and treated them like Yi Dynasty princesses. I suppose the coeds did look like movie stars compared to farmers' daughters. We, the guys of the UNESCO team, did not get much attention, and we knew that the army officers wished the boys would stop coming.  But the girls insisted on sticking with us.  They were reluctant to be alone with the horny officers in lonely outposts, far away from civiliaztion.

On our first trip, the commanding general gave us a guided tour of his empire. His goal was self-reliance as far as food was concerned. He managed farms and livestock. He used army trucks to fetch seafood from coastal area so that his soldiers could eat well. He had a factory that grew bean sprouts for his army and the farmers in his command area. He had a huge kimchi factory, which made more kimchi than his army needed, and he planned to sell the surplus.

The general's pet project was an educational program for his soldiers. Most soldiers came from poor families and had little education and skills. He made sure that all of his soldiers learned to read and write - at least to the 6th grade level. Each soldier had to learn a trade, driving a car or a truck, modern farming methods, shoe repair, auto repair, ironsmith, animal husbandry, and so on. I loved this general, he was a patriot and a model of a military officer. I wished all generals were like him. Unfortunately, many Korean generals were corrupt and arrogant sons-of-bitches, besides being mostly Japanese collaborators.

My American intelligence unit had two Mormon GIs, who spoke Korean quite well, having done missionary works among the Koreans in Hawaii. The Mormon GIs were very friendly; they were NOT at all like the other Yankees. Most Americans hated us, hated being in Korea, hated their mission to defend Korea, hated the weather, hated the smell of Korea, and hated Truman. All they wanted to do was to screw as many local girls and go on home, alive and with all limbs still attacked to their torso.

Figure 22b.My American friend, Averd Wislon, a Mormon from Utah

I let myself talked into becoming a Mormon, a Latter Day Saint, as they were officially called. I was baptized in Han River, early in Spring of 1954. A Mormon elder, a US Army captain, dipped me under the muddy water. For some reason, Mormons believed that Koreans were descended from the Lost Tribe and that it was their mission to convert Koreans into the Mormon Church. As explained in the later chapters of this book, my Mormon friend, Averd Wilson, saved my soul and life.

Korean Mormons met every Sunday at a military chapel inside the US 8th Army Headquarters in Seoul. American Mormons picked up the Korean Mormons at designated locations. We held Korean-American Mormon services in English. It was a completely integrated congregation. One of the American Mormons was Col. X, a military intelligence officer. Col. X lived with a pretty Korean woman, who turned out to be a North Korean agent. The old Colonel was so infatuated with the woman, totally unaware of her true identity, that he followed her around like a puppy, even to the bathroom. He gave cold threatening stares at any young bucks, myself included, ogling his stunningly beautiful roommate. She managed to escape to North Korea and reportedly headed North Korea’s counter intelligence bureau.

Most Korean Mormons were young students interested more in learning English than the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith. The Korean Mormon group was led by Dr. Kim Ho Jik, Vice Minister of Education ROK. Dr. Kim was an unusual personage. He was born in North Korea on April 16, 1905 and studied biology at the Japanese Imperial University in the 1930s. After graduation, he taught in Korea and conducted research on nutritional attributes on Korean foods. After Liberation, he went to America, earning a Ph.D. in nutrition at Cornell University in 1951, upon which he returned to Korea.  He was converted to Mormonism while studying at Cornell. He became president of a marine college in South Korea and received a Presidential medal for his research on Korean foods. In 1954, Rhee Syngman appointed him to a cabinet position. In 1956, Dr. Kim became vice mayor for of Seoul and died of heart attack on August 31, 1959 during a city council meeting discussing corruption in the city government.

Figure 23. Dr. Kim Ho Jik (first row) and family. I adopted myself into his family.

Dr. Kim had two sons and two daughters. He lived in a traditional yangban house, a virtual fortress with a high stonewall surrounding it, in Seoul. I got to be a close family friend of this very kind man. He was like a father to me, and I fell madly in love with his eldest daughter.

