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34-516: Unsung Heroes is a North Korean film series. Unsung Heroes or Unsung Hero may also refer to: Unsung Heroes Unsung Heroes , also known as Unknown Heroes or more literally as Nameless Heroes , is a North Korean war drama mini-series about a spy in Seoul during the Korean War . Over twenty hours long, it was filmed and released in multiple parts between 1978 and 1981. It

68-572: A Hong Kong safe house run by a North Korean singer. He is instructed to return to Seoul and contact an agent code-named White Horse. However, he is suspicious of White Horse and sets a trap for him which reveals that he is working with Colonel Klaus. White Horse is then killed by an unknown person. Yu obtained the information from Janet O'Neill that John Foster Dulles is visiting Europe to get reinforcements. Yu meets Lewis, an army lieutenant, and converts him to Communism to relay this information; Lewis stages his own kidnapping so that he can disappear to

102-530: A 1981 interview, he remarked that people had begun calling him Yu Rim instead of his real name after the series began, which he actually enjoyed because of his admiration for the character. Actress Kim Jung-hwa , who played female lead Kim Soon-hee, initially felt that she was unsuited for the role, as she had no prior military experience, or even experience playing a spy on-screen; her only preparation consisted of reading several books and interviewing real spies. The director Ryu Ho-son stated that his favourite scene

136-542: A North Korean spy disguised as a veteran, and begins reviewing video tapes to check on Yu's activities. Kim saves the day by cutting the scenes out of the tapes to avoid further suspicion falling on Yu, but the disappearance of the scenes triggers Klaus' suspicion towards Kim herself. Klaus stages a test of loyalty for her, in which she is kidnapped and threatened with execution by American agents in Hokkaidō , Japan pretending to be Communists; however, Kim correctly senses this

170-632: A major expansion. However this proved to be CIC's last chance to enjoy resources and recruits. The proliferation of intelligence agencies had meant duplication of effort and disputes over responsibility, so in 1961 the CIC ceased to exist as an independent organization, as it was rolled into the Army's new Military Intelligence Branch. While serving in the U.S. Army in the 1960s, Christopher H. Pyle learned that "Army intelligence had 1500 plain clothes agents watching every demonstration of 20 people or more throughout

204-731: A major part in keeping communism under control in the United States ever since". CIC units were also involved in providing security for the Manhattan Project , including duty as couriers of fissionable bomb materials from Los Alamos, New Mexico to Tinian . They also operated in 1945 at the United Nations Organizing Conference in San Francisco, over which Alger Hiss presided as secretary-general. Three years later, when Alger Hiss

238-840: A new name. On 13 December 1941, the Adjutant General of the Army issued an order renaming the CIP as the Counter Intelligence Corps , effective from 1 January 1942. A new complement of 543 officers and 4,431 non-commissioned agents was authorized. Garland H. Williams was the first Chief of the School and CIC. The CIC recruited men with legal, police, or other investigative backgrounds, and particularly looked for men with foreign language skills. Special CIC teams were created during World War II in Europe, in large part from

272-451: A well prepared Korean People's Army . Yu continues to gather intelligence on General Sin's coup attempt, this time passing messages back to Pyongyang by way of a radio operator disguised as a disabled veteran who begs outside hotels. Yu hides messages in cigarette filters , which he then throws on the ground near the beggar. However, he is unaware that he is being followed by the CIC, who are filming his activities. Colonel Klaus hears about

306-527: Is a trap, and escapes by killing the agents. Park Mu realizes that Yu and Kim are spies. Klaus discovers that Yu was the one who leaked out intelligence. Park is pushed by Klaus, and kills Kim who tries to protect Yu. Later, Yu kills Park for revenge. At the end of the series, the North Korean army starts new attacks, and forces the allies to negotiate for peace. Due to Yu's efforts, Sin Jae-sin's coup

340-530: Is apparently employed by the United States Counter Intelligence Corps , and is introduced to Colonel Klaus. Yu begins gathering intelligence on a coup plot by rightist South Korean general Sin Jae-sin. Lee helps him pass back this information to North Korea using his unwitting friend Kim Su-gyong as a courier. Lee is suspected by a US counter intelligence agent Martin who found Lee takes care of homeless kids. Soon after, Lee

374-425: Is killed in a shootout with CIC agents, including Kim Soon-hee, leaving Yu unable to pass his crucial intelligence back to his government. Yu calls Lee from a bar, but after realizing the person on the other end of the line is not Lee, hangs up immediately. A waitress in that bar is subsequently arrested and tortured by Colonel Klaus, who learns that a man suspected to be Yu was seen making the phone call. Yu flees to

