Revealed: American veteran held in North Korea was in charge of top secret force training guerrillas who fought behind enemy lines during Korean War

Merrill E. Newman, 85, has been detained in North Korea for more than four weeks after he was pulled off a flight leaving the country on October 26



He was a 'White Tiger' adviser to the 'Kuwol' Partisan Regiment, an anti-communist force who fought deep behind enemy lines in the Korean War

Former members say they were 'working, fighting and engaging in espionage' alongside Newman

They say he should not have returned to North Korea as they view him as a spy and war criminal there



The Kuwolsan soldiers are well known in South Korea, depicted in popular culture as heroes in the fight against communism



North Korean government said Saturday Newman was arrested for being a 'criminal involved in the killing of civilians' during the war



They released video of him shaking as he read four-page handwritten letter admitting to his 'criminal offences'

It is not known if he was coerced to do so



Newman is the sixth American to be detained in North Korea since 2009



In September 1953, a group of anti-communist guerrillas presented U.S. serviceman Merrill Edward Newman with a gold ring.



For Newman, 85, the ring became a proud symbol of the role he played as an adviser to a group of battle-hardened partisans who fought deep behind enemy lines in a war that pitted the China- and Soviet-backed North against the U.S.-backed South.



Now, six decades on, the pensioner, who lives in a retirement community in California, has become one of the last prisoners of that war.



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Visiting old friends: Merrill Newman with former Kuwol Guerrilla Unit members, who he was an adviser to in the Korean War. Newman, 85, was arrested last month by the North Koreans for his role in the war

Wartime: Merrill Newman (bottom row, 2nd from left) with the guerrillas he trained during the Korean War, in this picture provided by Kim Kwoang-in, son of the captain of the Kuwol Guerrilla Unit

Revisiting the past: Newman, right, visits a display about anti-communist guerrilla warfare with some former guerrilla comrades. Now, 60 years on, he has become one of the last prisoners of that war

He returned to North Korea last month as an American tourist and was snatched by authorities from his plane moments before it was due to depart for Beijing.



When he returned to the isolated state, he was taking a risk, said former guerrillas who knew Newman.



The North Korean regime has nourished memories of the 1950-53 Korean War as the inspiration for the country's identity and acts as if the conflict is still happening.

Technically, the war did not end. No peace treaty was signed between the United States, South Korea and North Korea.



‘Those bastards already knew Newman before the war was over,’ said Kim Chang-sun, one of the men who presented Newman with the ring in 1953.



Chang-sun was still at school when he joined the 'Kuwol' Partisan Regiment, a force that Newman trained, he said in an interview in Seoul.

Old comrade: Kim Chang-sun, former Kuwol Guerrilla Unit member, says the North Koreans already knew Newman before the war was over. Chang-sun was one of those who presented Newman with the ring in 1953

Memorial visit: Newman at the War Memorial of Korea during his visit to Seoul. His old Kuwol friend, Chang-sun, says the North Koreans obtained the roster of their entire regiment, which is how they knew Newman's identity

‘They obtained the roster of our entire regiment,’ Chang-sun said.



The 'Kuwol Regiment', or 'Kuwolsan' in Korean, meaning 'September Mountain,' was named after a mountain in western North Korea where the guerrillas sought refuge as soldiers of the North's Korean People's Army (KPA) swept down the Korean peninsula when war broke out.



From there, the partisans fought their way to North Korea's west coast and sailed to offshore islands where they launched last-ditch battles against the North Korean army.



The Kuwol Regiment was just one of many groups of anti-communist partisans that were under the command of the U.S. Army 8240th Unit, nicknamed the 'White Tigers'.



The White Tigers co-ordinated some of the most daring missions of the Korean War, embedding undercover agents deep in enemy territory - sometimes for months at a time - spying on and disrupting North Korean wartime operations, according to documented histories of the regiment.



The unit, whose existence was classified until the early 1990s, was the predecessor to U.S. special forces. Members of the White Tigers were handpicked from the U.S. Army, and not told about their mission until they arrived in Seoul.