Dr. Kim's eldest son, Kim Sung Whan, became one of my best friends and confidants. He studied music at the Seoul National University and he later went to Italy and became a famous tenor there. He loved to sing the Mormon hymns and ave Maria. We spent many hours together discussing religion, politics and arts. Many meals we shared. Most of my personal activities, picnics in the Yi Dynasty palace gardens, potluck dinners, swimming in the Han River and social works, were with the Korean and American Mormons.

One day, I noticed an ad posted on a college bulletin board, looking for an English translator/interpreter. The ad was by Rev. Lee Il Sun who is known as Korea’s Albert Schweitzer. Rev. Lee admired Schweitzer's work in Africa caring for the lepers and he wanted to set up a leprosarium in Korea. He gave me an English test first and hired me on the spot as his English language guru. My pay was just room-and-board. My main job was to translate Albert Schweitzer's books on Africa into Korean. My brother, Ung Sik, also admired Dr. Schweitzer and he ran a leper colony on an island for the ROK Government.

Rev. Lee Il Sun ran a church and would invite American army chaplains to give sermons to his congregation and I would interpret their sermons. Many American Christians sent money and clothing to Rev and his dream was to raise enough money to go to Africa and work with Dr. Schweitzer. Rev. Lee attended the Seoul Medical College and became a medical doctor, just as Schweitzer was, in preparation for his trip to Africa. Rev. Lee spent several years working with Dr. Schweitzer in Africa. One day in Africa, Rev. Lee set up a hammock between two tree limbs, intending to take a cool siesta. However, Dr. Schweitzer scolded in his stern German that the trees, although voiceless, were life forms, too and that Lee was hurting them badly. Lee, greatly embarrassed, took his hammock off the suffering trees. After returning home, Lee established a large leper colony and lived among them until his death. He was awarded a national hero’s medal upon his death. 

The Mormons in Seoul, both Korean and American, met often at Dr. Kim's house for socials. We sang Mormon hymns (my favorite was – “Come, come, Ye, Saints”). We felt deep empathy with Joseph Smith, who was feathered, tarred and killed by a mob. The Latter Day Saints overcame many hardships in the past and became prosperous. We hoped to do the same.

It was a miracle that I made it to a sophomore at Seoul National University, although I didn't have the academic credentials for being a college sophomore, having spent little time and effort on studying, but I was not alone. There were many in the South Korean Army who were technically speaking students, but seldom attended classes. The professors, many in the army themselves, did their patriotic duty and let us pass.

My CIA Duties

Then the bad news finally came. The US intelligence unit no longer needed us and asked us to leave our Seoul safe house immediately. We turned in our “critical” ID card and the GI uniforms. As I was about to walk out the compound for the last time, the commanding officer called me back. He asked me if I liked the intelligence work. I sort of enjoyed my job and besides, I didn't have any place to go. I was really and truly homeless! I could stay with some friends for a few days but not for any longer than that!. I had some money saved but it was barely enough for my tuition, not enough for my food and lodging.

I was transferred to the US Air Force 6006 Air Reconnaissance and Intelligence Squadron, 6006 ARIS, as a liaison agent. Our camp was situated inside Donald Nichol’s famed “6006 AISS” headquarters, which was located deep inside a Korean Labor Organization base, also called, Korean Liaison Office. I had to pass through several guarded gates to reach my office. To this date, I do not know the true identity of “6006 AIRS” and, of course, there was no such organization as far as the US official records go. I suspect it was a CIA operation, but I have no conclusive proof that it was CIA. One thing I am sure of is that it was not part of Col. Nichol’s “6006/6004 AISS”. I believe the “6006” designation was to fool the enemy and also to facilitate logistics with Rhee Syngman’s people.

There was a file on every Korean agent dispatched to North Korea. It included a photo (usually in North Korean uniforms), name (always the real name), age, home address, assignments and various dates. The original was in the agents' own handwriting in Korean. One of my jobs was to translate the info into English. Most of the files had a large “X” and a date written on them, indicating that the agents were lost presumed dead, captured or deserted, or reported uncovered by other agents. Some “X” files included photos of the agents’ corpse. I wondered how they obtained these photos. I suppose North Korea’s security organs had been compromised.

Figure jm-santa.gif:  Col. Nichols and Korean orphans, Christmas of 1954.  Note the Tabasco sauce bottle. Photo courtesy of John Morgan.

