Ahn Doo-hee

Ahn Doo-hee (alternative spelling: Ahn Doo-whi) (1917 in Ryongchon County – 23 October 1996) carried out the assassination of nationalist Korean leader Kim Koo on June 26, 1949. Officially, it is maintained that Ahn Doo-hee acted alone, although some have theorized that Ahn was part of a broader conspiracy.^[1] Ahn died at the hands of a follower of Kim Koo in 1996.

Kim was at home, reading poetry, when Ahn, a lieutenant in the South Korean Army, burst in and shot him four times.^[2] For the assassination, Ahn was convicted and sentenced to a term of life in prison; however, shortly thereafter, his sentence was commuted to a term of 15-years by then newly elected Korean president Syngman Rhee. At his trial, Ahn maintained that he was solely responsible for the assassination.

At the outset of the Korean War in 1950, Ahn was released from prison, having served only one year of his 15-year sentence. Upon his release, Ahn was re-instated as a military officer. After serving under Rhee during the Korean War, Ahn was discharged in 1953, having attained the rank of colonel. After Syngman Rhee fled Korea in response to the April Revolution of 1960, Ahn went into hiding, living under an assumed name.^[3]

On April 13, 1992, a confession by Ahn was published by Korean newspaper Dongah Ilbo. In the confession, Ahn claimed that the assassination of Kim had been ordered by Kim Chang-ryong, who served as the head of national security under the Rhee administration.^[4]

After many years of living as an exile in his native country, and having never served the remainder of his prison sentence, Ahn was assassinated by Park Gi-seo, follower of Kim Koo in October 1996. The weapon used to kill Ahn was a wooden club inscribed with the words, "Justice Stick". Ahn was 79 years old at the time.^[5] He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in Han River.

In 2001, declassified United States military documents dating from 1949 revealed that Ahn had been an informant and, later, an agent, for the U.S. Counter-Intelligence Corps (US CIC) in Korea. Those documents also revealed that Ahn was a member of the extremist nationalist group known as the White Clothes Party ("baikyi-sa" in Korean).^[6][7]

References

1. ↑ Kim Gu's Assassin, Ahn Doo Whi, was an American Agent: http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/kimgu-cic.htm Archived June 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
2. ↑ Lankov, Andrei (September 4, 2008). "What Happened to Kim Ku?". Korea Times. 
3. ↑ Lankov, Andrei (September 4, 2008). "What Happened to Kim Ku?". Korea Times. 
4. ↑ Jager, Sheila Miyoshi (2013). Brothers at War – The Unending Conflict in Korea. London: Profile Books. pp. 48, 496. ISBN 978-1-84668-067-0. 
5. ↑ Jager, Sheila Miyoshi (2013). Brothers at War – The Unending Conflict in Korea. London: Profile Books. p. 496. ISBN 978-1-84668-067-0. 
6. ↑ The Cilley Report: Background Information on Kim Gu's Assassination: http://www.kimsoft.com/2002/cilley.htm Archived April 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
7. ↑ Jager, Sheila Miyoshi (2013). Brothers at War – The Unending Conflict in Korea. London: Profile Books. p. 496. ISBN 978-1-84668-067-0.