hankyoreh

The Associated Press has reported that American documents confirm that there were mass killings of civilians by American forces during the Korean War at Songgol Beach in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, along with four other locations. In some cases, the facts were already known because documentation had been declassified, but now one learns that around 300 civilians were killed by U.S. fighter planes while hiding in a storage structure in Dunpo, Asan, South Chungcheong Province. The roughly 60 cases of mass killings of civilians that have surfaced since the infamous Nogun-ri case hit the news are, one by one, being confirmed as fact by American documentation.

Many things of circumstantial substances have been confirmed before about civilian killings by American forces, such as through historical documents and survivor testimony. So far, however, the only incident that has been officially admitted by the United States is Nogun-ri. Even that, however, was concluded to have been a minor mistake resulting from accidental fire. The U.S. is failing to admit responsibility for cases confirmed by American military documentation such as logs by those involved in combat.

A letter discovered last year, written by the U.S.’s ambassador to Korea during the war, John Muccio, confirms the possibility of other massacres of ordinary civilians by U.S. troops. In his correspondence to the U.S. State Department, he wrote, "If refugees do appear from North of U.S. lines, they will receive warning shots, and if they then persist in advancing, they will be shot." Given the chaotic state among refugees heading southward at the time, you can assume there were killings of numerous innocent civilians.

Recently, Korea’s national truth and reconciliation commission decided to investigate some 155 cases of mass civilian killings the U.S. military had something to do with. The U.S. government should fully disclose its documentation and actively cooperate in ascertaining the truth. Recent news reports indicate that the U.S. has enough documentation to clarify what exactly took place during the war. There are survivors of such massacres, too, so finding out the full truth would not be difficult, if only the U.S. had the determination to do so. The American attitude, however, makes it look like it is more than lacking in good faith - it looks instead as if it is hurriedly trying to conceal the truth. One cannot understand how the U.S. can turn from the truth about the killing of innocent civilians when it hunts the world over for remains of dead American soldiers.

Our own government, for its part, needs to get rid of its passive approach to this issue. The truth commission is commencing on its investigation, but you do not see a government-wide effort of any kind. The commission has only three to four people working on the investigation. How could one expect cooperation from the Americans when our own government’s attitude is less than entirely clear on the matter? These are not cases that can be dealt with haphazardly. We hope to see the government approach the pursuit of truth with firm determination.


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