Yeom Dong-jin (Korean: 廉東振; February 14, 1909 – June 25, 1950) was a Korean independence activist and the leader of the [[Secret society|secret society]] [[Baekeuisa]], a far-right, alternative-right organization during the post-liberation political turmoil. His birth name was Yeom Eung-taek (廉應澤).
Born~Died Feb 14, 1902 ~ Jun 25, 1950Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 2:51 PM
He was also active as a member of the National Revolutionary Party, but later became a close associate of Kim Gu. His relationship with Kim Gu was marked by both affection and hostility. He served in the Chinese army.2 After liberation, however, he organized the Baekeuisa and supported Kim Gu's line.
He was active in China, and after returning home he opposed the Soviet Union's military government and moved south. After the establishment of the Republic of Korea government, he, together with Kim Gu, planned a coup to overthrow the government of Syngman Rhee.3 However, the attempt failed due to the Korean War, and he was abducted by the Korean People's Army and taken north. His whereabouts after going north are unknown. His birth name was Yeom Eung-taek, his alias was Yo Chun-taek, and some members of Baekeuisa knew him by the pen name Dong-jin. He was from South Pyongan Province and his family seat was Paju.
Life
Early life
Yeom Dong-jin was born on February 14, 1902 or 1909, in South Pyongan Province, as the third son of Yeom Do-yeol (廉道悅). His birth name was (廉應澤).
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Little is known about his childhood. In March 1931, at age 22, he graduated from Sunrin Commercial High School, after which he went into exile in China. On February 25, 1934, he entered the Korean class of the Luoyang Military Academy, and in April 1935 he graduated from it.
Independence movement
He joined the National Revolutionary Party and was active in Nanjing. According to a report on the movements of the party's executive members compiled by the police department of the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, Yeom Dong-jin was classified as neutral, not belonging to any faction. The last official record of him is that in the winter of 1935 he went to North China in opposition to the organization of the National Revolutionary Party, and little information about him after that is available. According to his nephew Kim Jong-jin, Yeom became disillusioned with factional strife and judged that it would be better to work for his fellow Koreans, so he went from Nanjing to Manchuria and North China.
In February 1936, he was arrested by the Kwantung Army at Sanseong-jin. It is said that he went blind from torture at that time. Afterward, there were claims that Yeom cooperated with the Kwantung Army, but no materials related to this are known. Meanwhile, his nephew Kim Jong-jin said that he had no connection with independence activists. Around 1940, Yeom was released by the Kwantung Army and returned to Pyongyang. Professor Jeong Byeong-jun of Mokpo National University argues that his cooperation with the Kwantung Army was his weakness and starting point, but since there are no records after his arrest by the Kwantung Army, there is controversy over whether he collaborated with Japan.
Hong Chan-sik, chief editorial writer of a newspaper, said that some testimonies that he became a Japanese intelligence agent after being captured by the Japanese army in 1937 have no concrete basis. On the contrary, there are also testimonies that, because he was tortured after being arrested and lost his sight, Japan could not make use of him. The fact that in the early 1940s he took part in the Daedong-dan, an underground independence group in Pyongyang, also casts doubt on the "spy theory." Hong described it as hasty to label as a traitor to the nation a man who had devoted himself to the independence movement for a long time, based only on the gap in his activities from 1937 to 1940.4 The progressive civic group Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities has stated that the standard for collaboration is that those who collaborated first and resisted later are considered resistors.5
In 1943, in Pyongyang, he founded the anti-Japanese secret society Daedong-dan together with Park Go-bong, a disciple of Manggong.
Post-liberation period
After liberation, when the Soviet Army occupied the country, he opposed the atrocities of looting and sexual assault of women, and assassinated Hyeon Jun-hyuk. Later, as Soviet surveillance intensified, he moved south.
After moving south to Seoul, Yeom Dong-jin established a hideout in Nakwon-dong and renamed the Daedong-dan as the Baekeuisa, meaning "White-clad people" (the White-Clad Nation). He expanded hideouts in several places in Seoul, including Hyoja-dong and Gungjeong-dong, recruited members, and operated as a secret society in which even members could not easily recognize one another, carrying on fierce anti-communist activities. In cooperation with the political operations corps of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, he attempted to assassinate figures including Kim Il Sung, and he sent Baekeuisa members into the police, the National Defense Guard, labor circles, and other organizations to carry out anti-communist activities.
