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Never-before-seen photo of assassination attempt on Syngman Rhee surfaces in NY

April 21, 2015

A never-before-seen photo of Yoo Si-tae’s 1952 assassination attempt on South Korean President Syngman Rhee surfaced in New York. (Korea Times)

A never-before-seen photo of an 1952 assassination attempt on South Korean President Syngman Rhee, kept for years by British intelligence before it was procured by a collector, has surfaced.

In an exclusive reveal to the Korea Times New York, International Map Collectors’ Society President and New Jerseyan Kim Tae-jin said Monday the photo was taken on June 25, 1952, the second anniversary of the Korean War.

Rhee is speaking at a podium at Chungmoo-ro Square in Pusan, South Korea, in the photo. Behind him, a man — Yoo Si-tae, then 62, holds a gun up in the air, ready to shoot.

The photo album purchased by collector Kim Tae-jin, formerly in the possession of British intelligence. (Korea Times)

The caption beneath reads that Yoo is a member of a 12-member anti-government faction led by assemblyman Kim Si-hyun.

Yoo, who entered the event with the assemblyman’s credentials, pulled the trigger toward Rhee but failed due to a gun malfunction. He was arrested at the scene.

Photos of the incident immediately after the attempt are widespread, but a photo of the attack as it happened had never before been public.

Yoo and Kim Si-hyun were both independence activists during Japanese occupation of Korea. They faced a death sentence following the assassination attempt before being handed life sentences.

Rhee fell in the April 19, 1960 revolution led by labor and student groups that successfully overthrew the government. Yoo and the assemblyman were the first political prisoners released under the interim government that took over.

The photo was a part of an album compiled by Korea’s Counter Intelligence Corps and given to the American and British intelligence services.

Kim Tae-jin purchased the photo album two years ago in London. He said the album contains additional photos of events that transpired between 1950 and 1952, during the height of the Korean War.

He said he plans to put up the album for auction on Korean art and antiques auction site Kobay in June.