CIA Mind-Control Experiments on North Korean POWs Revealed
Declassified CIA documents reveal early MKULTRA mind-control experiments on North Korean POWs and Cold War psychological warfare plans.
According to The Intercept, the CIA conducted mind-control experiments on North Korean prisoners of war in the 1950s.
The outlet reported, citing newly declassified CIA documents, that Korean POWs held under U.S. control were subjected to early MKULTRA experiments. The documents are said to be the first to confirm that such tests took place.
The materials also show that mind-control techniques were discussed at an international level. In June 1951, intelligence officials from the United States, Britain and Canada examined methods of extracting information, along with broader tools of psychological warfare.
The Intercept noted that particular attention was given to ways of shaping political beliefs, fighting communism, promoting democratic ideas and preventing communist ideology from spreading within trade unions.
According to the journalists, programs such as BLUEBIRD, ARTICHOKE and MKULTRA developed amid fears among Western intelligence agencies that their adversaries could use «brainwashing» techniques of their own.