Gen. MacArthur and Colonel Geh In Ju - The Inchon Landing

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      Gen. MacArthur and Colonel Geh In Ju
      ROKA Col. Geh In Ju


Given below is an English abstract of Col. Geh In Ju's autobiography.
Although Col. Geh played major roles - as Korea's  intelligence (HID) chief,
chief of counter-spy units, chief of police of various key regions, the
Korean commander of KLO (Korean Liaisons Office - US intelligence service in
Korea in the 40's and 50s) - few historians know about his contributions.
Lee Wha Rang, 06/03/2002, Columbus, Ohio.

Geh In Ju (1998), Gen. MacArthur and Colonel Geh In Ju

 Dain Media, Seoul, Korea (ISBN 89-87956-09-8)

<http://www.kimsoft.com/>


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Who was Geh In Je?
Photo: Geh In Ju, as a cadet at the Manchukuo Military Academy

  a.. 1913 -  Geh In Ju was born in North Pyongahn Province.  His father was
an elder of a Presbyterian church.

  b.. Graduated from Manchukuo Military Academy (4th class)

  c.. 1940 - Served as the military attaché in Tokyo.

  d.. 1946 - Chief of police Suwon, Sungdong, East Gate district (Seoul),

  e.. 1948 - HID commander and deputy chief of ROKA G-2

  f.. August 1950 - commander of Younghung-do operation to collect
intelligence for the Inchon landing,

  g.. September 15, 1950 - commanded Palmido operation that guided the
Inchon invasion armada

  h.. October 1950 - Daewha-do Operation, awarded US Presidential Decree of
Legionnaire #245

  i.. 1951 - Korean commander of KLO

  j.. 1954 - emigrated to Japan and ran a tea house

  k.. August 1972 - emigrated to the US

  l.. Died on January 4, 1998


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Sin Sung Mo, Rhee's Defense Minister, was a Communist.
In 1948, the Republic of Korea was established and Rhee Syngman appointed
Sin Sung Mo, his defense minister.  My relations with Sin began when I
released Sin's son from jail a few months earlier.  The Sin junior was
arrested by the police for supporting Yo Un Hyong in Suwon and was awaiting
for his punishment when I took over the Suwon police station.  Upon learning
why he was in jail, I got enraged and released him. The young Sin was
grateful and tried to 'take care' of me, which was the beginning of my
downfall.

When Sin Sung Mo became the all-powerful defense minister, the younger Sin
arranged a meeting with his father and I. Sin Sung Mo's idea of paying back
his son's IOU was to make me his personal aid, which offended my pride.  I
was put in charge of ROKA's intelligence unit and, ironically, I ran across
evidence that linked Sin Sung Mo to agents in North Korea.

My HID's budget was secret and no money was spent without my approval. The
budget was quite generous and I was more or less free to spend it in any
ways I wanted.  It seemed that I had more than enough and my superiors
wanted me to donate money to their pockets.  The defense minister, the army
chief of staff, men from Rhee Syngman's office, politicians, and so on,
wanted to lay their hands on my HID money.   I refused to obey orders of
this nature.  But I admit I was generous with my subordinates.  For example,
Park Jung Hee, the future president, worked for me at the time, and he was
always short of money. Park would come to me and plead: "Sir, I need some
wine-money (sul-don)" and he would stick his beggar's hand out.  Park was
several years junior to me at the Manchukuo Military Academy and looked up
to me as an elder brother.

Once we caught a North Korean agent who had 5 crisp T-notes (a T-note refers
to a $1,000 denomination).  Somehow, Sin Sung Mo found out about the money
and had me come to his office for a private meeting. To my utmost surprise
and disgust, Sin asked me to accompany him to see Rhee's wife, Francesca.
Sin said that because she had lived in America on shoestring budgets for so
long and had never seen a T-note in her life, five T-notes as a gift from
the military would please her and her husband. I got angry at Sin and
refused his request.  My esteem for Sin Sung Mo hit the rock bottom.

Soon after, I came upon intelligence that linked Sin to North Korean spies.
I needed a smoking gun proof to nail the Defense Minister and forged a
letter with Sing Sung Mo's faked signature and gave it to a double agent to
deliver it a North Korean spymaster.  Unfortunately, the agent was captured
by police before he could cross the 38th.  The police found my fake letter
and Sin Sung Mo was duly informed.  Soon after I was transferred to an
officers' training school and Sin's secret agents dogged me.  I was doomed.

Several weeks later, the Korean War broke out and Gen. Chai made me the
Kimpo area commander.  When I got there, I could count only 10 fighting men
still there and so, I called Chai for reenforcement and Chai dispatched a
company under LTC. Wu. I was ordered back to his HQ for another assignment.
The sooner I got to the HQ, Chai's deputy, Gen. Kim Baik Il, ordered me to
go back to Kimpo!  I told Kim that I just came from Kimpo and that I had no
troops with me to help Col. Wu at Kimpo.  Kim said - "Oh - then hang around
here until I find a job for you."  Soon after, the HQ was kicked out of
Seoul by the enemy and had to move to Daejun.

