Silmido (Silmi Island) is an uninhabited island in the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour ter ...

, off the west coast of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. It has an area of about 0.25 km². It lies within the borders of Incheon metropolitan city, and is about 5 kilometres southwest of

Incheon International Airport Incheon International Airport (IIA; ) (sometimes referred to as Seoul–Incheon International Airport) is the largest airport in South Korea. It is the primary airport serving the Seoul Capital Area and one of the largest and busiest airports ...

. Silmido lies just offshore of the larger, inhabited island of

Muuido Muuido, also known as Muui Island, is an island in South Korea. It is a small island located south of Yongyu Island, which was joined with Yeongjong Island when Incheon International Airport was built. Muui Island measures long and wide. The i ...

, which is connected to the mainland by ferry. Most of the island consists of hills that are around 80 m high.doopedia. (n.d.). 실미도. Retrieved from 두산백과: http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=1222545&cid=200000000&categoryId=200003702 Silmido became historically significant when it was used as the training ground (January 21, 1968 to August 23, 1971) for Unit 684, a South Korean military detachment created to assassinate

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

n leader

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

in response to the Blue House raid assassination attempt against President Park Chung-hee. Traces of the training facilities can still be seen. Under circumstances which remain unclear, the members of the group mutinied and went to

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

in 1971, where they were killed or committed suicide.

Background

On January 21, 1968, a group of 31 North Korean military soldiers were sent to South Korea by Kim Il-sung to kill President Park Chung-hee. A firefight began when the commandos were just 800 yards from the

Blue House Cheong Wa Dae ( ko, 청와대; Hanja: ; ), also known as the Blue House, is a public park that formerly served as the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea from 1948 to 2022. It is located in the Jongno distr ...

(the South Korean Presidential Palace). In all, 68 South Koreans were killed and 66 were wounded, including about two dozen civilians. Three Americans also died defending South Korea's president, and three were wounded.

Unit 684

In response to the attempted assassination of Park Chung-hee, South Korea began training Unit 684, to infiltrate North Korea and kill Kim Il-sung. The assassination mission was subsequently cancelled. On 23 August 1971, the members of Unit 684 revolted, killing most of their guards and making their way to the mainland, where they hijacked a bus to Seoul. The bus was stopped by the Army in

Daebang-dong Daebang-dong is a '' dong'', neighbourhood of Dongjak-gu in Seoul, South Korea. History See also *Administrative divisions of South Korea South Korea is made up of 17 first-tier administrative divisions: 6 metropolitan cities (''gwang ...

Yeongdeungpo-gu Yeongdeungpo District () is an administrative district in southwest Seoul, South Korea. Although the origin of the name is uncertain, the first two syllables are thought to be from "''yeongdeung''" (靈登) or "divine ascent", a shamanic rite. T ...

, Seoul and 20 members of the Unit on board were shot or committed suicide with hand grenades. The four survivors were sentenced to death by a military tribunal and executed on 10 March 1972.

Film

Silmido is well-known today as the principal setting of the 2003 film of the same name, which is based on the true story of Unit 684. Thanks to the film's success, the island has become a fairly popular

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

destination.

References

{{Coord, 37, 24, 06, N, 126, 23, 30, E, dim:1100_scale:11000_region:KR-28_type:isle_source:dewiki, display=title Uninhabited islands of South Korea Islands of Incheon Islands of the Yellow Sea