On Jan. 17, 1968, thirty-one commandos from North Korea cut through fencing on the #KoreanDMZ and entered South Korea. Their goal was to infiltrate the Blue House (South Korean equivalent of the White House) and execute then-president Park Chung-hee. (pics: the fence today) 1/7 
Early on in the mission, they were discovered and reported but somehow managed to evade authorities for days. They were confronted by police on Jan. 21- less than 100 m. from their objective. After an intense firefight, the commandos dispersed (Pic: Blue House). 2/7
By the end of Jan, 29 commandos were dead (pic). One made it back to NK, where he became a high-level military leader/politician. The other, Kim Shin-jo, was caught and interrogated for a year. Gradually, through the help of others, he lost his communist ideology. 3/7
Eventually released when it was discovered that he’d never actually fired a shot or hurt anyone during the assassination attempt, Kim became a SK citizen, married, and had two children. He became a Christian and in 1997 dedicated his life to the ministry. 4/7
He told CNN: "I tried to kill the president. I was the enemy. But the South Korean people showed me sympathy and forgiveness. I was touched and moved." Years after the raid, he learned that the Kim regime had executed his family members in North Korea (pic: W. Bishop, NBC). 5/7
Tragically, three Americans stationed on the DMZ were also killed during the attempted escape by the commandos. This monument at Camp Humphreys is dedicated to the American and KATUSA soldiers who have been killed on active duty in Korea, many on the DMZ, since 1953. 6/7
President Park Chung-hee, whose wife was killed in an assassination attempt on him in 1974, was assassinated in 1979. His daughter Park Geun-hye, the former president of Korea, is in jail on corruption charges. 7/7
