In 1992, Kim Ho, executive director of the Korea Special Mission Exploits Association’s Gyeonggi branch, was 20 when he came across a recruitment poster for special agents that would change his life. When Kim asked about the posting, an official promised pay high enough to buy a home and guaranteed employment afterward. After Kim passed a physical test in the southern port city of Busan, he advanced to further screening in central Seoul’s Yongsan District, competing with roughly 400 applicants from across the country. Ultimately, about 30 finalists were sent to Sokcho in Gangwon Province. For the next 28 months, Kim underwent brutal training without an official military service number or rank, learning skills ranging from VIP assassination to infiltration into North Korea. When the assignment ended, however, the promised compensation never came. “After my discharge, government officials would show up at my workplace and ask what I was doing,” Kim told The Korea Times. “That led co-workers to suspect I had been involved in something questionable, making it hard for me to keep a j