'White Tiger': Newman receives a bouquet from a former Kuwol Guerrilla Unit members in front of the Monument to Guerrilla Fighters of the Korean War at the National Cemetery in Seoul

Refuge: The Kuwolsan were named after a mountain in western North Korea where the guerrillas sought refuge as soldiers of the North's army swept down the Korean peninsula when war broke out

Ben S. Malcom, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, was also an adviser and a fellow White Tiger who served alongside Newman and led several raids along the North Korean coast, according to his book, White Tigers

‘The advisers mostly stayed behind after sending Korean partisans into the North - mainly because Americans would be so easily recognized - but some of them did accompany partisan units and engage in combat,’ said Bruce Cumings, an expert on the Korean War at the University of Chicago.



Ben S. Malcom, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, was one such adviser - a fellow White Tiger who served alongside Newman and led several raids along the North Korean coast.



He was awarded a Silver Star in March 1953 for bravery, but never received a badge marking his combat in the Korean War - the U.S. Army did not officially recognize special operations as combat.



‘As soon as I lifted the receiver to my ear I stepped across that line separating the regular army from the clandestine army,’ Malcom wrote in his 1996 memoirs, describing a call he received from a commanding officer during the war.



‘I went from being another faceless name on an army roster to a handpicked player in a unique operation about which few Americans knew anything,’ he wrote.



Soldiers who fought alongside Newman said he wore his commemorative ring when he visited South Korea after the war. He went there twice in the 2000s.



Couldn't let go of the past: Soldiers who fought alongside Newman said he wore his commemorative ring when he visited South Korea after the war. He went there twice in the 2000s

On one of these trips, he paid tribute at the National Cemetery to fallen friends. He was reunited with his old comrades over drinks and food and traveled with them to the border island that was headquarters of his unit when fighting ended.

Kim Hyeon, a member of the Kuwol Regiment who kept in contact with Newman and visited his family in California in 2004, was on a boat deep in North Korean-held territory on a summer afternoon in 1953, just weeks before a cease fire was agreed.



‘At 1 o'clock on July 15, partisans used an operational boat to get within 50 meters of the North Korean coast under Lt. Newman's instruction,’ reads a book about the unit edited by Kim.

Memoirs: Kim Hyeon, left, who visited Newman in California in 2004, remembers in a book how partisans used an operational boat to get within 50 meters of the North Korean coast under Lt. Newman's instruction

They picked up an agent and returned to an island outpost used by the partisans from the early months of the war, the book said. When the armistice was signed 12 days later, the men left the island behind and sailed south to freedom.



Kim has exchanged letters and emails with Newman, and they became close friends. But if he were Newman, he said, he would not have gone back to North Korea.



‘In the eyes of the North Koreans, he would have literally been a spy engaging in some kind of espionage activity ... I wouldn't go there (if I were him),’ Kim, now 86, said.



‘Our members were working, fighting and engaging in espionage alongside Newman because he was an adviser,’ he said.

Big risk: Kim Hyeon, a former Kuwol Guerrilla Unit member, says Newman should not have gone to North Korea as they regard him as spy

Close friends: Former Kuwolsan Guerrillas who fought alongside Newman. The Kuwolsan soldiers are well known in South Korea, and are depicted in popular culture as heroes in the fight against communism

'A bad guy for the North Koreans': Newman's former Kuwolsan comrades say their American friend, who lives in Palo Alto, California, was detained because he served in the Kuwol regiment, a partisan group very famous in South Korea for their fight against communism



Retired: Newman poses on a boat at his home in Palo Alto, California, in this undated photo provided by Kim Hyeon, a former member of the Kuwol Guerrilla Unit

The Kuwolsan soldiers are well known in South Korea, and are depicted in popular culture as heroes in the fight against communism. The regiment and its guerrillas were the subject of a 1965 film called 'Blood-soaked Mt. Kuwol'.



Kim Chang-sun, the former rank-and-file partisan member, recalled Newman as a big American military officer with a warm heart who supervised their training and landing operations.



‘He had this U.S. army food box and shared that with us. He stayed with us at a bunker,’ said Kim, now 81.



‘They detained him because he served in the Kuwol regiment. He is just a very bad guy for them,’ Kim said, referring to the North Korean authorities.