Donald Nichols, the 6006 AISS commander, who preferred to be called Mr. Nichols, cared much for Korean orphans. He adopted two orphans and, in fact, married a Korean woman and had a son.  Mr. Nichols had his subordinate collect funds and gifts for the orphans.  In some years, he played Santa Clause himself.  He was short and heavy set, ideal for a Santa. The orphans were trucked in from a nearby orphanage and Korean dishes were prepared by the Korean cooks from the KLO base.  Next to DDT for exterminating lice, Tabasco sauce was the most welcome product from America. Koreans fell in love with it and used it on everything. One of my favorite "American" gourmet dishes was a plate of steamed rice, two raw eggs cracked open over it and a thick layer of Tabasco covering the whole plate.  Even today, I prepare this delicacy when I eat alone, sadly I seem to be the only one hooked on to this dish. 

On June 3, 1955, my boss assigned me to a special top-secret debriefing session. When I walked into the room, I was shocked to see my former instructor at the Student Volunteers Army (1950) in Hamhung. Commander 'X' organized and commanded a band of guerrillas near my home town Hamhung - before the war started. His unit was about the only self-sustaining guerrilla band inside North Korea. It is true that there were several other partisan groups but they were based on offshore islands safe from enemy attacks and connected firmly to steady supplies.

During 1951, the CIA tried Operation Dropshot, which paired up a US Special Forces soldier with a South Korean agent, recruited from refugees and POWs, working a buddy system. They were dropped behind the enemy lines to assassinate communist cadres and generally disrupt things, more of saboteurs than of guerrillas. But as soon as they were dropped, the North Korean security forces nabbed them. The Americans were killed and the Koreans were recycled. Starting in 1952, Koreans conducted all operations in enemy territories with US aviation and Naval supports, and no Americans were allowed to accompany them on land.

About six months before, Commander 'X' left his base near Hamhung and after walking for several weeks, managed to sneak across the truce line. He was arrested by the South Korean army, who turned him over to the police. The police did not believe his claim of being a guerrilla commander and subjected him to the usual torture. Luckily, an informant tipped off the US spooks who came to his rescue. His men had not received any airdrop or new instructions since the Armistice. He came to ask the US either to evacuate his men or to resume the supply operation promptly, or else he would disband his little army.

Commander 'X' was very angry at his US spy masters. He recounted all of his past feats and the promises made by the US to him over the years, the countless lives lost and the sacrifices made by him and his men in the name of anti-communism. He said that the US had not lived up to its promises. But there was NO documentary proof for any of his claims, so said the American officer. It was his word against his new spy-master, who claimed ignorance and couldn't care less about this dumb North Korean bumpkin and his so-called guerrilla army.

Things were not going well. Both men were getting more and more hostile to each other. Their voices got louder and louder and nastier. I had to raise my voice accordingly. The interpreter has to translate the tone as well as the words - the former is much more difficult than the latter. The American spymaster had enough and asked the commander to get out, there was nothing further to discuss. Commander X was shocked: apparently he was under illusion that he was indispensable and did not expect to be discarded so readily by his American masters. This man didn't understand the spy business!

The bewildered commander got up, did a smart military salute and walked out the door. He stared at me and muttered – “I have been duped by these liars and thieves. I am going to get even with these bastards somehow”. This was the last time I saw the commander. The spymaster demanded to know what X said to me. I made up a harmless translation and left the room. My guess is that X was returned to the South Korean police along with some fake proof of communist connection. His guerrillas most likely had deserted soon after X's departure to South Korea. This is strictly my guess. I believe the commander was Captain Han Chul Min, one of the guerrilla leaders trained by the US CIA in 1950.  Han was a hero during the war but became a disposable waste product after the war. Several years after the war, the US CIA awarded medals to several Korean agents, but Captain Han was not among the honorees.

The CIA operations reached beyond the borders of Korea. Agents were sent to Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, and the Kurile Islands. Some 120,000 Koreans lived in Siberia and Korean agents could easily blend in the Soviet territory. The same went for Manchuria where over one million Koreans lived. The 6006 had dozens of agents working in the Soviet naval base at Vladivostok. Their job was to spy on the Soviet warships. American officers in a converted Shinto shrine handled all radio communications. My unit, 6006ARIS, maintained radio contacts with these agents.