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408-652: Is ordered to proceed to Seoul and gather intelligence on the United States Forces Korea . Yu Rim arrives in Korea in 1952, and he first contacts South Korean officer Park Mu. Initially, he only has three contacts in Seoul : Park Mu, the chief press officer for the Republic of Korea Army , Janet O'Neill, the wife of senior American intelligence official Dr. Kelton, and Lee Hong-sik, his handler, through whom Yu also runs into his old lover Kim Soon-hee, who

442-642: Is stopped by South Korean president Syngman Rhee 's agents. Sin and Klaus commit suicide and Yu leaves Korea. Counter Intelligence Corps The CIC had its origins in the Corps of Intelligence Police founded by Ralph Van Deman in 1917. This organization, operating within the USA and on attachment to the American Expeditionary Force in France, at its peak numbered over 600 men. However, in

476-469: The U.S. Department of Defense obtained a copy of the movie; a report issued by five of their analysts identified Jenkins and one other unnamed American (later discovered to be Dresnok) as actors in the movie, providing the first evidence in three decades that Jenkins was still alive. Dresnok's popularity in his role was such that people in North Korea routinely referred to him as "Arthur," the name of

510-451: The CIC also directed the so-called "Project Happiness" that sought to recruit former Gestapo and SD members as informants to infiltrate East German communist parties, such as the SED and KPD . In the immediate post-war period, the CIC operated in the occupied countries, particularly Japan, Germany and Austria, countering the black market , and searching for and arresting notable members of

544-634: The CIC protected the investigative records it had so painstakingly accumulated. According to Sayer and Botting (p. 47) "When the command was given to cease any investigations of known or suspected Communists and destroy all files on such persons immediately, eight of the nine Corps Area Commanders took the remarkable step of disobeying this order". According to the official history of the Corps, this information proved highly valuable in controlling communism: "the information acquired by CIC from May 1941 to September 1945 regarding communism and its adherents played

578-514: The CIC's dealings with Father Krunoslav Draganović , a Croatian cleric based in Rome, who while working for CIC, also operated his own clandestine rat-line to transport Ustaše war criminals to Latin America. A further report in 1988 also examined the CIC's use of Nazi war criminals and collaborators as informants in the years after World War II. In June 1988, Office of Special Investigations within

612-859: The Military Intelligence Service personnel (see Ritchie Boys ). However, there were never enough of these, and local interpreters were often recruited. As most CIC agents in the field (as well as Military Intelligence Service in Europe) held only non-commissioned officer rank— corporals and various grades of sergeant— they wore either plain clothes, or uniforms without badges of rank; in place of rank insignia, and so as not to be perceived as privates, agents typically wore officer "U.S." collar insignia. They were instructed to identify themselves only as "Agent" or "Special Agent" as appropriate, in order to facilitate their work. These practices continue among modern counterintelligence agents. Within

646-708: The North for training, and later returns to Seoul. Two months later, Yu receives a coded message on Voice of Korea instructing him to contact an agent named Diamond, who turns out to be his old lover Kim Soon-hee, ostensibly working for the Americans, but really a double agent for North Korean intelligence. With Dulles's agenda exposed to the media, the US plans a battle to demonstrate their superiority, but Yu obtains this information from Park Mu. The Americans fail to get more reinforcements from their European allies and are defeated by

680-542: The U.S. the CIC, in collaboration with the Provost Marshal General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), carried out background checks on military personnel having access to classified material, investigations of possible sabotage and subversion, and allegations of disloyalty, especially those directed against Americans of Japanese, Italian or German ancestry. Despite the prohibitions in

714-427: The United States". Pyle's disclosures led to Congressional investigations and a crackdown on what was regarded as the Army's investigative excesses. This ended what advocates regarded as the peak of counterintelligence efficiency: "At the height of the disturbance period, a CIC agent could get a report from the street to Fort Holabird HQ in 20 minutes, from practically any city in the U.S., seconds or brief minutes later

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748-652: The case became connected with the FBI. The military aspect became minor, and major investigative effort was in the civilian community to locate the higher-ups who presumably were controlling more than one agent." However the use of informants within the Army became politically controversial, and CIC was forced to curtail its activities. In particular, the CIC was ordered to cease its domestic investigations, to destroy its investigative records, and to ship its agents out to overseas theaters. The reason for this sudden and unprecedented expulsion has never been clarified. One leading theory

