Into the Vortex of War: A Korean Interpreter's Close Encounter with the Enemy

By Yong Hyun Kim

This is the true story of one man's inspired struggle for his freedom during the Korean War.  He was a college student supporting himself with a night job in Seoul, South Korea when it was invaded by North Korea.  Trapped in the occupied city, he was starving and penniless. He faced intense hardships and was forced to take drastic measures to outwit the enemy and ensure his survival.  Using his intelligence, courage, and ingenuity, he escaped the desperate situation in Seoul.  He traveled hundreds of miles by foot and eventually joined the US forces as an interpreter.  His worst nightmare was realized when he was captured and taken to a North Korean prison camp.  This compelling story examines his experience as a prisoner of war and how he gained his freedom under such treacherous circumstances.  This book was completed just weeks before his untimely death in 1997.  Now the editor, his daughter, published his writing to share the story of his ordeal with the world. 

~Susanne Kim Nelson, Editor

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 21, 2008
• ISBN: 9781463463342

Yong Hyun Kim

Yong Hyun Kim, father of the editor, finished writing this book just weeks before he died. He was an award-winning science writer at Cornell University for 25 years. He covered the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, beginning in 1965 as a science writer in the Cornell News and Feature Service and subsequently as a senior science writer in the Cornell News Service. Retiring from the university in 1990, he returned to his native South Korea and worked as an adviser to The Korea Daily and The Korea Herald. He had three children, a daughter and two sons, and was a resident of Ithaca, NY at the time of his death at age 71.  He held a B.A. in English literature from Dongkuk University, Seoul, as well as an M.A. in journalism from the University of Michigan, which honored him in 1955 as a foreign journalism fellow.  After the Korean War, he worked for several English- and Korean-language newspapers in Seoul before joining the Cornell University news staff. Among his numerous professional honors were the Award of Excellence for Feature Writing and Magazine Writing, 1984-1990, and the Outstanding Professional Skill Award (1985) of the Agricultural Communicators in Education.      

Book preview

Into The Vortex

of War

A Korean Interpreter’s Close Encounter with the Enemy

by

Yong Hyun Kim

Compiled and Edited by

Susanne Kim Nelson

US%26UK%20Logo%20B%26W_new.ai

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2008 Yong Hyun Kim. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 4/1/2010

ISBN: 978-1-4343-2261-6 (sc)

ISBN: 9781463463342(ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1:

To the Yalu River

Chapter 2:

The Enemy Onslaught

Chapter 3:

The End of the Road

Chapter 4:

A ‘Liberated Fighter’

Chapter 5:

Nightly March North

Chapter 6:

North Korean Prison Camp

Chapter 7:

Out of the Tiger’s Den

Chapter 8:

Seoul: A Ghost Town

Chapter 9:

Back to the Front Line

About the Author

image001.jpg

In loving memory of the author of this book, my father,

Yong Hyun Kim (November 1, 1925 – July 4, 1997)

Pictured here in October 1958

All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to my brother’s foundation — Children of Fallen Patriots (www.fallenpatriots.org)

To provide college scholarships for children who have lost a parent in the line of duty.

image002.jpg

My dad is on the left, with a friend in Pusan, Korea before a trip to Inchon, Korea on September 24, 1950.

image003.jpg

My dad is in the center with his parents, his brother’s wives, and an infant, taken sometime in the 1970’s in Korea.

Prologue

At the height of the Korean War in the fall of 1950, I was deep in North Korea with American troops racing toward the Yalu River to deliver a coup de grace to the remnants of Kim I1 Sung’s disintegrating Inmin-gun (North Korean People’s Army). I was an interpreter for an infantry company of the U.S. 2nd Division.

The Yalu, or Amnok-kang as it’s called by Koreans, forms the northwestern border between Manchuria and Korea. Originating from the southern slope of Mt. Paektu, the 491-mile-long river empties into the Yellow Sea. Also forming the borderline between Korea, Russia and China in the northeastern corner of the country is the Tumen River, called Tuman-kang in Korean.

