Episode 40: Silmido Incident (Unit 684)

Dark Korea — Korean True Crime & Mysteries · Aug 22, 2026 · 24m

In 1968, South Korea took thirty-one civilians, put them on an uninhabited island in the Yellow Sea, and trained them to kill the leader of North Korea. Then the politics changed, and the mission was quietly shelved — and the men were left on the island anyway. For three years and four months, no letters, no leave, no visitors, and — after the first few months — no pay. Seven of them died there, and not one of those deaths was what the paperwork said it was. On the morning of August the 23rd, 1971 — fifty-five years ago today — the twenty-four who were left killed their guards, crossed to the…