SEOUL, South Korea — Dawn was breaking over snow-covered Sambong Mountain a half century ago as the four Woo brothers set out to cut wood.
In a clearing they found 31 men dressed in South Korean army uniforms. Assuming it was a patrol, they shouted a greeting.
The soldiers were hollow-cheeked and drenched in sweat despite the sub-zero temperatures and the bitter wind in Paju, just 10 miles from South Korea's border with the North.
Most had removed their boots and wrapped their hands and feet in blankets to stave off frostbite. The leader introduced himself as "Captain Kim," with his sophisticated Seoul accent putting the siblings at ease.
That was when one of the brothers noticed something strange: One soldier's rank insignia was upside down. It made him suspicious: For months there had been broadcasts in the South warning citizens to be on the lookout for infiltrators.
“Gentlemen, are you from the North?” the eldest brother asked Kim.
“Yes, comrades. We are here to liberate you and bring communism to South Korea,” Kim told the woodcutters.
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