The Cilley Report, as documented by Korea WebWeekly.
Evidence that the US Counter Intelligence Corps worked closely with Korean terrorist groups that had assassinated prominent Korean leaders such as Kim Gu.
Secret – 3rd Class. The First Army Command, Governors Island, New York 4. N.Y., 573339
AHFKBOPN GEC/ak July 1, 1949
Korea WebWeekly Editor’s note: A team of researchers of the Korean History Compilation Committee (Seoul) came to the United States in 2001 looking for US government documents that relate to Korea. They found several sensitive documents filed by the US Counter Intelligence Corps in Korea, including documents that indicate some of the top leaders of South Korean Communists had worked for the US and that the CIC worked closely with the Korean terrorists implicated in assassinations of prominent Korean leaders – Kim Gu, Yo Un Hyong, and many others.
Given below is the so-called Cilley report on Kim Gu’s assassination. It was translated into English from a Korean translation of the original in English with some parts taken from the original. It seems Maj. Cilley had not checked Yum’s past records. Contrary to Yum’s claim, he did not graduate from a Chinese military academy and he was arrested and tortured, not by the Chinese but, by the Japanese. Yum was an informer for the Japanese police until 1945, when he became an “ardent” anti-communist.
Subject: Background Information on Kim Gu’s Assassination
To: US Army Front HQ – Intelligence Chief, Washington 25, DC.
Reference: A summary of information on the assassination of Kim Gu is attached for the intelligence staff.
Signed George E. Cilley, Major, GSC, Chief of Operation, on behalf of the Deputy Chief of Staff Intelligence.
Attachment 1: Summary Report (S/I)(1949.6 29) Subject: same as above Class 3 secret War Dept 573339 The First Army Command (HQ), New York, NY 4, Governors Island (report destination) Reported on June 28, 1949.
Abstract: I, working as a member of the US CIC in Korea, have met many Koreans as part of my official duty. Amongst the Koreans I have met, Yum Dong Jin (aka Yum Ung Taek) was the most colorful and the most malignant. Yum was known as the ‘Blind General’ in some quarters.
This man lost his eyesight as a result of tortures at the hand of the Chinese Communist security personnel. He was betrayed to the Communist by a Korean compatriot he trusted and respected. The man who betrayed him was no other than Kim Gu, one of the most revered Korean nationalist leaders. In spite of his attempt to instigate dissention among the officers of the Korean Army, Kim Gu remains as popular as ever.
Yum leads an organization that has depth and reach that few people can possibly imagine. He avoids expressing his opinion and seldom brings up matters concerning his staff. Those who are safe from his retribution consider his organization nothing but a vast underground network of assassins, murderous gangsters and ultra-nationalist lunatics.
Mr. Yum trusted me and gave me numerous bits of valuable intelligence data, including highly sensitive information that could be relayed only orally. He has established a huge underground network of anti-communists with Fascist leaning. Most of his followers are Kim Gu supporters. His network extends to South and North Korea, Manchuria and all regions of China. In spite of limited funds, he manages to complete operations. It is unknown how he maintains contacts with his agents. His primary mission is to assassinate Communists and anyone opposed to the Korean nationalist government.
His agents come from all walks of life in Korea – army, coastal guard, custom agents, police, government employees, politicians of all parties, merchants, industrialists, smugglers, farmers and the populace in general. Most of his agents are young and belong to various youth organizations of all political stripes. Most of his agents belong to the ‘Special Attack Corps’ of the ‘Revolutionary Bureau’. They are organized into cells of four agents and a corps has 5 cells. These agents are sworn to obey orders to kill any one who stands in the way of reviving Korean nationalism and democratic Korea. They are sworn to die for their cause if necessary.
Ahn Du Hee was one of Yum’s agents belonging to Cell #1 of the Special Attack Corps. I have known Ahn as an informer of the CIC in Korea and later as its agent. Ahn had sworn in blood to assassinate, were he ordered to do so by Yum. There has been no report of confirmation or denial, but the assassination of Chang Duk Soo and Yo Un Hyong, two prominent Korean political leaders, was believed to be by this underground organization.
