50 Facts About Yeom Dong-jin

Yeom Dong-jin, known as Yeom Eung-taek, was a Korean far-right militant and independence activist.

Yeom Dong-jin was the main founder and leader of the White Shirts Society, a secret fascist terrorist organization that assassinated several Korean politicians.

Jung Byung Joon has found a number of critical contemporary records on Yeom Dong-jin and published notable works on him over a period of several decades.

Yeom Dong-jin was born Yeom Dong-jin Eung-taek on February 14,1909, at 82 Ch'ohyon-ri, Chunghwa County, Pyongyang, South Pyongan Province, Korean Empire.

Yeom Dong-jin was the third son of father Yeom Do-yeol.

Yeom Dong-jin then enrolled in a regular course at the Sunrin Commercial School in Seoul on April 1,1926, and graduated at age 22 in March 1931.

Yeom Dong-jin then left Korea to join the Korean Provisional Government in exile in Shanghai.

Yeom Dong-jin received a letter of recommendation from Sin Ik-hui and was approved for membership by Ji, making him the first student to enroll in the course.

However, he maintained that Yeom Dong-jin was ideologically more aligned with Ji than with Kim.

The course ended on April 9,1935, and Yeom Dong-jin was among the 62 students who graduated.

In June 1935, they created a militant arm of the organization, of which Yeom Dong-jin served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Yeom Dong-jin taught arithmetic and geometry, and himself aspired to enter Nanjing University.

All sources agree that around this time, Yeom Dong-jin became associated with the Blue Shirts Society, a secret militant fascist group within the KMT.

All sources agree that Yeom Dong-jin, while working on intelligence gathering tasks for the KMT in Manchuria, was captured and tortured around 1936 or 1937.

Yeom Dong-jin was then tortured, which caused his eyesight to deteriorate.

Under duress from the torture, Yeom Dong-jin then agreed to become a spy on behalf of the Japanese.

Yeom Dong-jin told Cilley that, due to Kim Ku's betrayal, he had been captured, tortured, and blinded by the Chinese Communist Party.

However, Jung noted it was still likely that Yeom Dong-jin divulged potentially dangerous information about other independence activists.

From June 1940 to March 1944, [Yeom Dong-jin] gathered information on the operations, movement, communication, supplies of food and ammunition, and status of the Chinese and Koreans of the underground organizations and anti-Japanese groups in the [Chinese] Northeast.

Lee claimed that Yeom Dong-jin's spying even continued past the liberation of Korea in 1945, as he reportedly met with Japanese Sergeant Arakawa Takezo in mid-1946.

The theory that Yeom Dong-jin was a double-agent was originally proposed in Lee Yeong-shin's 1993 book.

Yeom Dong-jin eventually returned to Pyongyang, but it is unknown specifically when, with years ranging from 1940 to 1944.

Yeom Dong-jin founded and led the anti-communist group Daedongdan in August 1944, which was the direct predecessor to the 1945 White Shirts Society.

Yeom Dong-jin is widely suspected to have ordered the September 3,1945, murder of Hyon Chun-hyok, the leader of a branch of the Communist Party of Korea.

Yeom Dong-jin was arrested in suspicion of being linked to the murder.

Yeom Dong-jin was eventually released after his wife pleaded with Soviet General Andrei Romanenko for leniency.

Kim and [Yeom Dong-jin], who were independence fighters together in Manchuria, returned to Seoul after the Liberation.

In Seoul, Yeom Dong-jin recommended the reformed group use the name "White Shirts Society", which he had favored for a while for its relation to both the Blue Shirts and the historical white clothes of Korean commoners.

Around this point, Yeom Dong-jin became extremely secretive, and refused to tell even his closest associates his schedule.

Yeom Dong-jin required anyone who wished to meet him to meet him alone.

Yeom Dong-jin even avoided telling members the identity of other members.

Cilley claimed Yeom Dong-jin had a fearsome reputation, with the nickname of the "Blind General".

Yeom Dong-jin did not evacuate from the city during the fighting.

Yeom Dong-jin was possibly captured or killed during this period, but the time, location, and cause of his death is unknown.

At the Luoyang Military Academy, Yeom Dong-jin had been part of a faction of students that accused Kim and the KPG of embezzling funds meant for students.

Cilley even noted that Yeom Dong-jin had a seemingly contradictory attitude towards Kim, as he alternated between high praise and harsh criticism.

Ahn rejected the theory that Yeom Dong-jin ordered Kim's assassination, based on other evidence about their relationship and Kim's generally positive reception within the WSS.

Yeom Dong-jin is remembered for his theorized connection to the "political gangster" Kim Du-han.

At Oh's house, Yeom Dong-jin persuaded Kim to join the right-wing.

Yeom Dong-jin appealed to the fact that Kim's father, Kim Chwa-chin, had been killed by communists.

Sin Ik-hui invited Yeom Dong-jin to join a group of underground political activists in the KPG that he had founded in December 1945, but Yeom Dong-jin declined in order to avoid putting Sin's political career at risk.

Yeom Dong-jin was associated with Yu Chin-san, whom he regularly met.

Yeom Dong-jin taught at the Seomun Girls' High School in Pyongyang.

Yeom Dong-jin left for the South before Choi, and she eventually followed.

Yeom Dong-jin had a nephew through his sister, Kim Jong-jin.

Kim gave several interviews about Yeom Dong-jin, including one for a 2002 episode of the South Korean documentary series Now I Can Say It.

Yeom Dong-jin was seen as charismatic and larger-than-life by many of his contemporaries.

Yeom Dong-jin was reportedly skilled at judo, and became a black belt before he graduated from Sunrin.

Yeom Dong-jin wore black glasses at all times after going blind.

Yeom Dong-jin spoke to Cilley without the use of a translator, although he used a translator with other foreigners.