It was militantly anti-communist and also opposed the trusteeship of Korea [ko], especially by the Soviet Civil Administration in the North.

Because the group operated in secret, much of the information on it is derived from interviews and limited documents, and is still subject to uncertainty and debate.

In 2001, South Korean researchers discovered a declassified document published by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration that linked the WSS to the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps.

Many of the right-leaning Koreans became associated with the Provisional Government of Korea (KPG), the self-proclaimed government-in-exile that aligned itself with the Kuomintang (KMT).

In 1934, he enrolled in a joint KPG–KMT course for Korean independence fighters at the Luoyang Military Academy, and trained as a guerrilla.

[12] All sources agree that, after graduating from the Academy, Yeom became associated with the Blue Shirts Society, a secret militant Chinese ultranationalist group within the KMT.

According to the later testimonies of former White Shirts Society agents,[c] after the 1937 outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Yeom worked in the statistical survey department for the National Revolutionary Army (Chinese: 國民政府軍事委員會調查統計局, aka.

[16][17][18] The general consensus among Korean scholars is that Yeom was then captured by the military police of the Japanese Kwantung Army and tortured.

[19] In Pyongyang in August 1944,[d] Yeom founded the anti-communist group Daedongdan,[e] which was the direct predecessor to the White Shirts Society.

[12][21] The group was first conceptualized at the Buddhist Yongmyong Temple,[f] which was then a hotbed for both left- and right-wing nationalist gatherings.

[19] On September 3, 1945,[g] the general consensus is that Daedongdan members Paek, Seonu, and Park Jin-yang assassinated Hyŏn Chunhyŏk, the head of committee of the Communist Party of Korea for South Pyongan Province.

[26][23] While it is now the general consensus that Daedongdan was behind the assassination, until the 1990s, it was widely believed that left-wing forces were behind the attack, particularly due to the confusion over the uniform.

However, consensus shifted after the publication of Lee Yeong-shin's 1994 book Secret Organization White Shirts Society and the 2002 release of a 1986 audio recording of a Daedongdan member confessing to plotting the murder.

[24][23] In 2021, Jung theorized that the murder occurred primarily due to the factional conflicts in Pyongyang security shortly after the war.

Over a hundred anti-communist students eventually defected to the South in the aftermath, and many joined either the militant Central Political Task Force (정치공작대; 政治工作隊)[i] in the KPG and/or the WSS.

Jung speculated that part of this was because they gravitated towards other North Korean escapees and respected Yeom's reputation.

Their goal is to kill members of the Communist Party of Korea, the People's Party of Korea, and the leaders of the [Provisional North Korean government].In addition, Bae alleged that around this time, several WSS agents attempted to help Cho Man-sik escape his house arrest at the Koryo Hotel.

[28] Ahn also noted that in early May 1946, WSS agents infiltrated the North to gather intelligence on Northern troop deployments.

[19] Historian James Jongsoo Lee believed it was unlikely that the U.S. supported the WSS's terrorist attacks on North Korea which occurred within the same timeframe.

[35]These cross-border espionage activities stopped due to financial difficulties, training issues,[28] and tightened security at the North–South Korean border.

[12][28] The assassins, including Shin Dong-un (신동운) and Kim Heung-seong (김흥성), were given American-made .45 caliber pistols for the mission.

Afterwards, Yeom worked with a pro-Japanese police officer Roh Deok-sul (노덕술) to cover up the case.

[28] Between 1946 and 1948, the WSS created the "Manchuria Plan" (만주계획), in which they would build a right-wing guerrilla army north of the China–North Korea border.

[19] According to Ahn and Jung, after the establishment of the First Republic of South Korea in August 1948, the role of the WSS and other private militant organizations began to decrease.

[26][12][39] The Blue Shirts were in turn inspired by other fascist groups with similar names, including the Italian Blackshirts, the Romanian Greenshirts, and the Spanish Blueshirts.

[12][26] In 2021, Jung Byung Joon described the leadership as follows:[28] Cilley claimed the organization had a "Revolutionary Group" or "Special Attack Corps".

One, no matter the circumstance, I will never betray the fatherland or the White Shirts Society.The initiate would then make a cut on their finger and sign a contract with blood.

Yeom made a significant effort to have members become police officers or join the South Korean Ministry of National Defense.

If found guilty of a lesser crime, the member would be subjected to a "cripple's punishment" (앉은뱅이 형벌): solitary confinement in a guarded cell within the headquarters for either ten days or a month.

On February 12, 1947, they extorted over 100,000 won from a businessman in Donam-dong, which Jung speculated was to fund the WSS's espionage operations.