At Least 200 Civilians Branded as Leftists Were Slaughtered

For the first time, a confidential document of the U.S. Defense Department was released revealing that at least 200 innocent people were slaughtered at Ganghwa Island in January 1951.

On February 26, the Truth Committee on Civilian Massacre said at the Institute for Military History Compilation of the Defense Ministry that it confirmed an official document of the U.S. Defense Department regarding an incident of “Ganghwa Lynch” (slaughter of innocent people) which was committed by a rightist organization during the Korean War.

The document stated, “A trial on ‘Ganghwa Lynch’ is expected to be held at Daegu District Court with a hearing conducted by Judge Cho Chang-hee. The prosecuted created a private organization, and they are accused of killing about 200 civilians at Ganghwa Island a few months ago.”

The document, which was made in August 1951, is one of the confidential documents that soldiers dispatched to the United States Embassy in Korea, and an embassy official on political affairs collected and arranged major information pieces every week and reported it to the U.S. Far East Command located in Tokyo, Japan.

According to the testimony of the Truth Committee and bereaved families of victims, a person identified by surname of Choi organized a so-called Ganghwa Local Defense Commando with 20 youths at Ganghwa Island at that time. In addition, the Commando labeled 300 to 400 Ganghwa residents as left-wing elements and drove them into Ganghwa town, a hill near the Choji public stadium and the Wolgot tidal flat, and killed them there.

The committee also said that the Commando attacked a vessel in which there were about 200 civilians who escaped from North Korea and Kimpo of Gyeonggi Province. At that time, the Commando killed most of the innocent people and captured an estimated 60 people alive, but later executed them.

Choi is denying the slaughter. However, it is said that a person identified by surname Kim, who acted as an inspector of the Commando, testified that he was involved in dragging people who did compulsory labor during the occupation of People’s Army of North Korea or whose family members went to the North into a tidal flat or a hill and participated in shooting them to death.

“This report proves the fact that many innocent people were killed at Ganghwa Island,” said Lee Chang-soo, a chairman who insists on making a special law on truth for slaughtered civilians.

The Truth Committee on Civilian Massacre held a rally in the morning on February 27 in front of the headquarters of the Grand National Party in Yeouido, Seoul. It called for lawmakers to immediately enact a bill to find the truth of the civilian massacre before the armistice and to restore impaired reputation of the victims.

Yi-Young Cho lycho@donga.com