Caught in the nets
The strange stories of North Korean Submarines and spies
Sometimes truth is more shocking than fiction. Here are two stories of North Korean submarines infiltrating their southerly neighbour and includes a 49 day man hunt and 43,000 troops!
On the 22nd June 1998 some 21 miles off the South Korean port of Donghae a fishing boat spotted an unusual sight - a submarine was on the surface with several crewmen attempting to untangle a drift net from the hull and they signalled the South Korean navy to come and investigate.
The submarine was a North Korean Yugo class midget submarine.
The class were not uniform in size or layout but displaced, roughly, 90 tons and were 20 metres long and 2 metres wide with a crew of up to six and was diesel electric and could make up to 10 knots on the surface and 8 knots submerged whilst carrying two torpedo tubes. This submarine wasn’t to be primarily used as an attack craft but for a more nefarious duty which only became obvious after the capture.
A South Korean Corvette arrived and sailors went onto the hull and secured a tow line and the submarine brought to Donaghae only for it to sink in thirty metres of water. It is not obvious whether this was an accident or a deliberate act of sabotage by the crew but considering what was found in the submarine when it was recovered on the 25th June I’d say the latter.
When the submarine was opened the South Korean military found nine bodies, five sailors had been executed (four with shots to the head) by their Officer whose body was found with a gunshot wound to the head. The other three bodies had also committed suicide but why? Was this because there was a fear of capture or a fear of what would happen if they were returned to North Korea? Who knows but it might be related to the information they carried from their most recent operation.
There were other articles of interest including two automatic rifles, two machine guns, a rocket launcher, diving equipment, grenades and boots whilst the log (which should have been destroyed) revealed that several incursions had been carried out by the vessel many times in recent times. To add to the evidence there was a cache of South Korean drink possibly brought back from the operation by agents.
North Korean news claimed the vessel was lost in a training accident.
This was not the only operation as the following month a North Korean commando was found dead near Donghae on an “infiltration craft”.
Two years previously there was a more serious incursion by submarine bourne commandos.
The Sang-O class is slightly larger at 34 metres long displacing 370 tons submerged with a top speed of 9 knots submerged and 7.5 on the surface with a crew of fifteen and carrying four four 21” torpedo tubes and mine laying equipment. It is a decent coastal submarine and it is believed that there are some forty one of these in the North Korean navy but one is preserved in Unification park, Gangneung.
This particular submarine arrived off Jeongdongiin on the 15th September 1996 and landed a team of three operatives who were to carry out a spying mission on the nearby naval yards as well as landing a hit team who were to assassinate president Kim Young-Sam in a visit to the Cuncheon during an official visit on the 7th October.
At least three rehearsal landings had been practiced by the crew with satisfactory outcomes before departing the naval base at Toejo-Dong
Returning to the shore on the 16th September the submarine failed to rendezvous with the agents and then had to return on the 17th but she ran aground and was unable to be freed by the crew.
This led to serious issues for the men aboard, they were a long way from home and deep in enemy territory with limited gear. Whilst the crew started a fire within the vessel to destroy the sensitive paperwork and equipment a plan was drawn up. Splitting into groups they went on the run however they were limited in what they had to hand so were hardly conspicuous in their movements. At 1:00 a.m. on the 18th they were spotted acting suspiciously and sticking out like a sore thumb by a local taxi driver, Lee Jin-Kyu, who duly reported it. How often do you see a group of men with military short hair cuts sat along the side of the road in the middle of the night? When he returned later he noticed that they had gone but when he walked along the coast he saw the submarine’s silhouette on the shore. This report was confirmed by a sentry from the 69th division at 2:00 a.m.
By 5:00 a.m. the Top Brass had come to have a look and put the region on high alert and up to 43,000 troops began scouring the area for the North Korean force.
That afternoon the executed bodies of the eleven crew men were found at Mount Gheonghak most likely murdered for failure and being responsible for the grounding of the submarine but also because they were unsuited to the situation they found themselves in and facing the high probability that they would get the agents captured. Should the crew be captured they would also more than likely crumble under interrogation. Analysis of the bodies showed they had all received two to three rounds from an AK-47 or TT pistol but there were no signs of resistance but of calmly awaiting death. The bodies of most of the men, including the Captain and the Vice director of the Maritime Department of North Korea, were all in a line wearing civilian clothes and white tennis shoes whilst the eleventh body, said to be a Colonel, was found a short distance away with his pistol still holstered. He would later be identified as the Director of the Maritime Department of the REBU.
Soon after agent, Lee Gwang Su, was arrested near Mojeon-ri by local police and was taken away by South Korean military officials for questioning where he revealed that the total number of North Koreans was actually twenty six and that the crew had also been sacrificed (or sacrificed themselves) to throw the South Koreans off the scent by tricking them into believing the crew had grounded their craft and then killed themselves and there had been no other agents aboard. This meant there was now fourteen operatives on the run.