I have known Mr. Yum for approximately 20 months in close contacts, and during this period, he had never betrayed a confidence. I have known that he was fluent in English, German, French, Japanese and Chinese. I have been present at times when he conducted interviews with Americans, throughout which he always used a translator. He never spoke in English to anyone except myself, according to him as well as the observation of others close to him. His organization is known as Baikyi-sa or the ‘White Clothes Party’ or the ‘White Clothes Society’. The Korean people are known as the White Clothe people because of their traditional dress which is a curious style predominantly white in color. The name of the organization also implies that its members are from all spectrum of the Korean life. The members are sworn to uphold secrecy over the individual tasks assigned to them.
Yum has had several close calls during our working relationship but he has never reported these incidents to the police or made them public. He is surrounded by more than sixty guards who are sworn to die protecting him. They guard him day and night, 24 hours every day.
Mr. Yum and Mr. Kim Gu maintain secret relation and contacts with each other. Mr. Yum had played the role of an intermediary between the rightist dissidents in the Korean army and Mr. Kim Gu. These dissidents are mostly senior officers. Reports to the CIC HQ were secretly leaked to these dissidents. Once I had personally tracked a report that was handled by key Korean employees of the CIC. It had made to the Korean Army G-2 and a copy was en route to Kim Gu when it was intercepted. Since then, written reports were seldom used and. instead, reports were made orally to the CIC HQ commander and to the section chiefs of the South Chulla Province and Kwangju.
In reference to Kim Gu’s assassination, the document attached below implicates both Kim Gu and Yum in a coup plot by the rightist dissidents in the army to topple Rhee Syngman’s government. The coup plot involved stirring up disturbances in Hwang-hae, North and South Pyongahn Provinces of North Korea.
CIC Detachment, Kwnagju District, Military Post 235, November 12, 1948.
Subject: Rightist Activities in South Korea.
To: Commander, 971 CIC Detachment
1) November 9, 1948 Report.
Subject: Rightist activities in South Korea. Refer to the stage 3 of the suspected plan. The information given below was given to us in an apparent attempt to sound out our position on a coup being planned by the rightist officers of the Korean army, supported by influential politicians. This information was reported to us by a key leader of the coup plotters. They are not leftists but show marked Fascist inclination.
2) A key staff member of the Kwangju detachment has developed a close working relationship, while working on a CIC assignment, with a certain civilian in Seoul. When he was transferred to Kwangju, that civilian wrote him a personal letter of introduction to the commander of the 5th Regiment of the Korean Army. which was stationed in Kwangju. Such was the close relationship between that person in Seoul and the staff member.
3) That civilian claimed that he was a close personal friend of Kim Gu but some people say that his hatred for Kim Gu was as intense as his hatred for Rhee Syngman’s people who refuse to recognize that person’s contributions to Korea’s independence. He wants a Korean government much stronger and more nationalistic that Rhee Syngman’s government. Our staff member is currently receiving information from the 4th Regiment commander via his friend in Seoul.
4) The senior officers of the 4th Regiment have discussed the desirability of establishing a government more militant led by Kim Gu. That possibility does exist. According to their plan, Kim Gu’s government would be a Fascist government and nationalist elements of the North Korean army would purge pro-Soviet officers and then link up with Kim Gu’s new army led by nationalists. Our man admits that because of America’s strong backing of Rhee Syngman, it would be unfeasible to topple Rhee at this time.
5) “Our man” mentioned above is a civilian well known to some staff members of the CIC in Korea. One of the most striking things about him is that, although he refrains from criticizing Rhee Syngman, he has criticized Kim Gu vehemently. He does give Kim Gu credits for his military and political abilities. He says that if Kim Gu gains power in Korea, he will raise an army of two million men trained by Japan and the US and, if necessary, cross the 38th Parallel and take over North Korea.
This civilian has worked well for the CIC: he is well versed in military science and tactics. He has studied Clausewitz’s writings extensively. He graduated from the Chungking Military College and formed the core of his present organization in 1935. He has agents in the army, navy and all other organizations. Most of his agents worked for the CIC from 1947 to 1948. I kept his identity concealed in my reports above fearing they may fall into Korean hands.
Our man, the civilian in Seoul, is Yum Dong Jin, the head of Baikyi-sa.
This was originally from: https://web.archive.org/web/20070418012454/http://www.kimsoft.com/2002/cilley.htm
As noted, the document in this article was translated to english from korean, which was had translated the Cilley document from english to korean.
A relevant article which mentions the Cilly Report can be found here: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2003/01/05/socialAffairs/Assassin-of-Kim-Gu-Had-Links-Both-to-US-and-to-Terror-Unit/1894423.html