KT columnist Mike Breen writes about the massacre of civilians during the Korean War:
The admission in November last year by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a governmental body, that South Korea had murdered thousands of its own citizens in the opening weeks of the 1950-53 Korean War, marked a landmark moment in the painful journey to historical truth.
Through methodical excavation of burial sites, forensic examinations, and interviews with eyewitnesses, the commission verified 4,934 of what some researchers suspect may have been tens of thousands of unlawful executions without trial.
Although it has been 60 years since the horrific events, this first ever admission by a South Korean government did not rest easily.
Indeed, the commission, which was established when Kim Dae-jung was president, is viewed with suspicion by the present government, ruling party, and dominant media, which are more conservative on such matters and see leftist mischief rather than national truth and reconciliation in the commission’s work.
In part, this reaction is fueled by ignorance. The war crimes by the Syngman Rhee government against its own citizenry are little known in Korea because they were covered up, and not only by the perpetrators.
Breen dealt with the issue of Korean War massacres in December of last year, too.
In fairness to the “present government, ruling party, and dominant media,” though, there’s real reason to be suspicious about both the work the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has done AND its agenda over the years (be sure to see also this and this, and the links within). God knows I don’t trust them, even though I think the work they do is very important.
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
i applaud the sk government for it’s maturity. just look across the ocean, do you think the japanese would even bother to look into what it’s people did to others let alone their own? the nippons needs to learn from korea.
“The war crimes by the Syngman Rhee government against its own citizenry are little known in Korea”
Can anyone tell me whether this is actually true, or whether it is just talk? Do Koreans truly not have a clue? Or is it just that many try to downplay it in public?
lollabrats,
It may not be unknown of, but it’s certainly not discussed or investigated to the extent it should.
“The admission in November last year by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission…”
…yes, last November only…and that’s despite the fact some of these executions are well documented (eye witness accounts, photographs, and even film).
Older Koreans are aware of this “lola”. They have tried to forget and get on with living. What I find really despicable is the attempt of some to smear the name of some based upon circumstantial evidence such as Ahn Ich-tay and Hong Nan-pa — especially in the case of Hong where his now deceased room mates from his college days plainly stated that he sold his violin, at one point, so that the March 1st declaration could be printed and spread further. For a musician to give up their instrument like that, for such a cause, is not the act of a collaborator.
Naturally since his room mate and others who could have testified are dead, the fact-finding panel
bumsfound it easier to accuse Hong. IMHO, there are more opportunists alive today than there were back in 1919.Officially absolving all the Korean POW guards of responsibility for torturing Australian and British POWs in WW2 certainly didn’t endear the Truth Commission to me. The way I see it, the Commission is a nationalistic, left-wing group that finds it OK to wring its hands over crimes against the North Koreans, but will never concede any wrongdoing against its traditional foils – the West / Japan / the Right.
The other problem I have is that the Commission’s findings on crimes against the Norks, while noble, will also be used by the DPRK for propoganda purposes. Hands up who thinks the Kim regime will appoint a similar guilt committee to highlight the atrocities the Worker’s Party committed in the early fifties?
I once asked my father when I was growing up, “Dad, who is Syngman Rhee?” And my dad said, “Oh, he’s the George Washington of Korea.” At age seven, I had really no choice but to believe him, that is, until I saw this five hour British documentary on the Korean War on PBS in October of 1990: http://www.youtube.com/user/mlovmo#p/u/30/vv067GbIogk
It completely dispelled any notions that I had about Syngman Rhee as a benevolent figure, and answered all my questions as to why Koreans are loathe to discuss anything about the war in general, and why discussing anything related to the war was pretty much taboo in my house. I had much greater hope for the younger generation of Korea, but unfortunately, I think the younger generation not only could care less, but knows less about it than anyone else. (I don’t blame them entirely though — a lot of it has to do with South Korean government propaganda that is shoved down their throats from kindergarten to grad school that oversimplifies, distorts and erases huge tracts of history from the collective consciousness regarding the war.
Not too many in the younger generation know, for sure. But for quite some time it has been a hobby horse for progressive scholars — without whom TRC would not exist.
Our parents went through a shitty history… colonialism, war, poverty, dictatorship, etc. Who wants to leave that kind of baggage for their kids?