By this time, Sin Sung Mo fired Gen. Chai and appointed Gen. Jung Il Kwon
the ROKA commander. Chai was demoted to  command the rear-area forces, which
existed only on paper.  I became Chai's deputy and we setup our HQ in Pusan
putting together a defense army.  Before long, a squad of ROKA MPs showed up
and took me to Sin Sung Mo's office in Daejun. Sin was on an inspection tour
when I arrived and told the MPs to hold me there until he got back.  I knew
that Sin got me this time and there was no escaping for me.  He would have
me shot as a communist spy.

Then, a miracle happened: an American colonel, LTC. Streckin (sp?), burst in
with his pistol drawn and demanded my release. He told the MPs that the US
8th Army wanted me right now.  But the MPs would not budge and told the
American that there must be an order from a Korean officer.  The American
phoned the 8th Army HQ chief-of-staff, who phoned Jung Il Kwon, the ROKA
chief of staff, who gave the MPs an oral order to release me.  Thus, my neck
was saved by the Americans.  The Americans wanted to milk me of the
intelligence I had on North Korea.  I told the Americans that the only way
to turn the tide was an Inchon landing.  This impressed the Americans so
much so that I was flown to Tokyo to brief Gen. MacArthur himself.

The Inchon Operation.
Gen. MacArthur ordered me to help plan the Inchon landing. In August 1950,
my detachment including US Navy Lt. Clark, radio operators, ROKN LTC. Yun
Jung  and I left Sasebo, Japan, on a British destroyer.  To my surprise,
there was a 30-men contingent of KLOs on board.  Some of the men were from
Soul's Myongdong area noted for gangs.  In fact, many of the KLOs were
gangsters.  Even though I did not recognize any of them, some of them did
know me. My HID HQ was in Myongdong and they knew that I used to command
HID.

KLO (Korea Liaison Office) was established by Gen. MacArthur's staff on June
1, 1949 under US Army Col. Rutshon (sp?).  KLO recruited and trained agents
who were parachuted in North Korea for intelligence collection.  At one
time, KLO had ten 'detachments', each headed by an American officer and a
Korean commander.  Most of these detachments engaged in nothing but spy
operations.  Some of the American officers were more interested in getting
laid and lining their pockets. Many of the KLO members were street gangsters
who used KLO as a shield to further their gang activities. The Korean police
were under strict orders not to interfere with KLO.  KLO gangsters were free
to murder, rob and rape at will.

It was a warm summer day and Lt. Clark and I stood on the deck enjoying the
fresh air when Yun Jung came over and asked Clark what my duty was.  Clark
told me him that I was in charge of the operation.  Near our destination of
Younghung-do, we were transferred to a small ROKN ship #70 during the
darkness of the night.  We landed on the island without any opposition.

Photo: Geh In Ju (far right) and company on a landing exercise near
Younghung-do.

We found some refugees from the mainland on the island and they gave us
valuable intelligence. Tokyo demanded more current intelligence and we
formed a spy team made of the KLO members.  They were good with fists and
had much 'courage' fighting unarmed opponents but they proved to be cowardly
and unreliable for spy missions.

Our first spy team of KLO members did not even attempt to land at Inchon and
came back empty handed.  Lt. Clark was fuming mad and wanted to machine-gun
them before they came ashore.  I told him that we needed them in case of an
enemy attack.

We were not able to collect any fresh intelligence for several days but then
our luck turned.  We ran into a small boat carrying Choe Gyu Bong, a KLO
detachment leader.  He was looking to rescue a Miss. Mo Yun Sookt.  I told
him that we had more important thing to do and invited him to join us and he
gladly accepted my invitation.  Choe had a capable spy, Lee Chul, with him
and we sent Lee to Seoul on a spy mission. Lee came back with many bits of
intelligence Tokyo wanted.  In this sense, Choe was God-sent and restored my
faith in KLO - not all KLOs were bad.

A few days before the September 15 landing, we moved to Palmido. Originally,
my plan was to send Choe and his men to Palmido but our spies told us of an
impending attack on Younghung-do and I decided to move all personnel  to
Palmido. In fact, the island was reoccupied by the enemy soon after we left
it.  On September 14, we were ordered to light up the beacon for the
invasion armada, which we did without any problem. Soon after lighting up
the beacon, I fell sleep.  Sometime in the morning, I was awakened by Choe -
'Look at those ships approaching us!"  The ocean was full of ships of all
kinds and sizes.

I jumped in a boat and climbed up the command ship.  Gen. MacArthur shook my
hand and thanked me for a job well done.   I got to watch the landing
operation with the great general.

KLO Commander
Several days after the Inchon landing, I was ordered back to Tokyo. I
boarded a troop carrier at Inchon and arrived at Yokosuka. A staff car took
me to Tokyo for a meeting with Gen. MacArthur.  He told me that Chinese were
about to intervene and ordered me to organize guerrilla units and also to
establish a base on Daewha-do, a small island at the mouth of Yalu.  Soon
after the meeting, I was flown to Seoul and I began to recruit partisans.