It is said that he was very wary of left-wing labor movements. According to a letter sent in 1947 to Lieutenant General Wedemeyer, Yeom's views on communism can be glimpsed, as it reads: "It has been proven by the examples of many countries that liberal democracy and communism cannot coexist. Yet the US Military Government is conducting this ridiculous experiment in South Korea, which is far too small a vessel for it."
It is also recorded that he planned to establish a White Army of 15,000 division troops, with headquarters in Seoul (G-2) headquarters and the Mokdan area, with the goal of attacking the Chinese Communist Party. However, at that time the Chinese Communist Party already controlled Manchuria, so this could not be realized.
According to a letter sent to Lieutenant General Wedemeyer, Yeom dreamed of building a fascist-style national socialist state based on strong military power. The letter reads: "Koreans reject both extreme capitalism and communism. The new national form of Korea must be national socialism." A similar sentence appears in the report of Major Seeley. "Yeom Dong-jin said on several occasions that he preferred a stronger, more military-type government than one headed by Syngman Rhee. Yeom said that if Kim Gu became the leader of Korea, Korea would have an army of 2 million trained by Japan and the United States..." is written there.
Establishment of the government and final years
With the establishment of the government of the Republic of Korea in 1948, Baekeuisa rapidly declined, and except for a few members, they scattered in various directions. Meanwhile, the Seeley report identified Ahn Doo-hee as a member of Baekeuisa and pointed to Yeom Dong-jin as being behind the assassination of Baekbeom Kim Gu, but Baekeuisa members strongly denied any connection. Baek Chan-ok, a Baekeuisa member and younger brother of Baek Gwan-ok, is said to have been furious upon hearing of the assassination of Baekbeom Kim Gu. Sunwoo Jin, who had served as Baekbeom Kim Gu's secretary, also said there was no connection. Professor Do Jin-sun, who researched Baekbeom Kim Gu, argued that Yeom was not hostile toward Baekbeom but rather interdependent with him, that there is no mention anywhere in the documents of Yeom ordering Ahn Doo-hee to assassinate Kim Gu, and that it was a clear misreport. Indeed, even if it were so, there is no possibility that Yeom ordered it given the circumstances at the time.
He gradually suffered from schizophrenia. After the Korean War broke out in 1950, he refused to evacuate and remained in Seoul, where he was captured by the Korean People's Army and is said to have died through a people's trial.
Assessments of his character
The American George Seeley, a Armymajor, gave the assessment that he was "clearly the most malignant person," and said he was "a Korean generally known as the 'Blind General.'"
In his report, Major Seeley recalled him as "a man of extraordinary cunning who spoke English, German, French, and Japanese fluently, but used an interpreter to disguise his identity when interviewing Americans."6
The poet Ko Un, in Ten Thousand Lives, described Yeom Dong-jin as "the head of Baekeuisa, the headquarters of right-wing terror," and assessed him as a cold-blooded person who thought every day only about killing or eliminating someone. He added that in the chaos of the post-liberation political scene, Yeom suddenly disappeared, but his white terror spread like cholera in broad daylight.7
Do Jin-sun, Korean Nationalism and North-South Relations: The Political History of the Rhee Syngman and Kim Gu Era (Korean History Series 1) (Seoul National University Press, 1997)
[Hong Chan-sik column: Historical distortion in the film Assassination] Praising Kim Won-bong and dividing independence activity and collaboration into a binary framework, "a nation of traitors" and other biased perceptions risk being exploited. Will this year, the 70th anniversary of liberation, pass without changing the fact that instead of confirming a sense of community, people are snarling at each other? Dong-a Ilbo, August 12, 2015. ↩
Ko Un, "Yeom Dong-jin," from Volume 20 of Ten Thousand Lives, Changjakgwa Bipyeongsa: "In the winter of 1945, Yeom Dong-jin appeared, or rather seeped in, at Jongno 2-ga in Seoul. No one knew who he was, where he came from, whose comrade he was, or where he was going. It was whispered that he had carried out independence activity in northern China. It was whispered that his entire family had been massacred by communists. The head of Baekeuisa, the headquarters of far-right terror. Even in bed he did not take off his black glasses, a blind man who kept a pistol even in bed. Youth Yu Jin-san was the brains, and youth Kim Tu-han was the fists. From his hatless head came a strong smell of pomade. A cold-blooded person, his words were the tip of a knife, and his thoughts were fleeting. His days were spent killing someone, eliminating someone. After the separate government was established, he suddenly disappeared. But his far-right terror spread like cholera in broad daylight." ↩
He was also active as a member of the National Revolutionary Party, but later became a close associate of Kim Gu. His relationship with Kim Gu was marked by both affection and hostility. He served in the Chinese army.2 After liberation, however, he organized the Baekeuisa and supported Kim Gu's line.