782-535: The center of controversy in 2005 when he sang the song at an official dinner while visiting North Korea. The plot of Unsung Heroes is partially based on actual historical events during the Korean War, but many names and details were changed. The movie opens with an unidentified spy master giving instructions to protagonist Yu Rim, a Korean expatriate in the United Kingdom working as a journalist, who

816-789: The character he played in the film. Unsung Heroes was broadcast on television in China in 1982, and released on DVD in 2003 by Dalian Audiovisual Publishing House. It was also screened in Japan during the Kitakyushu Biennial 2007. Its theme song "Embrace the Song of Happiness" ( Korean :  기쁨의 노래 안고 함께 가리라 ; MR :  Kibbŭmŭi Norae Ango Hamkke Karira ), composed by Chŏn Tong-u , remains widely known in North Korea; Grand National Party member Yu Hong-jun , head of South Korea's Cultural Heritage Administration , became

850-552: The delimitation agreement with the FBI, the CIC ended up devoting considerable effort to civilian investigations. As Volume 7 of The History of the Counter Intelligence Corps explains: "Espionage and sabotage, being enemy directed, involved more than one person. Usually there were a number in the chain extending from the agent in the United States back through cutouts and couriers to the enemy country. This inevitably involved civilians with military suspects and

884-709: The end of World War II CIC agents were successful in Operation Paperclip that obtained German rocket scientists for the United States before the Soviets took them. This action aided in the success of the American rocket development program and resultant adventure into space. CIC actively continued counterintelligence activities in the Cold War, Korean War and Vietnam War. After the war, in West Germany,

918-467: The post-war period, the policy of isolationism , retrenchment of military spending, and economic depression meant that by the mid-1930s its numbers had fallen to fewer than 20 personnel. The looming threat of war in the late 1930s brought an expansion of the CIP back to its World War I levels, and the entry of the United States into World War II in December 1941 brought an even greater expansion and

952-456: The previous regime. Despite the problem of demobilization, with many experienced agents returning to civilian life, CIC became the leading intelligence organization in the American occupation zones, and very soon found themselves facing a new enemy in the emerging Cold War . The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 meant that CIC was once again involved in a military conflict, and it underwent

986-735: The report was in Operations Center in a lower basement of the Pentagon". One of CIC's operations in post-war Europe was the operation of a " rat-line " – a conduit for spiriting informants and defectors out of the Soviet Zones of Occupation to safety in South America, via Italy or Spain, with false identities and documents paid for by CIC and made by the Vatican. A Department of Justice investigation also uncovered

1020-566: The seizure of documents, and the dangers of booby traps. In some cases CIC agents such as Henry Kissinger found themselves acting as the de facto military government on the occupation of large towns before the arrival of Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories (AMGOT) officers. As the war in Europe came to a close, CIC were involved in the Operations Alsos , Paperclip and TICOM , searching for German personnel and research in atomic weapons, rockets and cryptography. At

1054-749: Was accused of being a Communist and filed a libel suit against his accuser, his lawyers unwittingly hired an undercover CIC Special Agent as their Chief Investigator to help prepare his libel suit. In the European and Pacific theaters of operations CIC deployed detachments at all levels. These detachments provided tactical intelligence about the enemy from captured documents, interrogations of captured troops, and from para-military and civilian sources. They were also involved in providing security for military installations and staging areas, located enemy agents, and acted to counter stay-behind networks. They also provided training to combat units in security, censorship,

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1088-458: Was expressed in the official history of the Corps, "the speed [of these events] left little doubt that someone—possibly Communists who still held key positions in government—was determined to halt CIC investigative activities in the United States". Another possible explanation is that the CIC mistakenly bugged the hotel room of Eleanor Roosevelt and incurred the President's wrath. In any event,

1122-514: Was the one from the "Madonna Teahouse" in Part 5, in which former lovers Yu Rim and Kim Soon-hee each learn that the other is a North Korean agent. Unsung Heroes was also responsible for propelling American defectors James Joseph Dresnok and Charles Robert Jenkins to minor celebrity status in North Korea. However, it did not receive public attention in the United States until 1996, when

1156-525: Was the recipient of the Kim Il-sung Medal. The production of Unsung Heroes began in or around 1978 on the initiative of Kim Jong-il when he took charge of the country's propaganda affairs. Unsung Heroes received a widespread favourable reception in the domestic market, according to North Korean public media . Lead actor Kim Ryong-lin , who played the hero Yu Rim, stated that it was one of his favourite roles in over 20 years of acting; in

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