Growing movement in Korea exposes U.S. war crimes
By Sharon Ayling
An international delegation of the Korea Truth Commission
recently returned to the United States after spending a week in
south Korea.
From May 17 to May 24, the delegation traveled around
southern Korea investigating sites where civilians were killed
during the Korean War. Out of the 3 million who died from 1950
to 1953, about a million were civilians.
Over the past two years, the KTC has sent seven
international delegations to Korea in an effort to uncover the
facts about U.S. responsibility in these civilian deaths.
The delegation learned that as the United States fought the
northern Korean People's Army and southern Partisan guerrillas
who resisted U.S. occupation, it also carried out brutal
repression of the civilian population. These were the people
the U.S. claimed it was defending during the war.
At each of the 12 sites that they visited, delegates heard
people recount their painful experiences as if they had
happened yesterday.
These witnesses told of being shelled and strafed by U.S.
fighter jets, of their homes burned to the ground, of losing
their mothers or fathers, of living with disabling
injuries.
The delegates were also shown structural damage to buildings
and tunnels.
On a beach on the eastern coast of Korea near the industrial
city of Pohang, 63-year-old Choi Pang Il told the delegates of
the horror he witnessed on Sept. 1, 1950.
About 1,000 refugees had gathered on the beach a few days
before. They had come down from the surrounding hills to escape
the U.S. bombing. They were camped along the shore with about
50 of their cows.
Two large U.S. naval battleships were stationed in the bay,
which today is dominated by the world's biggest steel mill.
At about 2 p.m. that day, a big storm with heavy rains hit
the encampment. People started running for cover under the
trees. That is when the two ships opened up with their heavy
guns.
The U.S. Navy bombarded the fleeing crowd for 30 to 40
minutes.
Choi explained that since the investigation of the site had
just begun, only 40 of the people who died had been identified
so far. One hundred people are believed to have been killed. He
lost a younger brother and his father in the bombing.
'Boldly demanding an apology'
Yoomi Jeong, KTC leader in the United States and organizer
of the delegation, spoke with me about her impressions of the
trip shortly after we both returned from Korea.
"One of the things that impressed me this time was the newly
gained political consciousness of the survivors and families.
Previously, people were generally afraid to speak and were not
sure who was responsible for their suffering, especially when
the killings were carried out by the south Korean military or
police.
"Now with the activities of the KTC and the progressive
movement, more people are aware of the historical background to
their suffering. Now they are more boldly demanding an apology
and compensation from the U.S. government," Jeong said.
"In April, 'Kill 'Em All,' the BBC documentary on the U.S.
massacre of civilians at Nogun-ri, was shown on Korean national
television. It had a big impact on the population's
understanding and acceptance of what KTC has been saying--that
the U.S. deliberately targeted civilians during the war.
"Now many more are speaking out about their bitter suffering
and they are finally finding a sympathetic audience.
"Another change that I noticed is that the mainstream Korean
media is giving much more attention to the civilian massacre
cases. The delegation received wide local and national media
coverage--newspapers, radio and television. Reporters were
aware of the issue and seemed genuinely interested in reporting
on the people's suffering."
A growing movement
Workers World asked Jeong how this movement is going. "It is
definitely growing," Jeong replied. "A new group, the National
Association of Families of Massacre Victims, has been formed
and is putting forward its own demands.
"And last winter, the 'grandmothers' of this movement staged
a month-long demonstration in front of the National Assembly in
Seoul. Every day for a whole month in very cold weather, women
in their 70s and 80s picketed the government building demanding
recognition of their suffering."
During the trip, the delegation met with Jeon Kap-Kil, a
member of the Korean National Assembly from Kwangju. He is the
main sponsor of a bill on the civilian massacres.
Jeon told the delegation that after the Assembly passed a
special law acknowledging a massacre on Cheju Island, survivors
and families got together and demanded a law be passed
recognizing the many other massacres. The bill now covers 100
sites.
The bill would require the south Korean government to
acknowledge that these massacres occurred and were carried out
by U.S. troops or south Korean troops under U.S. command. It
would also recognize the innocence of the victims, and require
that memorials be erected and annual commemorations be held at
all of the sites.
Jeon said that getting the bill passed is an uphill battle.
The Defense Department doesn't want this investigation, and
officials are very cautious when speaking about the U.S.
government.
While the military ended its direct rule in south Korea 15
years ago, it still holds vast power--except for its
subordinate relationship to the U.S. military command.
"In addition to passage of this bill, the movement is also
demanding that the Korean government finance the excavation of
these sites and the identification of the remains so that they
can be returned to the families for proper burial," Jeong
said.
Workers World asked what people in the United States can do.
"We must demand that the U.S. government declassify the
thousands of Pentagon and CIA documents on the war so that an
independent investigation can be done--not a whitewash like the
one the Pentagon carried out on the Nogun-ri massacre.
"And, of course, the movement must demand that the U.S.
government officially apologize for these crimes, compensate
the victims and their families, and withdraw its troops that
have continued to occupy Korea to this day.
"It is more important than ever to expose U.S. conduct
during the Korean War in light of Bush's 'axis of evil' threats
against north Korea that raise the real danger of another war
on the Korean Peninsula," Jeong concluded.
Reprinted from the June 13, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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