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C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L G-2 PERIODIC REPORT From: 211800/I Jan 47 To : 221800/I Jan 47 Headquarters, USAFIK Seoul, Korea 1000/I 23 January 1947 No. 437 MAPS: KOREA, 1/250,000 Eastern ASIA, 1/1,000,000 1. OPERATIONAL INTELLIGENCE None. 2. NON-OPERATIONAL INTELLIGENCE None. 3. COUNTERINTELLIGENCE a. Sabotage – Seventh Division reports that during the daylight hours of 20 January, one hundred yards of telephone wire was removed from the Derby line, and seventy-five yards from the line between a subordinate unit and an officer's quarters. b. Espionage – None reported. c. Terrorism – None reported. d. Secret Organizations – None reported. e. Mail Interceptions – A routine police report (SEO/3060) from Division Eight to the Chief of the Police Bureau, KANGWON DO, reads as follows: "According to a report made by MOON, Chang Awp of CHOLLA NAMDO, profiteers and dishonest merchants in PUSAN smuggle out rice and other necessities of life to JAPAN. They operate by buying off officials of Military Government and the Coast Guard." f. Telecommunications – No violations reported. 4. CIVIL RELATIONS a. Disturbances (1) Policeman Beaten – Sixth Division reports that on 201600 January at SUNG FUNG NI¹ (not on map) two policemen arrested two Communists and while taking them to jail were set upon by twenty supposed Communists in a successful rescue attempt. One of the policemen and the two prisoners were taken by the attackers; the second policeman escaped. The captured policeman was released at 210300 January after having been beaten; his rifle was not recovered, nor were any of the mob apprehended. (2) Rightists Disrupt Performance of Leftist Theatrical Group – A CIC report received during the period states that two attempts have been made by Rightist groups to interrupt performances of a Leftist theatrical group, the Chosun United Cultural League, and that apparently, although the police were present on both occasions, they did nothing to apprehend the responsible parties. The theatrical group accuses members of the Hankook Democratic Party of these disturbances. During the first attempt, an empty grenade was thrown in the theater; in the second, a smoke grenade was thrown and it ignited. Both incidents caused damage to the theater, and many of the audience were injured in the excitement and confusion that followed. 1-SUNG FUNG NI (961-1375) (36°20'N-126°35'E) DECLASSIFIED Authority NND 74[illegible]70 CONFIDENTIAL XXIV CORPS G-2 P/R #437 CONFIDENTIAL b. Political Parties and Other Organizations (1) SHIN, Ik Hi Interviewed - In a recent interview, SHIN, Ik Hi, extreme Rightist, elected member of the Interim Legislative Assembly, and former member of the Provisional Government, informed CIC as follows: "All Korean people are against trusteeship in every way, and it is up to the United Nations to decide the fate of KOREA, not the UNITED STATES or RUSSIA. RHEE and I support the MOSCOW Decision. "The people of KOREA will not resort to violence or riots even if they are against trusteeship, but will only complain with idle chattering." (2) South KOREA Labor Party Meeting in TAEJON¹ - CIC reports that a meeting of the South KOREA Labor Party in TAEJON on 19 January indicates a considerable amount of organized activity in this section. The meeting was attended by 400 people, including 100 railway employees and 50 local factory girls. During the meeting North KOREA was widely publicized as to its advantages over South KOREA with conditions in South KOREA compared to those existing during the Japanese occupation. Renewed requests for release of the so-called true patriots from prison and revocation of the order to arrest PAK, Heun Yung were expressed. c. Korean Press (1) For the purpose of showing matters of current interest in KOREA, translations have been made of the leading headlines in all major newspapers in SEOUL, and the texts of articles that are considered to be of particular interest. (See Incl #1) (2) A digest of the 22-23 January editions of all newspapers published in SEOUL has been prepared by the Public Relations Office, this Headquarter. The "Korean Press Summary" is attached hereto. 5. SUMMARY OF INTELLIGENCE IN ADJACENT AREAS a. LEE, Kang Kook Holds North Korean Political Post - A CIC report received during the period indicates that LEE, Kang Kook, lieutenant of the long-sought South Korean Communist Party leader, PAK, Heun Yung, has been appointed Chief of the People's Committee of TANGHON District, HAMGYONG PUKTO province in North KOREA. The report is based on information received by CIC through liaison with the National Police. b. Mail Interceptions - In a letter (SEO/3083) intercepted in the exchange of mail with Russian authorities, a school teacher in North KOREA writes to a brother in MANCHURIA as follows: "Everything here is just the opposite to what we imagined when we were in TSCHENTAO. They really have put in force such reforms as the land reformation, labor laws, the law of sex equality, the nationalization of banks, railways, mines and other things like that in order to build a Utopia. "As everything is in the course of new construction, economic difficulty is inevitable. As a rule, most people of the working class regardless of their kind of occupation, get 400 to 550 yen a month. It would be sufficient for us if enough food were distributed. There has been no food except potatoes, and those were distributed only once since July. Every month we need about 3,000 yen to live on. Really, the price of rice or millet is over 1,000 yen a small mal (2.38 gallons). One yard of cotton cloth is 230 yen. We cannot even dream of buying cloth for ourselves. "Conditions like these being the case, never come back. A few days ago, I was at HYUN, Sang's. His life is too miserable for words. Furthermore, the farmers are ordered to contribute more than 50% of their crop...They will suffer 1-TAEJON (1040-1490) (36°20'N-127°26'E) DECLASSIFIED Authority NND 74750 70 -2- CONFIDENTIAL XXIV CORPS G-2 P/R #437 CONFIDENTIAL from a food shortage in 1947 many times worse than in 1946. We have had to subsist on the bark of pine trees, but we will not be able to get even that next year. "Nobody wants to remain here. Even the farmers say so. It is useless to say what the townspeople think. You may think it would be better to eat only fish in KOREA than to have millet every day in MANCHURIA, but you are mistaken. I wish I could get the dregs of soya bean curd. I would take it with relish like boiled rice. You cannot realize how hard it is to exist on several potatoes a day. We are now almost starving. I have gone to school to teach many times without having a meal the whole day." NOTE: This letter was evidently misrouted by the North KOREA postal service as its normal route would not bring it through South KOREA. The letter bears the stamp of a Russian censor. 6. MISCELLANEOUS a. Rice Collection - Released on 21 January are the following figures relative to the status of the rice collection program as of 18 January: CHUNGCHONG PUKTO 36% KYONGSANG NAMDO 89% CHUNGCHONG NAMDO 87% KYONGGI DO 76% CHOLLA PUKTO 34.9% KANGWON DO 165% CHOLLA NAMDO 63% CHEJU DO 01% KYONGSANG PUKTO 62% For all of South KOREA 69.5% of the entire quota has been collected. It is interesting to note that CHEJU DO, with a quota of 5,000 suk, and KANGWON DO, with a quota of 60,000 suk, are the least productive provinces in South KOREA; therefore, the success or failure of the rice collection program will not depend on either province. However, the problem in CHOLLA PUKTO is more serious. In this province the Communists have centered their propaganda and anti-Military Government activity as an organized deterrent to the successful gathering of the 798,000 suk quota. Increased effort on the part of Military Government is responsible for recent gains in the collection program, however, opposition remains strong. (See par 4b (2), W/S #66). [illegible signature] IC of S, G-2 1 Inclosure: Translations of SEOUL Daily Newspapers DECLASSIFIED Authority NND 745070 -3- CONFIDENTIAL