He was active in China, and after returning home he opposed the Soviet Union's military government and moved south. After the establishment of the Republic of Korea government, he, together with Kim Gu, planned a coup to overthrow the government of Syngman Rhee.3 However, the attempt failed due to the Korean War, and he was abducted by the Korean People's Army and taken north. His whereabouts after going north are unknown. His birth name was Yeom Eung-taek, his alias was Yo Chun-taek, and some members of Baekeuisa knew him by the pen name Dong-jin. He was from South Pyongan Province and his family seat was Paju.
Life
Early life
Yeom Dong-jin was born on February 14, 1902 or 1909, in South Pyongan Province, as the third son of Yeom Do-yeol (廉道悅). His birth name was Yeom Eung-taek (廉應澤).
Little is known about his childhood. In March 1931, at age 22, he graduated from Sunrin Commercial High School, after which he went into exile in China. On February 25, 1934, he entered the Korean class of the Luoyang Military Academy, and in April 1935 he graduated from it.
Independence movement
He joined the National Revolutionary Party and was active in Nanjing. According to a report on the movements of the party's executive members compiled by the police department of the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, Yeom Dong-jin was classified as neutral, not belonging to any faction. The last official record of him is that in the winter of 1935 he went to North China in opposition to the organization of the National Revolutionary Party, and little information about him after that is available. According to his nephew Kim Jong-jin, Yeom became disillusioned with factional strife and judged that it would be better to work for his fellow Koreans, so he went from Nanjing to Manchuria and North China.
In February 1936, he was arrested by the Kwantung Army at Sanseong-jin. It is said that he went blind from torture at that time. Afterward, there were claims that Yeom cooperated with the Kwantung Army, but no materials related to this are known. Meanwhile, his nephew Kim Jong-jin said that he had no connection with independence activists. Around 1940, Yeom was released by the Kwantung Army and returned to Pyongyang. Professor Jeong Byeong-jun of Mokpo National University argues that his cooperation with the Kwantung Army was his weakness and starting point, but since there are no records after his arrest by the Kwantung Army, there is controversy over whether he collaborated with Japan.
Hong Chan-sik, chief editorial writer of a newspaper, said that some testimonies that he became a Japanese intelligence agent after being captured by the Japanese army in 1937 have no concrete basis. On the contrary, there are also testimonies that, because he was tortured after being arrested and lost his sight, Japan could not make use of him. The fact that in the early 1940s he took part in the Daedong-dan, an underground independence group in Pyongyang, also casts doubt on the "spy theory." Hong described it as hasty to label as a traitor to the nation a man who had devoted himself to the independence movement for a long time, based only on the gap in his activities from 1937 to 1940.4 The progressive civic group Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities has stated that the standard for collaboration is that those who collaborated first and resisted later are considered resistors.5
In 1943, in Pyongyang, he founded the anti-Japanese secret society Daedong-dan together with Park Go-bong, a disciple of Manggong.
Post-liberation period
After liberation, when the Soviet Army occupied the country, he opposed the atrocities of looting and sexual assault of women, and assassinated Hyeon Jun-hyuk. Later, as Soviet surveillance intensified, he moved south.
After moving south to Seoul, Yeom Dong-jin established a hideout in Nakwon-dong and renamed the Daedong-dan as the Baekeuisa, meaning "White-clad people" (the White-Clad Nation). He expanded hideouts in several places in Seoul, including Hyoja-dong and Gungjeong-dong, recruited members, and operated as a secret society in which even members could not easily recognize one another, carrying on fierce anti-communist activities. In cooperation with the political operations corps of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, he attempted to assassinate figures including Kim Il Sung, and he sent Baekeuisa members into the police, the National Defense Guard, labor circles, and other organizations to carry out anti-communist activities.
It is said that he was very wary of left-wing labor movements. According to a letter sent in 1947 to Lieutenant General Wedemeyer, Yeom's views on communism can be glimpsed, as it reads: "It has been proven by the examples of many countries that liberal democracy and communism cannot coexist. Yet the US Military Government is conducting this ridiculous experiment in South Korea, which is far too small a vessel for it."
