ATIS INTERROGATION REPORT NO. 1764 10 October 1950
FIELD REPORT (ADVATIS - 1037) 5 October 1950
1. PERSONAL DETAILS:| PW NAME: | KANG, Myong Ho (姜明昊) (강명호) |
| RANK: | Jr Lt (少尉) |
| AGE: | 18 |
| DUTY: | Plt leader of truck plt |
| UNIT: | 110th Security Regt. 43rd Bn, Truck Plt |
| EDUCATION: | Normal School (1 yrs) |
| OCCUPATION: | Student |
| PLACE OF CAPTURE: | 14 km S of TAEJON (大田) on the KUMSAN (錦山) - TAEJON (大田) Road |
| DATE OF CAPTURE: | 29 Sep 50 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH: | HWANGHAE-DO, ANAK-KUN, ANANG-MYON, SUSAM-NI, #37 (黃海道 安岳郡 安岳面 壽三里 三七番地) |
| HOME ADDRESS: | HWANGHAE-DO, HAEJU SI, OKKYE-RI, #28/50 (黃海道 海州市 玉溪里 五0番地) |
| INTERROGATOR: | KAJIWARA (FEAF) |
PW was cooperative and talked willingly. He seemed to be quite intelligent, and appeared to have no love for military life or the NKPA. PW was a draft dodger in N. KOREA before he was finally caught and forced into the NKPA. Information seemed reliable.
PW stated that the communistic propaganda was very convincing to the masses, but an educated person is not taken in by it. PW appeared to be an anti-communist.
3. TACTICAL INFORMATION:Chronology:
1 Aug 50: Inducted into the NKPA at HAEJU and received 1 month basic training at HWANGJU and was commissioned a Jr Lt.
10 Sep 50: Passed through SEOUL and boarded a train at YONGDUNGP'O (永登浦).
o/a 14 Sep 50: Debarked from train in YONGDONG (永同).
o/a 17 Sep 50: Arrived at KOCHANG (居昌) and joined the 110th Security Regt.
o/a 18 Sep 50: The 43rd Bn of the 110th Regt arrived in HYOPCH'ON (陕川).
o/a 23 Sep 50: The Bn was ordered to retreat to KOCHANG (居昌). PW did not have the slightest idea what was going on.
o/a 24 Sep 50: Arrived at KOCHANG. 110th Regt Hq then moved to ANUI (安義).
o/a 24 Sep 50: 43rd Bn followed the Regt Hq to ANUI.
o/a 26 Sep 50: The 110th arrived in HAMYANG (咸陽) in half of its original strength. The regimental commander ordered the troops up the mountain to the NW of HAMYANG (咸陽) and told them to operate as guerrilla troops from there. Regt'l CO and his staff left in a jeep. PW and two others escaped from the Regt.
29 Sep 50: Arrived at a point 14 km S of TAEJON and surrendered to US troops.
Strength:
As of 26 Sep 50 the 110th Security Regt had 200 men. These were joined by an additional 400 men from an unknown unit with whom the they went up a mountain NW of HAMYANG to take up guerrilla activities.
Equipment:
As of 26 Sep 50 the 600 guerrillas had the following equipment: 12 x 7.62mm LMG's, but no ammunition. Majority of the 400 men who joined the 110th before they were disbanded and reorganized into guerrillas had US carbines and US M-1 rifles, with one full bandolier of ammunition each. The 200 troops from the 110th had only 20 x 7.7 (type 99) Japanese rifles with 100 rounds of ammunition per rifle. There were about 2 hand grenades per man. These men had only 3 days rations.
Morale and Propaganda:
Before the regimental commander ordered the men to the hills as guerrillas he told them that the Russians and the CCF would come to their rescue in 15 days. However, he then went in a different direction with his staff, so PW does not think that the morale of the would-be guerrillas is high. He believes that those who are presently acting as guerrillas are led by die hard field grade officers who would rather die than surrender of let anyone else in the unit surrender. PW believes UN Safe Conduct surrender leaflets would be of little value against these.
4. GENERAL:Thorium Mine:
PW stated that all available men in the SINCH'ON (信川) Area who are rejected by the NKPA for physical reasons as well as single women are sent to mines in SINCH'ON (信川) to mine "Monaz" ore which PW heard has a thorium content of 0.1% to 15%.
While attending normal school, it was common knowledge among the students that thorium ore was actually mined in SINCH'ON. The existence of the mine was no secret, but the laborers were kept ignorant as to the actual use of the ore and workers who were sent there were told the ore was used in tanks and aircraft. However, PW talked to a laborer who had worked there and was told that all the laborers called the ore "Monaz". PW was a chemistry major in normal school and had learned that "Monaz" was one of the principle sources of the element thorium. Thus, the PW and other students realized the importance of the SINCH'ON mines.
PW heard that all the "Monaz" ore mined in SINCH'ON was sent to RUSSIA. The mode of transportation was not known. PW heard from a former laborer in the mine that he was hand screening the mined ore. Since the PW's information is all hearsay he could not give the exact location of the mines or the method of mining used.
He could not give the output of the mine but heard that the SINCH'ON "Monaz" mine was the world's second largest producer. PW heard of this mine for the first time in March 1950, but did not know when the mine was first put in operation. It was said that a single day's output of the SINCH'ON mine was equivalent to a whole week's output of all the thorium mines in SOVIET RUSSIA. The ore was taken from a river bank by hand. PW referred to a fellow student and PW named LEE Tu Hyong (李斗馨) whose home was in SINCH'ON. He stated that LEE might be able to give more details on the mining method, labor force, personalities, etc.
PW information on the thorium mine is all hearsay, and in many instances PW could not give a definite source of the information, other than saying that it was a common knowledge among his classmates.
For the Commanding Officer:
WEELDREYER
Executive
