White Shirts Society

White Shirts Society
Also known as
  • White Clothes Society
  • White Shirt Society
  • Baikyi-sa
Founding leaderYeom Dong-jin
FoundationNovember 1945
DissolvedAround 1950
Ideology
Political positionFar-right[1]
Notable attacks
Allies
Opponents
Korean name
Hangul
백의사
Hanja
白衣社
Revised RomanizationBaeguisa
McCune–ReischauerPaegŭisa
Preceded by
Daedongdan (1943)
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox militant organization with unknown parameter "Split from"

The White Shirts Society (Korean: 백의사; RR: Baeguisa) was a secret far-right terrorist organization that operated between World War II and the Korean War.[5][6] It was mostly composed of young North Korean defectors to South Korea. It was militantly anti-communist and also opposed the trusteeship of Korea [ko], especially by the Soviet Civil Administration in the North.

Because the group operated in secret, much of the information on it is derived from interviews and limited documents, and is still subject to uncertainty and debate. According to most scholars, the group was founded by Yeom Dong-jin in November 1945. It was the successor to Daedongdan, which was also founded by Yeom in 1944. A number of prominent assassinations and assassination attempts have been attributed to the group, including an assassination attempt on Kim Il Sung in 1946, the killing of Lyuh Woon-hyung in 1947, and the killing of Kim Ku in 1949. But there is disagreement on whether the group was responsible for many of its attributed attacks.

In 2001, South Korean researchers discovered a declassified document published by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration that linked the WSS to the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps.[7][b] According to multiple interviews from former members of the group, the group trained and sent spies to the North to both gather military information for the U.S. and South Korea as well as stir local discontent.

Its activities slowed after the establishment of the First Republic of Korea in August 1948. Many of its members went on to join either the South Korean Army Headquarters [ko] or the Korea Liaison Office, the South Korean military's intelligence unit. Yeom disappeared and was likely killed in the early days of the Korean War.

  1. ^ a b "남의사(藍衣社)와 백의사(白衣社): 치열하게 살다 안개처럼 사라져간 韓·中의 反共투사들". 조선일보. Retrieved August 7, 2024. 극우 테러조직인 백의사
  2. ^ Kang, Jun-man (November 13, 2006), 한국 현대사 산책 1940년대편 1 : 8·15 해방에서 6·25 전야까지(개정판) [A Walk Through Modern Korean History, 1940s Vol. 1: From the 15 August Liberation until the Eve of the Korean War (Revised Edition)] (in Korean), 인물과사상사, p. 326, ISBN 978-89-5906-044-3, archived from the original on December 15, 2023, retrieved May 15, 2023
  3. ^ "폭력, 어떻게 볼 것인가 - 1.폭력의 기원과 한국근대정치". 대학원신문. Retrieved August 7, 2024. 백의사도 자신의 정당성을 '정의'에서 찾았다. 백의사의 강령은 '조국의 자주적인 정부수립'을 명시하고, 암살자들은 민주한국과 한국민족주의의 부활을 방해하는 자들을 제거했다는 정당성을 내세웠다.
  4. ^ Criticism of the Sanctification of Legitimacy Theory of the Provisional Government of Korea and the Rise of 'ROK Nationalism' (in Korean). Retrieved 2024-08-07.
  5. ^ Kang Jun-man [ko] (November 13, 2006), 한국 현대사 산책 1940년대편 1 : 8·15 해방에서 6·25 전야까지(개정판) [A Walk Through Modern Korean History, 1940s Vol. 1: From the 15 August Liberation until the Eve of the Korean War (Revised Edition)] (in Korean), 인물과사상사, p. 326, ISBN 978-89-5906-044-3, archived from the original on December 15, 2023, retrieved May 15, 2023
  6. ^ Young, Benjamin R. (December 12, 2013), "Meet the man who saved Kim Il Sung's life", NK News, archived from the original on December 13, 2013, retrieved May 15, 2023
  7. ^ Jung 2021, pp. 289–290.
  8. ^ Jung 2005, pp. 259–263.
  9. ^ Cilley, George E. (January 11, 2005), '김구 암살 관련 배경정보' 전문번역 [Full translation of "Kim Koo: Background Information Concerning Assassination"] (in Korean), Shin Dong-a, archived from the original on June 3, 2023, retrieved June 2, 2023


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).