It is not entirely clear why Newman took the risk of visiting North Korea. But evidently the war and his former comrades had left a deep impression on him.

Friends for life: Newman meets with former Kuwol members in Seoul. It is unclear why Newman took the risk of visiting North Korea, but the war and his former comrades had left a deep impression

‘Kuwolsan was among the most effective guerrilla warfare units,’ he wrote in a congratulatory message attached to a book published by the Kuwolsan Guerrilla Unit Comrade Association in Seoul.



‘I am proud to have served with you.’



A video has been released by the North Korean government showing the detained American veteran admitting to being 'guilty' of crimes including killing innocent civilians when he was a soldier in the Korean War.

Newman, who had not been heard from since he was detained on October 26, is seen reading a four-page hand-scribbled letter on camera in an undisclosed location in the video released on Saturday.



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Chilling video: Merrill Newman, 85, 'admits' to being ‘guilty of a long list of inedible crimes’ against the North Korean government, including the deaths of 50 North Korean soldiers under his command. The video was released on Saturday and was seemingly filmed on November 9. He is seen bowing after he finished reading the letter

The veteran from California looks uneasy in the video, and with shaking hands apologizes for what he supposedly did 60 years ago. ‘I realize that I cannot be forgiven for my offensives but I beg for pardon on my knees by apologizing for my offensives sincerely toward the DPRK government and the Korean people and I want not punish me,' he reads. In the video, which was seemingly filmed on November 9, Newman 'admits' to being ‘guilty of a long list of inedible crimes’ against the North Korean government, including the deaths of 50 North Korean soldiers under his command. ‘According to my order they collected information of the KPA and attacked the communication system and killed 3 innocent operators, delayed the munitions supply using explosives obtained from attacking the mine and they attacked the KPA and harassing operations of the rear base 10 times in the Hwanghae Province Area,’ he reads.

‘As I killed so many civilians and KPA soldiers and destroyed strategic objects in the DPRK during the Korean War, I committed indelible offensive acts against the DPRK government and Korean people,’ he said, according to the letter released by Buzzfeed.



It is not known whether Newman was forced to write the letter or whether he did so at his own free will.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency said Saturday they had arrested Newman for ‘hostile acts’ against the state.

They accused him of having 'masterminded espionage and subversive activities' against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and that he was 'involved in killings of service personnel of the Korean People's Army and innocent civilians'.

'He admitted all his crimes and made an apology for them,' KCNA said.

North Korea is technically still at war with South Korea and the United States. The parties signed a truce, not a peace treaty, to end the Korean conflict.

Sealed: The war veteran was seen signing the letter and stamping it with his thumbprint after he finished reading it to the camera

Formal apology: The North Korean government released this photo of the alleged four-page 'apology' letter that Newman read out loud and then stamped with his thumbprint Newman says in the chilling video that he came to North Korea on the recent trip with plans to ‘shamelessly’ meet surviving soldiers and their families.

He says he had plans to connect them with the members of the Kuwol Partisan Comrades-in-Arms Association to organize an ‘anti-Communist strategic plot’. ‘Please forgive me. I will never commit the offensive act against the DPRK Government and the Korean People again,’ he says.

‘On this trip I can understand that in US and western countries there is misleading information and propaganda about DPRK. If I go back to USA, I will tell the true features of the DPRK and the life the Korean people are leading,’ he ends the letter saying.

The former US Marine is seen bowing to the camera after he finished reading the letter and then signing it and stamping the paper with his thumbprint. 'I am guilty': The full transcript of the poorly-written letter, which has many grammatical errors, was published by the KCNA. It is unknown whether Newman wrote it himself

'Looking up old comrades': A document that reads as an email sent by Newman is seen in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on November 30

Newman, of Palo Alto, California, traveled to North Korea with a friend as part of a tour group based out of Beijing, China.

But, as he was about to fly back to the U.S. on October 26, a uniformed North Korean officer came on the plane, asked to see his passport, and then requested he be removed from the flight, his son, Jeffrey Newman, said Wednesday.

'My dad got off, walked out with the stewardess, and that's the last he was seen,' the younger Mr Newman said.