On the 19th at 10:15 a.m. South Korean Army Rangers engaged and killed three of the North Korean operatives, who were in civilian clothes, near Mount Mandeok and another was killed near Mount Chilsung by soldiers from the 3rd Airbourne Brigade. Two of his comrades would die of their wounds in captivity. There was a final fatality at 16:10 near Mount Chilsung. Seven were left.
Helicopter patrols searching for the men trying to cross country managed to spot two men near Mount Cheonghak but on a second pass over they were not seen again having taken cover. On the 21st September the helicopters returned and began landing troops to scour the area.
The ROKA-SF Sergeant First Class Lee Byung-hee from 3rd Airborne Brigade was rappelling from a hovering helicopter, one of our teammates, who was already on the ground made eye contact with one of the two Gangbi (North Korean agents) who were hiding and staring at them. SFC Lee landed on the ground and at that moment one of the Gangbi opened fire. The bullet went straight through his head, killing him immediately. - Park Jae-eun of the Korean Army special forces.
Despite returning fire the two North Korean operatives managed to escape.
Two days later on the 23rd the North Korean government released a statement in response to the South Korean President’s comment that;
This is an armed provocation, not a simple repeat of infiltration of agents of the past… a real possibility of war - President Kim Young Sam.
The North Koreans stated that the submarine had suffered engine failure during a training exercise and grounded. The fire fight had been caused by the men being forced into enemy territory and this might lead to violence. They also demanded the return of the submarine, the survivors and the bodies of the dead but South Korea duly ignored this demand.
The submarine’s deputy commander was engaged and killed near Bogwang-ri on the 28th and another Operative was found and killed whilst hiding in a corn stack.
The infantry would all look up to the ROKA SF (Special Forces) who without fear would go and poke the whole mountains if we have to. That was how the Gangbi hiding in the corn stack was found by one of us - unknown Special Forces soldier
North Korea rattled the sabre again and threatened retaliation for the death of its agents and shortly after Choi Duk Keun, a South Korean diplomat in Vladivostok died after being poisoned with a substance that was usually carried by North Korean agents. Although nothing was proved it looked very coincidental…
Three of the Operatives were left and according to their diaries and notes they had spent a night playing video games at a ski resort 18 miles from the submarine’s grounding point. They also went on to take pictures of South Korean military facilities and eventually hiding in a shelter on a mountainside they had dug out by hand. They were heading north for the DeMiliterised Zone and made a lot of headway travelling either together or as a two and a one.
Tragically during the escape three civilians who were out gathering mushrooms stumbled on the Operative’s encampment and were brutally stabbed to death. One of the Operatives wrote in his pocket book that:
Punished three residents at 2.20 p.m. Oct. 8 on a hill.
They also claimed to had killed “one enemy” on the 21st September so must have been the two men who killed Sergeant Lee.
On the 19th October they reached Yangku Bridge but again the diary noted
Search troops everywhere. Seized food from an old house
On the 22nd October an off duty South Korean soldier was collecting bush clovers when he was ambushed and strangled to death by the two operatives. The following day they were sheltering at a farm past the Hankyeryong pass, about fifty three miles from where the submarine had beached.
On 5th November the two men were spotted by a motorist as they crossed a highway and the police were called. By the time the army picked up their trail they were approximately 12 miles from the border. By 10:30 p.m. the Operatives opened fire on the pursuing forces near Mount Hyangro . In the ensuing fire fight there were three fatalities and fourteen wounded by grenades before the Operatives were killed. They were found wearing South Korean uniforms and carrying ROK standard issue M-16 rifles, handguns and grenades. Their camera reels and diaries were also taken away for analysis.
Allegedly only Li Chul Jin escaped across the DMZ to North Korea.
The forty nine day man hunt which had cost the South Korean Military eight killed in action four killed in accidents and twenty seven wounded on top of the unfortunate civilians and off duty soldier, was finally over.
North Korea would release the following statement on the 29th December.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK is authorized to express deep regret for the submarine incident in the coastal waters of Kangnung, South Korea, in September 1996 that caused the tragic loss of human life. The DPRK will make efforts to ensure that such an incident will not recur and will work with others for durable peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula
The remains of the fallen North Koreans were returned to their government whilst South Korea carried out a top down review that saw two Generals removed from their positions, twenty officers and men being censured for negligence and the Navy having its knuckles rapped for failing to detect the submarine in the first place!
The submarine was towed away to Tonghae for study on the 22nd September and was later installed as a tourist attraction which you can go and visit - they will even supply you with a helmet!
