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| ▲ This undated file photo shows Kim Shin-jo, a former North Korean commando who infiltrated South Korea on an assassination mission and later became a pastor. (Yonhap) |
ex-N Korean commando-death
Ex-N. Korean commando dies at age 83
SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) -- Kim Shin-jo, a former North Korean special forces soldier who infiltrated South Korea on an assassination mission and later became a pastor, died Wednesday, his church said. He was 83 years old.
Kim passed away early in the morning, according to Sungrak Church in Seoul.
Trained in North Korea in the 1960s, Kim was one of 31 commandos sent on a mission to assassinate then South Korean President Park Chung-hee in 1968.
He was the only one in the squad to be captured alive, while another survivor fled to North Korea.
The former commando was allowed to settle as a civilian in the South and became a citizen in 1970.
He converted to Christianity and had been serving as a pastor since 1997.
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