The CIA operated its own navy made of real-life fishing boats, manned by genuine North Korean fishermen, as well as speedboats and warships. It maintained a string of naval bases on islands, some north of the truce line. North Korean fishermen made ideal messengers. They were allowed to leave North Korea legally and were often intercepted by US naval vessels on high seas. In addition, fishing boats had radios. Messages were radioed to a ship and the fishermen delivered them to a designated drop point and vice versa. Agents were smuggled in and returning agents were recovered disguised as fishermen. During the war, downed airmen rescue teams were based on the northern islands. Since the truce, the islands were primarily used for covert operations.

The Japanese had built a Shinto shrine at every public and business site, schools, government offices, business enterprises. A shrine was the size of a phone booth. Its walls were made of cement and it had a heavy bombproof concrete door. Inside a shrine were various divine writings of emperors' edicts and the names of local war dead and of national heroes. The Americans converted a shrine into a secret radio shack. The radio station’s black box sent and received coded signals from the agents in North Korea and from the headquarters in Tokyo. It also contained files on the master spies, planted in the North Korean ruling body. I was not allowed in the room. Only two or three Americans had the key to get inside.

Enemy signals were intercepted elsewhere by another intelligence unit of Korean interpreters including myself. We had our own radio room where we monitored communist propaganda that was not exactly spy stuff. It was against law to listen to the North Korean radios, and I was one of the few privileged to hear communist propaganda.

One of the strangest operations of the CIA was a one-man assassination effort to kill Kim Il Sung. An American Indian, supposedly a professional hit man, was signed up to perform the task for a nominal fee. The Indian was highly recommended by a CIA boss in Washington. But the Indian never delivered.

The Girls from North Korea

One day in Seoul, I ran into a girl from Hamhung. Back when I was in Hamhung, I had a crush on her who lived next door to me. She was several years older than I was, tall and fair-skinned. She smiled at me often, you know the kind of warm smiles girls use to tease boys in love. I spent many hours and days hanging around her front door trying to get her attention.  She and my mother got along well and she came over to our house now and then.

Well, as my luck would have it,  one day she caught me stark naked hunting for lice in my room. I did not hear her come in and the next thing I knew, she was standing at the door way, smiling at me.  I was in a total shock and sat motionless with my mouth wide open and my hands, red with blood from the squashed lice, trembling.  I fantasized that she knew that I was alone in my house and came over to seduce me. And I blew the golden opportunity. What an idiot I was. It was all because of the darn lice!  I was so embarrassed by this encounter. I began to avoid her like a plague since that day on. 

Figure 20c. My boyhood dream girl from Hamhung (left) in Seoul.

She was the last person on earth I expected to meet in the streets of Seoul with the war going on.  We recognized each other right away  like long-lost twins, but we had little to say to each other.  All I could say to her was. "Oh, I see you are still alive!", to which she said "Yeh, you, too".  I was saddened to learn that her mother had passed away and that her father married a South Korean woman.  Even sadder was the news that she was dying of tuberculosis.  Now, I realized why she looked so pale, she had the disease since her childhood.  She eventually died from the disease two years after I left Korea.

As far as puppy love goes, I was somewhat prolific.  My other next-door neighbor had a stunningly beautiful daughter some fiver years senior to me. I was madly in love with her and she knew it.  There was a wooden fence separating our houses. There were 'peep' holes through which I could see my secret love bathing and relieving herself.  She probably knew that her juvenile boy next door was spying on her and she seemed to enjoy it.  She would squat down to pee and then stand up with her skirts lifted around her waste, looking in my direction smiling.

When the South Koreans occupied Hamhung, she began to date several young officers, at the same time.  These young bucks came to pick her up in army jeeps and brought tons of army rations to curry her favor. She shared her booties with her neighbors.  By this time, I was deep in the war business and girls were the last thing on my mind. In 1951, she made it to Seoul and married a rich South Korean man.  I missed the opportunity to see her in Seoul, but my brother did years after I left Korea.