“One of our buddies saw something in the dark,” Park Jae-eun, a recently retired Republic of Korea Army Special Forces (ROKA-SF) Sergeant Major (SGM), tells NK News.      

“At least, he thought he saw something. Someone opened fire into the pitch black, and we all shot towards that general direction where he fired, hoping our bullets would hit the North Korean Gongbi (communist guerrillas)," says Park, reminiscing back on the late-Autumn mountains of Gangneung region in 1996.