In the 1950s, when the Korean War ended, under the armistice agreement, the north and south established separate regimes on the 38° north latitude line. A situation between the two Koreas has been formed, but in a peaceful situation, the two countries have continuously infiltrated spies and agents into each other, and in addition to stealing military information, they have also carried out assassination operations.
【The Beginning of the Story - The Blue House Incident】
In 1968, the tense confrontation between the north and south of the Korean Peninsula reached its peak. On January 21, 31 North Korean special forces received a sacred and glorious mission from leader Kim Il Sung. Because this mission has no return, it will certainly not come back alive, that is, to assassinate Park Chung-hee, who was the president of South Korea at the time. So after a rigorous training, they evaded the Patrol Troops of the South Korean Side on the 38th Line, successfully infiltrated South Korea, and almost completed the task. So how much is this worse? 800 meters. Dressed in the costumes of the South Korean army, they successfully reached the distance of 800 meters from the Presidential Palace of the Blue House, although they were wearing the costumes of the South Korean troops, but they could not dress up neatly. Generally, South Korean soldiers wear American military boots on their feet, but these people wear rubber shoes, which were directly discovered by the guards around the Blue House, and the two sides immediately fought.
In the conflict at The Blue House, the North Korean detachment faced the siege of hundreds of people in the presidential palace, and still 24 people successfully broke through, only 5 people died and 1 person was captured, but the soldiers who broke through were all wiped out in the subsequent encirclement and suppression. Only one member of the death squad escaped safely back to North Korea and became the country's great hero: Park Jae-kyung, who would later serve as the deputy head of the North's armed forces. The captured North Korean special forces soldier named Kim Shin-chao said in front of the South Korean media that our mission is to attack the Presidential Palace of the Blue House and cut off the dog head of Park Chung-hee, the dog of the US imperialist lackey! This is the famous "Blue House Incident" in Korean history.
【Shio Island 684 Special Forces】
For this reason, both south Koreans and South Korean President Park Chung-hee feel angry, and the iron wrist of tit-for-tat is Park Chung-hee's consistent style. Three months later, in April 1968, Park Chung-hee decided to imitate North Korea and also formed a 31-man special forces unit to assassinate Kim Il-sung, which was also called Unit 684 because it was a decision made in April 1968. The Air Force was responsible for recruiting and training, which eventually carried out assassination missions, which were code-named "Badger Operations". According to the plan, the specially trained death squad members will fly in a hot air balloon over Pyongyang, land by parachute, and then see the plane to carry out the assassination.
Regarding the composition of the personnel, in addition to some excellent soldiers, at that time, some young people were also selected in the civilian society, and the most peculiar thing was that in order to enhance combat effectiveness, a group of prisoners, including death row prisoners, were also recruited, and the common point was that they all had a very good physical foundation. The South Korean government promised to give corresponding benefits after the mission, military promotions, civilian preferential treatment, and pardons for prisoners, but no one really knew what troops they would join, and basically agreed. So the 684th Unit was assembled, and the training base was on Shio Island.
Located on the western coast of Seoul, South Korea, Under the jurisdiction of Incheon Metropolitan City, Shio Island is a small island, originally with only one family, and was later relocated by the government. The island is used as a training ground for the 684 special operations force, and in addition to these 31 people, there are more than 50 soldiers on the island, of which 31 are responsible for one-on-one training as instructors, and the rest are armed soldiers who monitor them. Lieutenant Kim Soon-woong, who came to train them, told them that all people's household registrations will be cancelled, no contact with their families is allowed during the preparation and execution of the mission, and from today on you are the 209 Special Dispatch Team of the 7069 Squadron of the Korean Air Force, code-named Unit 684. There is only one mission, raid Pyongyang and kill Kim Il Sung! Hearing this, they knew what kind of organization they had joined, but no matter what, there was no way back, they could only accept reality, and then began to train.