Merrill Newman's traveling companion, former Stanford University professor Bob Hamrdla, was allowed to return and later told ABC News that it must have been a 'terrible misunderstanding'.

'I hope that the North Koreans will see this as a humanitarian matter and allow him to return to his family as soon as possible,' Mr Hamrdla said.



Arrested: Newman was detained by the North Korean government on October 26 when he was on a plane to fly back to the US

The U.S. Department of State has declined to publicly confirm Mr Newman's detention, only saying that the agency has updated its travel warning for North Korea, recommending that Americans refrain from traveling to the Communist country.

'U.S. citizens crossing into North Korea, even accidentally, have been subject to arbitrary arrest and long-term detention, ' the DOS said.

Jeffrey Newman said his father was a constant traveler but had always wanted to visit North Korea, and took lessons in the language before leaving on the nine-day trip.

'This has been a lifelong dream of his,' he said.

Mr Newman said he believed the desire for the trip came from the three years his father spent as an infantry officer in the Korean war, but he said Merrill Newman never talked about his service.

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Globe trotter: Newman arrived in North Korea on a valid tourist visa with a group based out of Beijing, China

Jeffrey Newman said he'd received postcards from his father saying the trip was going well, but on the last day of the tour, according to Mr Hamrdla, Merrill Newman met with North Korean officials and he came away with some uneasy feelings.

'We think that the conversation was difficult at times,' Mr Newman said, but did not know details.



The U.S. has no diplomatic relations with North Korea, but a state department official told the San Jose Mercury News that the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang has been acting as a go-between in matters concerning Americans who find themselves in trouble in North Korea.

The Swedish ambassador also delivered his father's heart medication to the North Korean Foreign Affairs Ministry, but it's unclear whether he had received it.

Pyongyang's secretive, authoritarian government is sensitive about foreign travelers, and tourists are closely monitored. The North has previously accused Seoul, Washington and other outsiders of working to sabotage its system -- statements that analysts see as a way to strengthen domestic support for young leader Kim Jong Un.

Merrill Newman has lived in a retirement complex with his wife, Lee, since 2011 in Palo Alto, where he's a big part of the alumni community at nearby Stanford University, his son said.

Golden years: Newman retired from finance in 1984 and has been living with his wife, Lee, in this 10-story retirement home in Palo Alto called Channing House

Avid travelers: Newman, left, and his neighbor Bob Hamrdla, former Stanford University professor, right, decided to go on the North Korean adventure together in mid-October



Jeffrey Newman said he believed North Korea would eventually release him after realizing that all they have is an 'elderly traveler, a grandfather with a heart condition.'

'We don't know what this misunderstanding is all about,' Jeffrey Newman said. 'All we want as a family is to have my father, my kids' grandfather, returned to California so he can be with his family for Thanksgiving.'

Merrill Newman is a retired finance executive for technology companies. Following the war, Mr Newman earned a Master's degree in education from Stanford University while working as a high school teacher.

For 50 years, Newman volunteered for the American Red Cross, teaching CPR and first aid, according to



Since his retirement in 1984, Newman and his wife have become avid travelers, going on sailing adventures and visiting countries throughout South America.

According to a newsletter put out by their upscale senior complex, Channing House, Mr Newman took Korean language classes in preparation for the trip and was reportedly traveling on a valid visa.

Jailed: Kenneth Bae, a 45-year-old tour operator and Christian missionary, was arrested last November while leading a group of tourists in the northeastern region of Rason in North Korea and has been detained for the past year

His neighbors at the retirement home were bewildered by the news of his detention, one of them saying that Mr Newman was simply going on a 'fun' trip and had no ulterior motives.

The detention comes about a year after North Korea detained another American. North Korea has detained at least six other Americans since 2009.

Korean-American Kanneth Bae, a 44-year-old Christian missionary, has been incarcerated in the country for the past year despite a campaign launched by his family pressing for his release.

Bae was accused of planning a religious coup and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

Since January 2009, four U.S. citizens have been arrested for entering the country illegally, and two others who entered on valid visas were arrested on other charges.

North Korea lately has been relaxing its restrictions on U.S. tourists. Several small travel agencies have sprung up in response to the growing interest in North Korea among Westerners.