U.N. forces were driving hard toward the Manchurian border in pursuit of what was left of North Korean troops that had met a crushing blow as a result of General Douglas MacArthur’s stunning amphibious assault at Inchon on September 15, coupled with Eighth Army’s breakout from the Pusan bridgehead in the southeastern corner of the country.

MacArthur’s classic pincer movement from north and south broke the back of the enemy that numbered some 90,000 along the Naktong River that formed part of the so-called Pusan Perimeter. Survivors of the crippled Inmin-gun fled into surrounding mountains in a desperate attempt to escape MacArthur’s trap.

MacArthur’s men recaptured Seoul less than two weeks after the Inchon landing. The recapture of South Korea’s capital meant the end of three months of humiliating defeat and besiegement since the beginning of the war on June 25. The destruction of the fleeing enemy north of the 38th parallel now seemed a matter of time.

South Korean troops wasted no time, going after the enemy, rapidly advancing toward Wonsan, a major port on the East Coast. In early October, the U.N. General Assembly gave MacArthur the green light to send his men across the 38th parallel into North Korea to mop up the remaining enemy and unify Korea once and for all.

With this U.N. mandate, the Eighth Army pushed north in the west, while X Crops that had landed at Inchon and liberated Seoul was sea-lifted to Wonsan to join ZIP with hard-charging ROK (Republic of Korea) troops already there.

On October 20, the Eighth Army captured the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and kept on driving north. By the end of October, leading elements of the Eighth Army crossed the Chongchon River, the last water barrier south of the Yalu some 50 miles away. Meanwhile, X Corps in the east reached the Chosin reservoir, with its leading elements driving as far north as Haesanjin overlooking the Yalu.

U.N. forces then suddenly ran into Chinese troops that launched a series of fierce attacks against advancing U.N. forces. They came out of nowhere. MacArthur didn’t know that a massive buildup of Chinese combat troops, the so-called Chinese Volunteer Army, was ahead.

On November 1, a Chinese division hit the 8th Cavalry Regiment at Unsan, just north of the Chongchon River. Two other divisions then sneaked in behind Eighth Army’s open right flank and threatened to cut off the First Cavalry Division. In the east, meanwhile, an American Marine battalion and a ROK division found themselves in fierce fights with the Chinese.

After inflicting heavy casualties on U.N. forces, the Chinese abruptly broke off contact and mysteriously disappeared into the mountains. It was soon confirmed that hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops had stealthily slipped into Korea across the Yalu in October.

As many as 300,000 Chinese infantrymen passed in front of U.N. forces. Traveling by night through the rugged mountains and hiding by day, the Chinese had managed to avoid being detected from the air. Since late October, much of this force had been lying coiled in the high country of Korea waiting for MacArthur to make his next move.

Unaware of a massive Chinese buildup, MacArthur ordered U.N. forces as well as ROK troops to resume advancing north along the entire front in a final push toward the Yalu. The general did not know his men were walking right into a massive enemy trap. The Chinese unleashed fierce counterattacks in late November. MacArthur now faced a new enemy and a new war.

During this final drive, my own unit -- Charlie Company of the First Battalion, the 38th Regiment, U.S. 2nd Infantry Division -- was marching on foot through steep mountains north of Tockchon in the central part of Korea. After three claps of hard push over one hill after another, we arrived at a little coal mining town called Yongmoon, just south of the Chongchon River.

Our company took up a forward position in a nameless hill several miles north of this mining town, where we celebrated Thanksgiving. Two days later, the Chinese mounted fierce attacks on our unit as well as all other U.N. elements along the entire front.

We were stunned by the ferocity of enemy onslaughts. We fought night and day for days, trying to dislodge the enemy’s grip as we retreated. Mauled badly, the 2nd Division quickly pulled back to Pyongyang and then to Seoul in early December. After two weeks of much needed rest and refitting, the division moved out to an area south of Wonju, about 70