The Blue House raid, also known in South Korea as the January 21 Incident (), was a raid launched by North Korean commandos in an attempt to assassinate President of South Korea Park Chung Hee in his residence at the Blue House in Seoul, on January 21, 1968. A 31-man team of the Korean People's Army (KPA) infiltrated the DMZ but was intercepted by police near the residence. In the ensuing pursuit, all but two commandos were killed; one was captured (Kim Shin-jo), and one (Pak Jae-gyong) fled back to North Korea. South Korean casualties totaled 26 killed and 66 wounded, including about 24 civilians; four Americans also were killed. President Park was unharmed.
Background
Park Chung Hee seized power in a 1961 coup d'état and ruled as a military strongman until his election and inauguration as the President of South Korea in 1963. The attack at the Blue House took place in the context of the Korean DMZ Conflict (1966–69), which in turn was influenced by the Vietnam War.
Following the 1967 South Korean presidential election and the legislative election, the North Korean leadership concluded that Park Chung Hee's domestic opposition no longer constituted a serious challenge to his rule. On June 28 – July 3, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea held an extended plenum at which North Korean leader Kim Il Sung called on the cadres "to prepare to give assistance to the struggle of our South Korean brethren."
In July 1967, a special squad of the recently established Unit 124 of the Korean People's Army (KPA) was entrusted with the task of assassinating Park. This decision was probably facilitated by the fact that in 1967, the Vietnam War entered a new stage of escalation, and American military forces, preoccupied as they were with Vietnam, could not easily take retaliatory measures against North Korea. In 1965–1968, North Korea–North Vietnam relations were very close, and North Korea provided substantial military and economic assistance to North Vietnam.
North Korean propaganda sought to depict the post-1966 commando raids as a South Korean guerrilla movement akin to the Viet Cong.
Preparations
Thirty-one men were handpicked from the elite all-officer KPA Unit 124. This special operation commando unit trained for two years and spent their final 15 days rehearsing action on the objective in a full-scale mockup of the Blue House.
These specially selected men were trained in infiltration and exfiltration techniques, weaponry, navigation, airborne operations, amphibious infiltration, hand-to-hand combat (with emphasis on knife fighting), and concealment.
Kim Shin-jo, one of only two known survivors, said "It made us fearless—no one would think to look for us in a graveyard." Their training was rigorous and often in adverse conditions, such as running at a speed of 13 km/h (8 mph) with 30 kg (66 pound) rucksacks over broken and unforgiving terrain, which sometimes resulted in injuries such as lost toes and feet from frostbite.
Raid
Infiltration
On January 16, 1968, Unit 124 left their garrison at Yonsan. On January 17, 1968, at 11 p.m., they infiltrated the DMZ by cutting through the fencing of the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division's sector. By 2 a.m. the next day they had set up camp at Morae-dong and Seokpo-ri. On January 19, at 5 a.m., after having crossed the Imjin River, they set up camp on Simbong Mountain.
At 2 p.m., four brothers named Woo from Beopwon-ri were out cutting firewood and stumbled across the unit's camp. After a fierce debate over whether to kill the brothers, it was decided instead to try to indoctrinate them on the benefits of communism and they were released with a stern warning not to notify the police. However, the brothers immediately reported the presence of the unit to the Changhyeon police station in Beopwon-ri.
The unit broke camp and increased their pace to more than 10 km/h (6 mph), carrying 30 kg (70 lb) of equipment each, crossing Nogo Mountain and arriving at Bibong Mountain on January 20 at 7 a.m. Three battalions from the South Korean 25th Infantry Division began searching Nogo Mountain for the infiltrators, but they had already left the area. The unit entered Seoul in two- and three-man cells on the night of January 20 and regrouped at the Seungga-sa Temple, where they made their final preparations for the attack.