In addition to having a strong physique, they must also have super willpower to adapt to high-intensity training and future brutal combat, planning to complete the training within 6 months. In the following time, in order to ensure that they can successfully complete the assassination mission, 31 people received abusive special training, and the captain used the most rigorous methods. Very strong. In addition to proficiency in the use of various weapons, it includes parachuting, wilderness survival training; learning the Korean dialect, Korean military rules and revolutionary songs; and conducting extensive political education to ensure that they will not defect. Training in willpower involves stuffing their heads in dung, sleeping with corpses, drinking human bone-soaked wine, telling them that they can sacrifice everything for their homeland, and that if they are captured, they will immediately pull a grenade to commit suicide.
It can be said that there are no humans on this island, only trained killing machines. They have no name, no identity, and no reason to survive, just because this non-human training method initially made the management and training party have a deep contradiction and misunderstanding. But together they held the mentality of loyalty to the country, and finally made up for the contradictions between them and formed a deep friendship.
But this high-intensity training method is bound to be accompanied by high risk, even if 31 people are selected strong men, but there are 5 people who have died accidentally in training. No matter how loyal to the country is held, not everyone has the super willpower of a soldier. Some of the prisoners finally could not hold on and tried to escape, so two of them bypassed the guards, hid in the boat transporting supplies, and fled to another small island. But the pursuers soon arrived, and the two broke into the residents' homes, kidnapped and raped a female doctor, and threatened the guards who arrived with hostages. But they did not understand the situation at all, and this pursuing soldier was not an ordinary policeman, but a secret mission force established by the supreme directive of the South Korean government, which was done at all costs. The captain did not negotiate with them at all, only gave them a few minutes to think about it, and if they did not come out, they would directly blow you up with a grenade, and as a result, the two people collapsed on the spot, 1 of them committed suicide, 1 was taken back, and was seriously injured with a stick in front of the others, and later died.
【Unattainable Command】
The remaining 24 men, either patriotic or forced by the military's coercive management, train day after day. After six months, by the spring of 1969, all 24 people had successfully completed their training tasks and had become patriotic killing machines, ready to do everything. The captain moved 24 people to Baekjeong Island, which is closer to North Korea, and only waited for an order to leave Pyongyang.
After the Blue House Incident, the two Koreas began to try to ease relations, at this time it was not appropriate to assassinate Kim Il-sung, and more than a month later, 24 people were transferred back to Shio Island to wait for orders, which was 3 years. During this period, relations between the two Koreas became better and better, assassination operations became more and more unfeasible, and the superiors no longer paid attention to this 684 unit, and the supply became worse and worse. Transport ships, which used to come often to deliver supplies, now come only once every six months, and the promised demobilization and promotion have become out of reach.
In the winter of 1971, the 24 people on Shio Island had only some pasta and had not eaten meat or vegetables for a long time, along with military instructors. But the instructors did learn of some wind noises, knew that the mission could not be carried out, and only wasted time on the island. Suddenly, the entire 684 unit had no target and could only wait. By August, the 24 men in prison couldn't bear it and asked to be discharged as soon as possible and go home, but their superiors ignored it. At this time, the two Koreas are about to sign a new peace agreement, the assassination of Kim Il Sung character will no longer exist, then the existence of Unit 684 has become a hot potato, there is no value of existence, if the outside world knows the existence of this unit, it will also be affected by the upcoming peace agreement, will also damage the image of South Korea.
【Shio Island Riot】
The way to keep a secret forever is to completely eliminate this secret, and the government that is embarrassed finally orders them all to be eliminated. However, after a long time together, the instructors and warriors on the island still have some subtleties in their feelings, and unconsciously reveal this sign, and some of them perceive their situation. At this time, the 24 people have been trained into a powerful killing machine, and after determining the fate of being abandoned by the country, the 24 people have formulated a strategy to fight a battle against the water, fight out of the siege, and then rush to the Blue House to find Park Chung-hee and seek justice. Even death cannot be a nest, but must die before the people of the whole country.
