User talk:217.180.196.100

Citation and additional October 1995 incident information
Current entry for October 1995 reads: "Two armed North Koreans are discovered at the Imjin River; one is killed."

In fact, there were at least three infiltrators, possibly all from the same incident.

News sources have conflicting information, likely because the lone survivor captured by the South Koreans claimed he infiltrated in August, not October, but that information is not highly reliable as it comes from the captured spy. A second media source says there were two separate infiltrations over a 10 day period, also demonstrably erroneous, as the shootouts occurred only a week apart.

My own personal memory as a US Army soldier in the area at the time (hence my interest in the subject) is that some units of the US 2nd Infantry Division went on alert the evening of October 16th-17th when the ROK Army engaged three infiltrators, killing one as they attempted to cross the DMZ via the Imjin River. Two others reportedly got away, hence our continued alert status over the next week.

CNN and the AP both have imagery on this which includes an image of the KIA body and captured equipment. I recall at the time being shocked to see a dead body displayed on local TV news the following day, as such images would never have been displayed on American television news at the time.

At the time, we were specifically on alert looking for the two remaining infiltrators.

A week later, on October 24th, a second infiltrator was captured after a shootout near Seoul that resulted in one South Korean police officer being killed. The third infiltrator was later cornered and killed in a shootout with ROK security forces.

While the articles below do not explicitly agree and therefore do not corroborate my anecdotal information, it was widely believed in South Korea over that time period that all three were related to the same border incursion incident and all three were actively hunted by ROK security forces, with US forces in the area on high alert. The conflicting media reports are likely due to a combination of false information provided to ROK authorities by the surviving NK agent, and incomplete information or erroneous assumptions regarding the dates of the incidents and the date that news reports were published. AP's own story erroneously states that the KIA on October 17 was due to gunshots, when in fact grenades were used by the ROK Army, thrown into the water as the infiltrator attempted to flee back into the Imjin River.

These sources all mention the October incidents, all have some conflicting information regarding dates, but some of the stories do say the incidents were related:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-27-mn-61774-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/26/world/after-shootout-south-korea-police-hunt-infiltrator-from-the-north.html

https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1995/10/26/20000-s-korean-troops-hunt-spy/

https://www.deseret.com/1995/10/18/19199384/copters-dogs-join-hunt-for-n-korean-infiltrator/

AP footage of the KIA: https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/detail?itemid=1ecb55a4f39c061aae7acbcce025aa80 BodusAlpha (talk) 17:07, 8 June 2024 (UTC)