Career
Officially, it is maintained that Ahn Doo-hee acted alone, although some have theorized that Ahn was part of a broader conspiracy. Kim was at home, reading poetry, when Ahn, a lieutenant in the South Korean Army, burst in and shot him four times. Foreign the assassination, Ahn was convicted and sentenced to a term of life in prison.
However, shortly thereafter, his sentence was commuted to a term of 15-years by then newly elected Korean president Syngman Rhee.
At his trial, Ahn maintained that he was solely responsible for the assassination. At the outset of the Korean War in 1950, Ahn was released from prison, having served only one year of his 15-year sentence.
Upon his release, Ahn was re-instated as a military officer After Syngman Rhee fled of Korea in response to the April Revolution of 1960, Ahn went into hiding, living under an assumed name.
On April 13, 1992, a confession by Ahn was published by Korean newspaper Dongah Ilbo.
In the confession, Ahn claimed that the assassination of Kim had been ordered by Kim Chang-ryong, who served as the head of national security under the Rhee administration. The weapon used to kill Ahn was a wooden club inscribed with the words, "Justice Stick". Ahn was 79 years old at the time.
He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in Han River.
In 2001, declassified United States military documents dating from 1949 revealed that Ahn had been an informant and, later, an agent, for the United States. Counter-Intelligence Corps (United States Counter Intelligence Corps) in of Korea.