As training and pace on the island began to slow down, the instructors also began to neglect management. At 6:00 a.m. on August 23, 1971, they began a riot, and 24 men took out their prepared daggers and iron rods and raided the guards on duty who were still hangover. The arsenal was occupied by them, and everyone got their guns and immediately and mercilessly pursued the rest of the instructors on the island, and in less than 10 minutes, the blood washed the island. Only 6 escaped by hiding in the sea, in the woods, or even jumping into dung pits, while only 1 in 24 people was shot and killed.
They then cut off communications between Shio Island and the Air Force headquarters, and 23 heavily armed men steered the rubber raft and sailed out to sea. After landing ashore at Incheon at 12 noon and entering Incheon City, they hijacked a bus and ordered the driver to drive to the Presidential Palace in Seoul' Blue House. At 1:10 p.m., they were found by the sentry and exchanged fire with the Rok army for the first time at Songdong Station, and these 23 people killed 2 soldiers with their superior military quality and rushed to escape. They then rushed through several checkpoints filled with military police, killing 12 people, and 23 of them were not injured.
They discarded the broken bus and rehicked a car and took hostages. At 2:15 p.m., after the bus entered Seoul, the South Korean military was extremely shaken. Immediately mobilize large troops to encircle and suppress them. In Seoul's Tongque district, they were finally stopped by barricade armored vehicles set up by hundreds of soldiers, who released some of the hostages, including the driver, but left 3 people. Seeing that they could not break through, they demanded negotiations with the South Korean government and asked the news media to interview them. But the South Korean military did not pay any attention to the lives of the hostages, and launched five attacks on the bus, during which 4 of the 23 people escaped with cover.
At about 2:40 p.m., the 684 Unit daredevils with heavy casualties were desperate, unwilling to surrender, they followed the strategy of committing suicide as long as they carried them, and decisively detonated grenades together in the bus, and after the shocking explosion, all 19 members and 3 hostages died. The difference is that the enemy they face is not from the north, but the country to which they have always been loyal. The four who escaped were arrested shortly after, and the military court sentenced four people to death on suspicion of killing sentinels, homicide, arson, etc., and executed them in March 1972
This incident embarrassed the Park Chung-hee government and could only do its best to conceal the truth. It initially claimed to have been "attacked by a group of unidentified militants" in an attempt to portray the rebellion as the work of North Korean agents. But the freed hostages agreed that they were not North Koreans, spoke with a full South Korean accent, sang South Korean military songs, and were very friendly to the hostages. On the contrary, it was in the process of confrontation that the South Korean military disregarded the safety of the hostages and forcibly attacked on the initiative to create this situation.
The South Korean government later felt that this might irritate North Korea, but it could not openly admit that it was a secret force formed to assassinate Kim Il-sung, so it changed its mouth to say that "there was a rebellion in the special forces of the air force", so the South Korean defense minister and the commander-in-chief of the air force had to "resign" to correct the situation.
A few months later, on July 4, 1972, North Korea's Second Vice Premier, Park Sun Chul, visited South Korea and shook hands with then-South Korean President Park Chung-hee. The two sides issued the Joint Statement of the North and South of the DPRK, announcing their agreement to continue their efforts to realize the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
For many years thereafter, the truth about the Seio Island riots was deliberately concealed by the South Korean authorities until December 24, 2003, with the release of the movie "Shio Island", and the dusty history gradually revealed the tip of the iceberg. It was only in 2004 that South Korea's Defense Ministry officially acknowledged that it had planned to assassinate Kim Il-sung. Shio Island is a training base, and seven of these people are ordinary South Korean youths with innocent resumes who have been tricked into joining Unit 684 by them, and the Ministry of Defense has also apologized to the families because they have been searching for their missing relatives for more than 30 years.
"War is the old man's power game, but the sacrifice is the young man", a sigh!