» Han Sung-hoon, head of the investigation team for massacre at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea (TRC) discloses the results of TRC’s investigation into the massacre of members of National Guard Alliance at TRC’s headquarters located in Seoul’s Chungmuro neighborhood, Nov. 26.

The South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRCK) officially confirmed Thursday that the South Korean government ordered the massacres of thousands of people during the Korean War for being members of the National Guard Alliance (NGA). The TRC, headed by President Ahn Byung-wook, said that between June 25, 1950, when the Korean War broke out, and September of the same year, at least 4,934 people were rounded up, arrested and detained by the military and police and then executed en masse.

　　

According to the TRC’s findings, police summoned NGA members from various regions around the country after the war began. These members were detained in jails and warehouses for anywhere between two days and three months. Most of those classified as “Level A,” with significant histories of left-wing activity, were massacred in early July 1950. The remainder were executed by the retreating military and police as the occupying North Korean People’s Army forces approached.

　　

The NGA was a government group created in April 1949, during the Rhee Syngman administration, with the goal of ideologically converting individuals with histories of left-wing activities. Many members joined the league under duress.

Han Sung-hoon, investigation team leader of TRC, said, “When Seoul fell to the People’s Army on June 28, 1950, an all-out slaughter of NGA Members began in the areas south of the Han River, out of concerns that they might cooperate with North Korea.” Han added that there were also cases of people who were not NGA members being killed because of their family relationship with leftists.

　

In October 2006, TRCK made the decision to invoke its authority to investigate incidents related to the NGA, an organisation founded for the “re-education” of left-wing sympathisers suspected of communist leanings. In particular, the TRCK sought to investigate based on the characteristic of that affair, areas including the collective nature of the damage committed, the chain of command, and the similarity of the measures taken. Recently, the TRCK concluded its investigation into 2,570 related petitions of investigation into the massacre against NGA members.

Although TRCK disclosed on Thursday the results of investigation that has confirmed the identities of 4,934 executed individuals, scholars, however, estimate that the real figure of casualties is closer to 100,000 to 200,000 individuals, given that anywhere from 100 to 1,000 people were killed by each military unit. The TRCK’s report cites that police inspection teams and the Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) executed the orders to kill NGA members. Based on the fact that various state organizations were mobilized and working together, the TRCK has determined that the action was the result of a decision and orders from the highest levels of the Rhee administration.

Kim Dong-chun, standing TRCK commissioner, said, “This investigation by the commission 59 years after the incident took place is the most systematic one ever carried out by the South Korean government.” Kim did, however, acknowledge that the investigation has its limits, namely that the overall scale of the incident and the identities of all the victims have not yet been determined because more than 90 percent of victims or their family members have not filed a request for an investigation.

The TRCK has declared that the incident represented a violation of the victims’ right to life, a basic citizen right guaranteed in the Constitution as well as rights to due process and a fair trial. The human rights commission is recommending that the state make a formal apology, take legal and institutional measures so that similar incidents do not happen in the future, and enact laws for reparations and compensation for the damage inflicted.

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