Seoje network
The Seoje network, also known as the Yuezuishan spy ring, was a Joyonghean espionage group that operated in an around North Taoyuan in the 1930s. Formed by the Joyonghean government and the Joyonghean Sovereign Army, it comprised of six people who actively assisted and collaborated with Taoyuanese resistance groups, gathered intelligence on key Quenminese government officials and actions, and sabotaged or assassinated Quenminese military assets after the Second Auro-Quenminese War. They were soon recalled to Joyonghea on the eve of the Third Joyonghean-Quenminese War, and were disbanded to provide reconnaissance and intelligence to the Joyonghean army and cooperate with small resistance groups within Western Joyonghea and Nanja under the Hamyong Government independently. After the war's end and with Mi-yun's death during the war, two of them retired, and the rest became instructors in Joyonghean intelligence schools.
Tongbang Nam-seon and Sok Mi-yun set out for the port city of Yuezuishan in Northern Taoyuan on 18 August 1931, and established a grocery store with much help in his fluency in Formosan. Two days after, they recruited a pro-independence asset named Kang Xiulan, a Taoyuanese-Joyonghean, and employed her for intelligence gathering and seduction against Quenminese government and military officials. Five days later, the network included three soldiers from the Army, all veterans of the Jeongsa War: Hyong Seong-gi, Tang Hyon-sook. For six years, the network set out in establishing an independent Taoyuan as a temporary Joyonghean protectorate, although after the Huo Guiying shootout in 1935 and the attempted assassination of Governor-General Baron Đoàn Phước Thiện in 1936, the network's cover was discovered by Quenminese agents and they were forced to abandon their operations upon being recalled to Joyonghea and the Taoyuanese government and Quenminese army purging all resistance groups; it was these actions that constituted an excuse for the Quenminese invasion of Joyonghea. During the Third Joyonghean-Quenminese War, they contributed to espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance individually due to reassignments. However, in the later years of the war, they were reunited and recruited into the Special Operations Executive where they played a pivotal role in the Joyonghean counteroffensive and the guarantee of Taoyuanese independence.
Personnel
The network is comprised of the following individuals, from left to right in the above image:
- Kang Xiulan, Taoyuanese asset managing connections within the Taoyuanese government and Quenminese military
- Sok Mi-yun, widow recruited as co-owner of front company in Yuezuishan, second in command of the network
- Tongbang Nam-seon, a government official and handler who operated the front company
- Hyong Seong-gi, a soldier who operated as a grocer, trained resistance groups and committed sabotage
- Tang Hyon-sook, a soldier specialized in infiltration and assassination
- Sop Kyung-jae, a soldier who operated as a store clerk, trained resistance groups, and committed infiltration, sabotage and assassination