hankyoreh

By Lee Soon-hyuk　

As the 61st anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War approaches, controversy continues to surround General Paik Sun-yup, 92. Paik, a military veteran who was the first four-star general in the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army and twice held the post of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the subject of dispute between two factions. One aims to exalt him by building a bronze statue of him, and the other aims to “draw a line,” claiming that he was an officer in the Gando Special Force who crushed Korean independence fighters.

Now, the Hankyoreh has exclusively obtained the testimony of a former military official, which says that the operation to suppress North Korean partisan guerrilla forces at Mt. Jirisan, led by Paik, caused the deaths of innocent people. The testimony is part of a huge collection of verbal evidence from 3,000 war veterans, recorded in the 1960s by a military record compilation committee in the Ministry of National Defense in order to compile a history of the Korean War.

In 1951, when the Korean War was in progress, the U.S. military set up a headquarters for suppressing North Korean partisans and put Paik, then head of the 1st Army Corps, in charge. Under his command were the Capital Division (headed by Song Yo-chan), the 8th Division (headed by Choi Young-hee) and a southwest regional command post.

The name Paik chose for the operation was “Rat Kill.” His method was to surround and move in upon Mt. Jirisan, evacuating residents, removing sources of food and letting the rest wither away. The operation produced effective results. Having started in November 1951, the suppression was effectively complete by early the next year. The prisoner of war camp in Gwangju, where a mixture of POWs and local residents was held, became a social issue because of its poor environment and incarceration of innocent people. It was dissolved in 1953 on the orders of President Syngman Rhee.

Gong Guk-jin, a retired general who left his position as a staff officer for the operation after a clash of opinion with Paik and was head of paper business at the time, revealed a story of the operation that was fraught with remorse.

“Mt. Jirisan spans four provinces and nine counties. 200,000 people live in the counties. This guy [Paik] said that everyone in this area was the enemy, and built the detention camp in Gwangju. When the operation started, he wanted to make all women and children enemies and take them to the camp, but I told him that if we put them into a truck and sent them to Gwangju they would all freeze to death. A civil war is when one nation fights against itself: you have to treat innocent people and enemies somewhat differently. Otherwise, I said, it would be just like going to the North Korea region and suppressing 8th Route Army. That’s how we fought,” said Gong.

“Of course, I, as a staff officer, made mistakes. As a staff officer you just need to do your best to and make suggestions. The role of a staff officer is to minimize failure as far as possible. I said that I could not do this as staff officer of that operation. So I left. ... Song Yo-chan was against it too. Choi Young-hee was also against it. We thought we would be despised for it forever...” Gong added.

We tried to hear Paik’s opinion regarding Gong’s testimony, but an official in his entourage answered, “The general is old, so such interviews are difficult for him. It is hard for me to give you an answer.” Gong, who gave the testimony, died a few years ago.

Paik wrote the following with regard to the incident in one of his earlier books:

“When a rank and file unit commits wrongdoings, against the orders of those in command, then glosses over the facts with a falsified report, it is very difficult to completely confirm what happened and reveal the truth. ... There was no way I could have known about it at the time, but, as commander-in-chief of the suppression unit, if any souls were sacrificed due to wrongdoings by my subordinates, I want to pray that they rest in peace.” (Sillok Jirisan)

“The issue of the killing of innocent people is one that must be seen in the context of the era of war, and it is hard to criticize Paik alone as there were worse commanders than him,” said a one historian who specializes in modern and contemporary Korean history.

“How can the man himself do anything other than keep silent on the sensitive issues in his past such as the killing of innocent people and the Gando Special Force?”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]