Gangneung incident - the September 1996 landing of a North Korean sabotage and reconnaissance group from a submarine of the "San O" type [1] into the territory of South Korea and subsequent measures to find them. As a result of the incident, most saboteurs were shot dead. This landing was one of the espionage attempts by the DPRK [2] .
| Gangneung incident | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Conflict: North and South Korea Relations | |||
 North Korean submarine captured by southerners | |||
| date of | September 17 - November 5, 1996 | ||
| A place | Gangneung , South Korea | ||
| Cause | unsuccessful reconnaissance landing | ||
| Total | South Korean victory | ||
| Changes | The submarine is transformed into an exhibit, placed in the Association Park and is accessible for tourists. | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Forces of the parties | |||
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| Losses | |||
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Event
Landing of saboteurs
On September 14, 1996, at 5 a.m., the 325-ton reconnaissance submarine No. 1 of the 2nd detachment of the 22nd squadron of the Military Intelligence Directorate of the DPRK Ministry of the DPRK went on a combat campaign with the task of landing a sabotage and reconnaissance group near Gangneung . On board were 26 people [3] [4] :
- 21 crew members of the submarine under the command of Captain Jung Young Koo.
- The curators of the operation are the head of the marine department of the Foreign Intelligence Directorate of Senior Colonel Kim Dong Won with his deputy.
- Three saboteurs who are part of the landing sabotage and reconnaissance group (DRG).
By 19:30 hours on September 15, the boat reached the destination area and soon began to land the reconnaissance group. Spies, accompanied by two crew members of the submarine, were successfully landed, after which the submarine took its divers and moved into neutral waters [3] [4] .
On the evening of September 17, the boat returned to South Korean waters to remove the DRG. Due to navigation errors and loss of orientation, at about 9 p.m., it crashed into stones near the shore and lost its propeller blades . Several hours of team attempts to take the submarine aground were unsuccessful, and the commander of the submarine ordered her to leave. It was impossible to flood the ship, so a fire was set up to incapacitate it. The people on board changed into South Korean special forces uniforms and were ashore by midnight on September 17-18 [4] .
Detection and Hunting
At about one in the morning on September 18, 1996, Lee Jin Gyu, a South Korean taxi driver, drove along the Gangneung - Thonghi coastal highway. Five kilometers from Gangneung - about 150 km from the demilitarized zone - he noticed a group of people and some dark mass in the water on the shore. Since the taxi driver had previously served in the army, he suspected a North Korean landing and immediately reported what he saw to the competent authorities. By the time the police arrived at the scene, the people on shore went into the mountains, and the “dark mass” in the water turned out to be a stranded submarine. All the surrounding units of the army and police of South Korea were raised on alarm and began an operation to block and search for saboteurs [5] .
In the morning, 2 armed North Koreans met two local farmers, detained them and held them for a while, then left without harming them. Subsequently, both fighters were discovered, but managed to escape. At 16:30, another local farmer found a suspicious person in his field and, being aware of the special operation, immediately notified the authorities. Arriving at the call, police detained a steering submarine - Lieutenant Lee Kwan Su [5] . After 20 minutes, 11 dead bodies of North Korean sailors were discovered. .
On September 19, in three separate skirmishes with North Koreans broken into groups, 7 sailors from the crew of the submarine were killed. Three around 10:00 were shot by South Korean commandos while combing a mountain south of Gangneung, three more were caught by army special forces at 14 o’clock (two of them were wounded and later died), another one was shot two hours later, before wounding a South Korean fighter . On September 21, 22 and 28, three more submariners were killed by army men. The last member of the crew of the submarine caught the South Korean special forces only on September 30, resisted and was also killed [6] [7] .
For the longest time, three members of the DRG could not find. They used a prepared cache in advance, in which they sat out, waiting for the weakening of the vigilance of the South Koreans. Then the group moved to DMZ , extracting food in empty country houses. On October 8, saboteurs killed three civilians who discovered them, and on the 22nd they strangled a South Korean soldier-driver who was not on duty. On the night of November 5, the driver, following the highway 20 km from the DMZ, found three armed men crossing the highway. Being vigilant, he initiated a search operation, as a result of which the South Korean special forces in three consecutive shootings drove and shot two more North Koreans. The third saboteur received a gunshot wound in the stomach, but was able to escape. According to subsequent information, this commando named Lee Chul Ji managed to cross the DMZ and enter his territory, where he was accepted as a hero [8] .
Three laptops were found on the bodies of the dead, dressed in South Korean military uniforms and armed with M16 assault rifles , one of which turned out to be a map and a short diary of ten phrases from their 49-day anabasis [9] .
Corpses of North Korean Submariners
At about 5 p.m. on September 18, in a 300-meter mountain forest glade 8 km from the landing point, South Korean soldiers discovered the bodies of Captain Chong, Senior Colonel Kim, his deputy and eight other crew members of the submarine. Everyone except Colonel Kim lay in a row with shot heads, dressed in civilian clothes and white tennis shoes. The corpse of the senior colonel, also with a shot head, lay on the side and with him was a pistol in a holster. Obviously, the sailors were shot by their colleagues [10] .
The main version of this event is the shooting of submariners by members of the reconnaissance group as revenge for the accident or to eliminate the "weak links". Moreover, it is very likely that something went wrong with Colonel Kim and he tried to hide from friendly fire . The version that one of these eleven shot ten comrades, and then shot himself, is based on obvious stretches and is currently refuted [10] .
