Kim Shin-jo was a North Korean soldier and defector who was one of two survivors of the 31-man team of North Korean commandos, known as Unit 124, sent to assassinate the then-president of South Korea and military dictator, Park Chung-hee, in the Blue House raid in January 1968.
11 Facts About Kim Shin-jo
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Kim Shin-jo described himself as being deeply communist in ideology to a "fanatical" level during that period of his life.
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However, the captain of the raid, Kim Shin-jo Jong-ung, refused, saying they would not be able to bury the bodies because the ground was frozen.
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Kim Shin-jo felt he had done nothing with his life up to that point, and preferred to stay alive rather than follow the order to retreat.
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The only other survivor besides Kim, Pak Jae-gyong, made it back to North Korea, but Kim Shin-jo was captured by South Korean forces, surrendering in a house in Inwang Mountain near Seoul.
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Kim Shin-jo was detained for a year during which he was interrogated by the South Korean authorities before being released and becoming a citizen of South Korea in 1970, when they said they were satisfied that he had simply been "following orders"; his cooperation with them was a factor in his release.
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South Korean officials and North Korean defectors who talked with Kim Shin-jo claimed that when news of his South Korean citizenship reached North Korean authorities, his parents were executed and his relatives were purged.
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Pak Jae-gyong 8.
Kim Shin-jo was ordained as a pastor in 1997 and worked at Sungrak Sambong Church in Gyeonggi Province.
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Kim Shin-jo met his wife as a penpal during his detention, and initially feared she was a North Korean assassin and sleeper agent coming after him.
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Kim Shin-jo later convinced him to convert to her faith, and six months after he was released without charges they were married.
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Kim Shin-jo died in Seoul on 9 April 2025, at the age of 82.