It is also recorded that he planned to establish a White Army of 15,000 division troops, with headquarters in Seoul (G-2) headquarters and the Mokdan area, with the goal of attacking the Chinese Communist Party. However, at that time the Chinese Communist Party already controlled Manchuria, so this could not be realized.
According to a letter sent to Lieutenant General Wedemeyer, Yeom dreamed of building a fascist-style national socialist state based on strong military power. The letter reads: "Koreans reject both extreme capitalism and communism. The new national form of Korea must be national socialism." A similar sentence appears in the report of Major Seeley. "Yeom Dong-jin said on several occasions that he preferred a stronger, more military-type government than one headed by Syngman Rhee. Yeom said that if Kim Gu became the leader of Korea, Korea would have an army of 2 million trained by Japan and the United States..." is written there.
Establishment of the government and final years
With the establishment of the government of the Republic of Korea in 1948, Baekeuisa rapidly declined, and except for a few members, they scattered in various directions. Meanwhile, the Seeley report identified Ahn Doo-hee as a member of Baekeuisa and pointed to Yeom Dong-jin as being behind the assassination of Baekbeom Kim Gu, but Baekeuisa members strongly denied any connection. Baek Chan-ok, a Baekeuisa member and younger brother of Baek Gwan-ok, is said to have been furious upon hearing of the assassination of Baekbeom Kim Gu. Sunwoo Jin, who had served as Baekbeom Kim Gu's secretary, also said there was no connection. Professor Do Jin-sun, who researched Baekbeom Kim Gu, argued that Yeom was not hostile toward Baekbeom but rather interdependent with him, that there is no mention anywhere in the documents of Yeom ordering Ahn Doo-hee to assassinate Kim Gu, and that it was a clear misreport. Indeed, even if it were so, there is no possibility that Yeom ordered it given the circumstances at the time.
He gradually suffered from schizophrenia. After the Korean War broke out in 1950, he refused to evacuate and remained in Seoul, where he was captured by the Korean People's Army and is said to have died through a people's trial.
Assessments of his character
The American George Seeley, a Armymajor, gave the assessment that he was "clearly the most malignant person," and said he was "a Korean generally known as the 'Blind General.'"
In his report, Major Seeley recalled him as "a man of extraordinary cunning who spoke English, German, French, and Japanese fluently, but used an interpreter to disguise his identity when interviewing Americans."6
The poet Ko Un, in Ten Thousand Lives, described Yeom Dong-jin as "the head of Baekeuisa, the headquarters of right-wing terror," and assessed him as a cold-blooded person who thought every day only about killing or eliminating someone. He added that in the chaos of the post-liberation political scene, Yeom suddenly disappeared, but his white terror spread like cholera in broad daylight.7
Do Jin-sun, Korean Nationalism and North-South Relations: The Political History of the Rhee Syngman and Kim Gu Era (Korean History Series 1) (Seoul National University Press, 1997)
[Hong Chan-sik column: Historical distortion in the film Assassination] Praising Kim Won-bong and dividing independence activity and collaboration into a binary framework, "a nation of traitors" and other biased perceptions risk being exploited. Will this year, the 70th anniversary of liberation, pass without changing the fact that instead of confirming a sense of community, people are snarling at each other? Dong-a Ilbo, August 12, 2015. ↩
Ko Un, "Yeom Dong-jin," from Volume 20 of Ten Thousand Lives, Changjakgwa Bipyeongsa: "In the winter of 1945, Yeom Dong-jin appeared, or rather seeped in, at Jongno 2-ga in Seoul. No one knew who he was, where he came from, whose comrade he was, or where he was going. It was whispered that he had carried out independence activity in northern China. It was whispered that his entire family had been massacred by communists. The head of Baekeuisa, the headquarters of far-right terror. Even in bed he did not take off his black glasses, a blind man who kept a pistol even in bed. Youth Yu Jin-san was the brains, and youth Kim Tu-han was the fists. From his hatless head came a strong smell of pomade. A cold-blooded person, his words were the tip of a knife, and his thoughts were fleeting. His days were spent killing someone, eliminating someone. After the separate government was established, he suddenly disappeared. But his far-right terror spread like cholera in broad daylight." ↩