Interrogation
The only captive was the steering submarine Lee Kwan-su. During the initial interrogations, he refused to speak, but he was treated to soju . After drinking 4 bottles, Lee relaxed and began to testify, however, still trying to deceive the investigation. According to his first words, the boat crashed in neutral waters and, having lost its course, was brought into the waters of South Korea. He also did not immediately report the presence of intelligence officers and curators on board the operation from the Office. Investigators did not receive confession statements from the intelligence operation to gather information about the South Korean naval and air bases in the Gangneung area only after he was informed of 11 submariners who had been shot by his colleagues [11] .
According to sources, Lee Kwan Su was “split” without the slightest torture from competent psychological pressure, which a resident of a totalitarian state, in which at that time people were starving or killed in concentration camps, could not resist in this situation. Subsequently, he refused to return to his homeland and continued to serve in the Navy of South Korea [11] .
Units involved in the special operation
Several units of the South Korean army took part in the search for saboteurs [12] . Namely:
- 3rd Airborne Brigade "Flying Tiger";
- 703rd Special Assault Battalion;
- ;
- ;
- ;
- ;
- ;
- .
Consequences
About 20 South Korean officials received disciplinary sanctions for negligence during the special operation. The result of negligence and careless handling of weapons were four killed servicemen. On December 29, 1996, 24 bodies of northerners were sent to the DPRK [13] [14] .
A number of experts believe that the murder of Choi Tokkyn on October 1, 1996 was North Korea’s revenge for the failure of the sabotage [15] [16] [17] . Poison of the same type as that aboard a North Korean submarine was in the blood of Choi Tokkyna; North Korea threatened to take action in response to the killing of its special agents by the South Korean army [18] .
On November 5, 2001, on the fifth anniversary of the end of the armed conflict, an association park was opened near Gangneung, the purpose of which is to "instill an understanding of security during the association process." The submarine was repaired after arson and exhibited there as a museum object. Other technical monuments are also located in this park: a South Korean warship and a Douglas C-54 Skymaster aircraft . The park consists of three parts located at different heights: on the first, access to which is paid, there are a submarine and a ship, on the second - an airplane [19] .
Notes
- ↑ SSC Sang-O Class . Global Security (2011). Date of appeal March 31, 2019 .
- ↑ 96 년 강릉 침투 사건. - 《동아 일보》.
- ↑ 1 2 무장 간첩 파장 고위 장교 왜 왔나 6.25 후 침투 론 최고 계급, 《동아 일보》, 09.21.1996
- ↑ 1 2 3 무장 간첩 침투 6 인의 정체 · 행적 공작원 3 명 투수 임무 받은 要員, 《경향 신문》, 09.21.1996
- ↑ 1 2 朝韩 秘密 战 ： 96 年 朝鲜 特种部队 对 韩国 秘密 潜入 unspecified . 网易 军事 (November 18, 2009).
- ↑ "北 - 美 관계 개선 極 祕 합의", 《동아 일보》, 1996.1.7
- ↑ 리처드슨 21 일 재 방북, 《한겨레》, 1996.9.12
- ↑ 49 일간 延 200 만 투입, 《경향 신문》, 11/06/1996
- ↑ 동해 북부서 미 · 러 합동 군사 훈련, 《한겨레》, 11/19/1996
- ↑ 1 2 朝韩 秘密 战 ： 96 年 朝鲜 特种部队 对 韩国 秘密 潜入 unspecified . 网易 军事 (November 18, 2009).
- ↑ 1 2 溫情 대가 가 무장 間諜 인가, 《경향 신문》, 1996.9.19
- ↑ Joseph S., Jr. Bermudez , North Korean Special Forces: Special Warfare, Naval Institute Press, novembre 1997, 320 p. ( ISBN 978-1557500663 ), p. 219.
- ↑ 간첩 유골 첫 판문점 송환 기록, 《동아 일보》, 1996.12.31
- ↑ La Corée du Nord accepte de discuter avec le Sud. Pyongyang a présenté ses excuses à Séoul pour l'incursion en septembre de l'un de ses sous-marins. (Fr.) (31 décembre 1996). .
- ↑ North Korea denies murdering diplomat (October 4, 1996). Date of treatment June 1, 2007.
- ↑ Jeong, Hoe-sang 최덕근 영사, 러시아 마피아 가 살해 했다? / Consul Choe Deok-geun, killed by the Russian Mafia? (October 17, 1996). Date of treatment June 1, 2007.
- ↑ Bertil, Lintner. Blood Brothers: Crime, Business, and Politics in Asia. - Allen and Unwin, 2002. - P. 213–214. - ISBN 1-86508-419-0 .
- ↑ Dies, Harry P., Jr. (October-December 2004), " North Korean Special Operations Forces: 1996 Kangnung submarine infiltration ", Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin , < http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IBS/is_4_30/ai_n13822276/pg_4 > . Retrieved June 1, 2007.
- ↑ Gangneung Unification Park - a chance to see the North Korean combat submarine and the plane of the President of South Korea . Russian newspaper (2010). Date of treatment November 9, 2017.
Literature
- Harry P. Dies, Jr. North Korean Special Operations Forces: 1996 Kangnung submarine infiltration . - Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin.
- Thomas J. Belke. Incident at Kangnung: North Korea's ill-fated submarine incursion In: Submarine Review , Nr. 18/1997, April 1997