Well yeah, there is that — so much bitter injustice and senseless death, so many lives needlessly ruined without recompence, you could never reconcile even a majority of it without tearing the whole society apart and dispiriting the next generation. America doesn’t tell nearly the truth about its own history to its children, out of concern for their patriotic spirits, as the recent death of Howard Zinn reminds us all. I’ve often pointed out to my students how no country on earth seems to be at all honest about its history on the extent maybe Germany and the Scandinavians coming closest.
And there’s a good argument to be made for silence and lies to the kids at least, when you’re facing the parents of the children in school and explaining to them what you want to teach their kids and why, and facing the psychological effects that might have on them (i’ve known some middle-aged Germans who seemed pretty traumatized lifelong from what was drummed into them in school — such guilt that they still don’t want to send any soldiers outside their country. Now, maybe that’s a good thing… But anyway, these questions are difficult to balance. And i respect those who squarely tried to deal with it in the middle, don’t take a rigid ideological stance on either extreme.
Anyway, i remember in the 1980s that there were plenty of oral reports and rumors of all these former injustices floating around, and of course the newer ones, but almost nobody was allowed to talk about it in public. People were scared to talk about it, people whispered stories and accusations to me when they were sure nobody else was listening. They could lose their jobs or at least be placed on the never-promoted track, they could be harassed or even sent to jail, their children could be given difficulties at school. I distinctly remember a guy from Jeju Island in my government office whispering to me about the 1948 massacre there, which was the first I’d ever heard of it — he swore me to secrecy, saying that it was a miracle that a native Jejuer could get a government job anyway, and he’d certainly lose it if anybody suspected he was talking about 48. So, truth and reconciliation was delayed for decades after it should have been performed — the pressure of unresolved injustice has built up unrelieved, all that swallowed bitter han — no big surprise that some radical activists want to take it to an extreme to further their own contemporary agenda.
#9; Sanshinseon: You mention Scandinavia. Do you know if the Swedes have apologized to Germany for the Thirty Years’ War? Just curious.
“KT columnist and TMH commenter Mike Breen”
Fixed!
TMH?
TMH = The Marmot’s Hole
Finland (considered part of Scandinavia here) had a Government-sponsored investigation of the 1918 Civil War deaths (extralegal executions of captured combatants, those killed in action, and prison camp deaths) 70 years after the fact, so Korea is not at all behind. And more open talk about the executions, which took almost 1/3 of all the casualties, became possible since the late 50s after a novel on the events was published. And first major scholarly works on the “red and white terror” were published almost 50 years after the fact.
So ROK is not at all behind in schedule, but it’s a pity that the organ conducting the investigation has not been conducting itself in an unpartisan manner.
Wedge, i have no idea — but why would they? That was long long ago… we’re mostly talking about the 20th Cen here, things that are still worth telling the truth about, and maybe even apologizing in some cases, compensating vicims still living or their children. Which brings up the other interesting factor — where do these temporal lines get drawn…?
If wars are a nasty thing, civil wars are notoriously really lurid affairs, pitting family vs family, neighbour vs neighbour etc. etc. Praise to the ROK for having found the serenity and the courage to look into this and as Antti rightedly pointed out they’re not behind the curve at all.
again, do you think japan will ever investigate itself when it comes the misery they visited upon their neighbors? japan needs to learn from korea (as they always have).
Well, someday still, Japan might. We can hope so, and more for their own sake than for the rest of East Asia.
It isn’t at all just about the victims — oppressors, rapists and killers get all psychologically-fugged-up too, from carrying the memories of what they did, lying about it to their kids & everyone else, keep fighting to cover it up but the screaming women & children keep appearing in their nightmares. It can drag entire nations slowly down, as its done with Japan and others. Can be real healthy and liberating to confess and ask for forgiveness (even if you don’t get it). I have read that many white South Africans discovered this and benefited by it… If Japan ever did come clean, their social-psychoses might reduce and we might get to form an (north-?) East-Asian Economic Union at last (which would benefit J as much as any). People might stop despising them, or at least do so less, just as now Germans are welcome all over Europe and even in Israel.
you’re absolutely right. doing this for themselves will beget benefits from others. however, i won’t hold my breath. have a good day, sir.
In regard to Japan and its horrid past, I gotta concur with sanshinseon and pawi.
Whenever I am in Japan, I am always struck by the huge frowns on the old old men’s faces. I often wonder if they were a part of Nanjing, or Unit 731, or
the Burmese Railroad, or . . . Imagine trying to live in a civilized society with your kids and grandkids after having done something absolutely unspeakable in the name of Country, Emperor, and Amaterasu.
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