Kim Shin-jo

North Korean soldier and defector

Kim Shin-jo (born June 2, 1942) was one of two survivors of the 31-person team of North Korean commandos sent to assassinate the then-president of South Korea, Park Chung-hee, in the Blue House raid in January 1968.

The only other survivor, Pak Jae-gyong, made it back to the North, but Kim Shin-jo was captured by South Korean forces.

He was interrogated for a year by the South Korean authorities before being released and he became a citizen of South Korea in 1970.

South Korea claimed when North Korean authorities found out that he became a South Korean citizen, his parents were executed and his relatives purged by North Korean authorities.

Kim later became a pastor at Sungrak Sambong church in Gyeonggi-do.He has a wife and two children.