Photo: Geh In Ju. KLO commander (1951).

I was able to get about 150 men in a few weeks and there was a mountain of
supplies and weapons for us waiting at Inchon. We had the top priority.  Our
first mission was to occupy Baikrying-do, which we accomplished after
overcoming some minor enemy resistance. We boarded ROKN #702 and headed
toward Daewha-do.

To my disbelief, Lt. Clark, who was still with us, asked me to stop by
Sinmi-do first.  He said that there was a bank on the island with gold bars
and he wanted the gold bars. I refused to go along and proceeded to
Daewha-do.   This island had no harbor and we had to scale rocky cliffs to
reach the island interior, which had a few farm houses and some pigs. I
managed to send the first team of spies to China and I was about to send the
second team when I was ordered to abandon the island immediately.  Gen.
MacArthur was fired.

I was ordered back to Tokyo again and put to work as an intelligence
analyst.  I was bored - for I was not cut out to be an analyst and asked to
be sent back to Korea.  Col. Rutshon, who commanded KLO at the time, had a
job for me.  He told me that the KLO members were too tough to control for
him and that he needed a Korean commander to clean up KLO.  I accepted the
job. As I mentioned earlier, there were ten KLO detachments and they were
more intent on pleasure and gang activities than spying.

I dismantled unproductive detachments and set up a training school for
agents. I weeded out gangsters and opportunists looking to make money. I
ended up with three KLO detachments - also called cells or agits. I put Choe
Gyu Bong in charge of a cell because of his meritorious service on
Palami-do.

On paper, each cell was commanded by an American officer and a Korean
commander.  But the Americans knew next to nothing about spying and I cut
back on their command authority.  The Americans saluted me but I was sure
that they hated me because I had ruined their Shangri-la.  The Americans
were blood-thirsty: their panacea was to shoot first and ask questions
later.  When an enemy agent was captured, their order was to shoot.
Likewise, when our agents were suspected, the Americans wanted to shoot them
on the spot.  I ordered them to stop this practice.

One day Col. Van Pool came to see me and asked me to command the guerrilla
units being formed under KLO. I told him that I had more than I could handle
at the time and turned him down.  Consequently, Col. Lee Soon Young was
chosen to command the KLO guerrilla units.  This Col. Lee was quite a
character.  He was the 9th ROKA officer to be commissioned - that is, his
ROKA serial number was 9.  He was a heavy drinker and had no firm conviction
on anything. He was an opportunist.

Once Lee came to see me on a personal matter. His wife left him and moved to
Tokyo. He asked me to arrange so that he could go to Tokyo and see his wife.
This fellow could not manage a woman let alone a bunch of rowdy guerrillas!
Col. Alexander was the American commander of the KLO partisans at the time
and this man was also a heavy drinker and unqualified to command guerrillas.
Street gangsters were promised the pie in the sky and commissioned to
'captains' and 'lieutenants'. These 'officers' in turn shanghaied high
school kids to fill out team quotas.  The poor kids were beaten up and then
their heads were shaven, after which there were trucked to the secret
training camp at Sokcho, Kangwon Province.

Before long, Rhee Syngman got wind of these illegal activities of Col. Lee
and Col. Alexander. Rhee exploded and ordered: "Shoot and kill all KLO
bastards!"  And stories of KLO atrocities hit the front pages and a
nationwide witch hunt began.   The guerrillas took over choice homes in
Seoul and busied themselves robbing the rich and kidnapping and raping young
women of Seoul - all behind the shield of national security.  I warned Col.
Lee to clean up his boys or else. He ignored my warning and continued
drinking and partying with Col. Alexander.  I could not stomach this anymore
and led armed men and shut down Col. Lee's party houses.  I disarmed and
disbanded many of the gangster partisans.

On February 15, 1951, Rhee imposed a currency reform to fight the rampant
inflation.  Col. Lee had an advance knowledge of the reform and saw a golden
opportunity to get rich quick. He collected old money from Seoul merchants,
converted them into the new currency in the name of KLO, and then collected
a fat fee from the merchants.  Lee's illegal act was uncovered by ROKA MPs
and he was arrested.

I was relieved from my KLO command.  Kim Sang Duk (not the real name) was a
cabinet-level figure in North Korea and came south to reorganized communist
organizations shattered in 1950. I had him arrested.  The Americans wanted
to kill him but I kept him alive so that he could be turned to spy for us.
I had him stay at my house and treated him with much respect and affection.
Finally, he agreed to work for us and so I sent him back to North Korea.  A
whistle-blower reported this act of 'treason' and I was fired.

I was discharged from ROKA soon after the armistice of July 27, 1953.  Even
though men who were years junior to me wore stars, I was still a lowly
colonel - thanks to my nemesis, Sin Sung Mo, the 'defense' minister. It was
time for me to say goodbye to Korea.