Operation Hong Kil Dong

Operation Hong Kil Dong
	Part of Vietnam War
Date	July 9 – August 26, 1967
Location	Near Tuy Hòa, Phú Yên Province, South Vietnam16°10′N 108°55′E / 16.167°N 108.917°E
Result	South Korean victory
Belligerents
South Korea	North Vietnam; Viet Cong
Commanders and leaders
Lt. Gen.Chae Myung Shin	Unknown
Units involved
Capital Division; 9th Infantry Division	5th Division; 85th Regiment; 95th Regiment
Casualties and losses
26 killed	Korean body count: 638 killed; 88 captured; 359 individual and 98 crew-served weapons recovered

Operation Hong Kil Dong (홍길동작전) was the largest South Korean operation of the Vietnam War.^[2] The 48-day-long operation was claimed by South Korea as a major success as they claimed to have thwarted People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN)/Viet Cong (VC) infiltration into friendly areas. The results of the operation were a claim of a kill ratio of 24:1 in the Korean's report primarily killed by heavy artillery, aerial bombardment and B-52 Arclight strikes : 638 PAVN/VC. 98 crew-served and 359 individual weapons were found in the aftermath.^[3]

Vietnam veterans such as Commander of the ROK Army Forces in Vietnam and the Chief of Staff of the ROK Army, General Chae Myung-shin, and Colonel (Retired) Choi Hee Nam, wrote about Operation Hong Kil Dong in their Vietnam War memoirs.^[4]^[5]

^ "Apocalypse Now—Reliving the Vietnam War Decades Later". Newsweek. 9 June 2018.
^ "ROK Marine Corps Vietnam War and the Stories that Remain". 백마부대현황 White Horse Unit Status (in Korean). ROK Marine Corps. 2 October 2013. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017. 홍길동작전 7.9 - 8.26
^ "Review of significant events" (PDF). Headquarters United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. 20 August 1967. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-10-17. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
^ Chae, Myung-shin (24 April 2014). 베트남전쟁과 나 Vietnam War and I. 팔복원. p. 541. ISBN 9788985840187. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
^ 최Choi, 희남Hee-nam (2010). 나의 푸른날: 베트남 전쟁터에서My Blue Days: In the Vietnam Battlefield. South Korea: Dabit Publishers. p. 40. ISBN 9788991615021. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017. 만약에 그 포로를 산채로 잡지 않았더라면 홍길동 작전 후에도 그곳이 월맹군 연대본부가 주둔했던 곳이 었는지를 얼른 알아채지못했을 것이고 그 결과 그곳으로부터 사방으로 숨어드는 적들의 기습에 꽤나 곤란한 처지에 놓였을 게 틀림없었다 If Jung did not capture the captive alive, even after the Hong Gil Dong operation, we weren't able to notice quickly that that area was the place where the regimental headquarters of the Vietnamese troop was stationed, and as a result of that, we must have fallen into a quite difficult situation since the enemies who sneaked in and hid everywhere from that place could have ambushed us.

[1] "Apocalypse Now—Reliving the Vietnam War Decades Later". Newsweek. 9 June 2018.

[ROK_Marine_Corps-2] "ROK Marine Corps Vietnam War and the Stories that Remain". 백마부대현황 White Horse Unit Status (in Korean). ROK Marine Corps. 2 October 2013. Archived from the original on 12 February 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017. 홍길동작전 7.9 - 8.26

[3] "Review of significant events" (PDF). Headquarters United States Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. 20 August 1967. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-10-17. Retrieved 2 July 2020.

[4] Chae, Myung-shin (24 April 2014). 베트남전쟁과 나 Vietnam War and I. 팔복원. p. 541. ISBN 9788985840187. Retrieved 27 February 2017.

[5] 최Choi, 희남Hee-nam (2010). 나의 푸른날: 베트남 전쟁터에서My Blue Days: In the Vietnam Battlefield. South Korea: Dabit Publishers. p. 40. ISBN 9788991615021. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2017. 만약에 그 포로를 산채로 잡지 않았더라면 홍길동 작전 후에도 그곳이 월맹군 연대본부가 주둔했던 곳이 었는지를 얼른 알아채지못했을 것이고 그 결과 그곳으로부터 사방으로 숨어드는 적들의 기습에 꽤나 곤란한 처지에 놓였을 게 틀림없었다 If Jung did not capture the captive alive, even after the Hong Gil Dong operation, we weren't able to notice quickly that that area was the place where the regimental headquarters of the Vietnamese troop was stationed, and as a result of that, we must have fallen into a quite difficult situation since the enemies who sneaked in and hid everywhere from that place could have ambushed us.

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