FW: More than 100,000 massacred by allies during Korean War

More than 100,000 South Korean civilians were massacred by allied troops fighting alongside Britain and the US in the Korean War, an official investigation has revealed.

By Richard Spencer in Seoul
Last Updated: 6:26PM GMT 29 Dec 2008
The Daily Telegraph, 29 Dec 2008

Korean War civilian massacres, Daejeon Massacre, Busan Massacre, Namyang Ju Massacre
Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Authorities in the country have discovered mass burial sites containing thousands of bodies, including scores of children.

Trawls of records including declassified files in Washington have uncovered evidence of the massacres of at least 100,000 people suspected of having sympathy with the North Koreans.

In some cases, American forces are alleged to have been present and in at least one case an American officer authorised a massacre of prisoners believed to have left-wing sympathies.

The Korean War, in which South Korean, American, British and other allied forces fought the North and their Chinese allies to a standstill, was particularly bloody.

It was always known that atrocities were committed by both sides as the battlefront swayed back and forth from the deep south to near the Chinese border.

But under the South's military dictatorship, the crimes of its own forces were rarely discussed. The new findings suggest there was a pattern of disposing of those suspected of left-wing sympathies as the North Koreans advanced, and then again of those who were accused of collaborating as they retreated.

The investigation, run by a national Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has become deeply controversial, with some fearing it is intended to discredit the right and pro-American attitudes in South Korean politics.

(FW by Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and Dr. Steven Kim, Head of International Cooperation Team, Truth and Reconciliation Commission)

Read more.


* Image source/credit and caption*

_Top: More than 100,000 massacred by allies during Korean War, the The Daily Telegraph, 29 Dec 2008 'Children run past statues of 1950-53 Korean War soldiers at a war museum in Seoul Photo: REUTERS'

_ Middle: Children 'Executed' in 1950 South Korean Killings, Korea Report, Dec. 8, 2008
_Bottom: Children 'executed' in 1950 South Korean killings, Dec. 7, 2008
'AP – This file photograph by the U.S. Army taken in July 1950 and provided by the U.S. National Archives in … '


* Related Organization*

South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission


* Related English articles *

439 civilians confirmed dead in Yeosu-Suncheon Uprising of 1948
New report by the Truth Commission places blame on Syngman Rhee and the Defense Ministry, advises government apology
Posted on : Jan.8,2009 12:33 KST, Hankyeoreh

Children 'Executed' in 1950 South Korean Killings
December 8, 2008 (FW by Bruce Gagnon)
By CHARLES J. HANLEY and JAE-SOON CHANG, Associated Press Writers Charles J. Hanley And Jae-soon Chang, Associated Press Writers – Dec 7, 2008

* note: The article was also loaded in the Korea Report blog, Dec. 8, 2008

The South Korean Massacre at Taejon: New Evidence on US Responsibility and Coverup, Korea Report, Sept. 3, 2008

South Korea Says U.S. Killed Hundreds of Civilians, New York Times. By CHOE SANG-HUN, Aug. 3, 2008

The South Korean Massacre at Taejon: New Evidence on US Responsibility and Coverup by Bruce Cumings, Japan Focus. Posted July 23, 2008.

"Thousands killed in 1950 by US's Korean ally", Korae Report, May 19, 2008

"Unearthing War’s Horrors Years Later in South Korea", December 3, 2007


*Related Korean articles*

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인천상륙작전의 두 얼굴 2008.09.10 11:11
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