ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO. 1736 9 October 1950
FIELD REPORT (ADVATIS - 1047) 6 October 1950
1. PERSONAL DETAILS:| PW NAME: | KIM, Ch'ang Duk (金昌得) (김창득) |
| RANK: | Jr Lt (少尉) |
| AGE: | 28 |
| DUTY: | Plt Ldr |
| UNIT: | 3rd Div, 9th Regt, 3rd Bn, 8th Co |
| EDUCATION: | Agriculture School - 4 years |
| OCCUPATION: | Farmer |
| PLACE OF CAPTURE: | 20 km NE of POUN (報恩) (1070-1510) |
| DATE OF CAPTURE: | 30 Sep 50 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH: | HAMGYONG PUKTO, KILCHU-Gun, CHANGBANG-Myon, SIPIL-Tong #802 (咸鏡北道 吉州郡 長百面 十一洞 八0二番地) |
| HOME ADDRESS: | KANGWON-Do, KUMHWA-Gun, KUMHWA-Myon SAENG CH'ANG-Ni (江原道 金化郡 金化面 生昌里) |
| INTERROGATOR: | MORI (FEAF) |
PW talked freely and seemed to be of average intelligence. Sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for shooting himself in order to avoid combat. Stated that he was not a Communist and was not a member of any Communist Organization.
3. TACTICAL INFORMATION:Chronology:
20 Aug 47 - Volunteered for the NKPA at KAECH'ON (价天). Assigned to 1st Div, 3rd Regt, 2nd Bn, 4th Co.
15 Oct 48 - Reassigned to 3rd Div, 19th Regt, 3rd Bn, 8th Co as Plt Ldr at time the Div was activated at HAMHUNG (咸興).
2 Jul 50 - Wounded while crossing the HAN River and hospitalized for one month at SEOUL.
28 Aug 50 - Arrived 3rd Div Staff Section at YANGMOK (若木).
2 Sep 50 - PW shot his left arm, with a 7.62-mm M1924/27 type Carbine, thinking that he would not be sent to the front line area if wounded. Sent to the 3rd Div Hospital. Investigated by NKPA intelligence agents at the hospital for five days. Due to powder burns, was found guilty of attempting to avoid combat duty.
8 Sep 50 - Tried by courts martial and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. Interned at the Internal Affair Ministry Prison until 20 Sep 50, when the prison was evacuated to TAEJON.
30 Sep 50 - While enroute to TAEJON the prison personnel were attacked by US Forces and PW was captured by ROK Forces 20 km NE of POUN (報恩).
Personalities:
3rd Div CG - LEE, Yong Ho (이李永浩); Maj Gen (少將) Age 37
9th Regt CO - KIM, Man Ik (金万益); Col (大佐) Age 33
3rd Bn CO - PAK, Yong Jin (朴英鎭); Capt (總尉) Age 29
Remarks: Killed in Action during Aug 50.
Morale and Propaganda:
While hospitalized during period 2 Aug 50 - 8 Aug 50, approx 60 soldiers including 3 officers were investigated and found guilty of shooting themselves in order to evade combat duty.
PW read a UN propaganda leaflet on which was a photo of General MacARTHUR and had a statement to the effect that an important radio broadcast was to be aired on that night, o/a 20 Jul 50.
The NKPA propaganda was as follows:
1. The US is invading S. KOREA and will also invade North KOREA if they can. The US is exploiting the rice produced in KOREA and the S. Korean people are faced with starvation.
2. The US kills all NKPA prisoners and tortures the officers. PW also believed this before captured.
3. The NKPA was to receive Korean reinforcement from the CCF.
4. GENERAL:1. Information of NKPA Court Martial:
a. Court Composition:
1. Judge (Col 大佐). Judge was assigned to the Div from the NK Supreme Court and was not under the jurisdiction of Div CG.
2. U CH'AMSA (右參事) Court Supervisor or asst Judge. The U CH'AMSA was an officer picked from unit. Cross examined the defendant. The U CH'AMSA also participated in the final decision made by the court.
3. CHWA CH'AMSA (左參事). CHWA CH'AMSA was an EM or NCO picked from the unit. Was on equal level with the U CH'AMSA and performed same duties in court.
4. Court Clerk: The Court Clerk was under jurisdiction of the Judge and maintained the court record.
5. Defendant
6. A large number of auditors were requested to attend the trial.
Procedure of Court:
a. The judge read the indictment to court.
b. The judge asked both the U CH'AMSA and CHWA CH'AMSA for questions or cross examination.
c. A discussion was held by several members of unit who were present. The discussion has no effect on the court.
d. Recess was called for five minutes while the Judge, U CH'AMSA and CHWA CH'AMSA left court to make the final decision.
e. Defendant sentenced.
The whole procedure lasted only one hour and once the decision was made, defendant could not appeal. The decision was final and could not be reversed.
Prosecution and Investigation:
A Prosecutor (Sr Lt) from the NK Supreme Central Court was assigned to the Regt. An intelligence officer (Capt) had secret informants throughout the Bn. He was not under the jurisdiction of the Div CG not the NK Supreme Central Court.
The Prosecutor and Intelligence Officer made joint investigation of crimes and also jointly prepared the indictment. PW stated that the final sentence was also set in this indictment by the prosecutors.
No Defense Counsel for defendant.
The penalty for NKPA personnel shooting themselves in order to evade combat duty was 20 years for officers and 15 years fro EM.
For the Commanding Officer:
WEELDREYER
Executive
