[KS] Korean War atrocities

Fri May 23 12:05:17 EDT 2008

Dear all,

I'm not really a Korean War researcher, and those of you who are might find the
following superfluous.  But email being free and all, in the interest of having
as many sources on these issues available as possible, I thought I would mention
a source that (I think) speaks both to the generality of aerial attacks on
civilians and to some of the associated psychology - a side point in
Hanley/Chang's article.

A few years back, for some writing on Korean War social science, I was looking
at the Human Resources Research Institute, the Air Force's internal contract
research agency for "human factor" problems (everything from psychological
warfare to morale) that enjoyed a brief prominence in the early 1950s.  Anyway,
in 1951, HRRI issued a morale report on FEAF air crews entitled “Human Relations
Factors Affecting the Air War Effort: A Brief Summary of FEAF Personnel at a
Critical Period in the Korean War: December 1950," which can be ordered today
on microfilm from the Air Force Historical Research Agency (Maxwell AFB,
Mongomery, AL), reel 4362, Iris A2573.  Anyway, the social scientists surveyed
air crews on four questions.  One sought to ascertain the morale effect of the
"certainty of death or torture or both in the event of capture by the enemy." 
Another, however, sought to determine "the attitude of our combat personnel
toward shooting up women and children engaged in carrying supplies to forward
enemy positions" - which, of course, implies that such shooting up was general
enough that you would make a survey question about it.

With respect to the question, roughly 60% of FEAF crews had the basic attitude
that such missions were regrettable but necessary, while around 10% thought
they should be absolutely avoided - scenarios in which the refugee columns were
said to be composed of "South" rather than "North Koreans," and prior service by
some airmen in WWII, both correlated with somewhat higher (but still not high)
sentiments for avoidance.  Individual responses anecdotally quoted in the
report ranged from one person who said "I'm not too squeamish about it" to a
"Lt. F." who, after such a mission, described it as "peasant-hunting" and took
up drinking.

Rob Oppenheim
University of Texas/Austin

Quoting "utwingnut at gimail.af.mil" <utwingnut at gimail.af.mil>:

> Friends,
> I may not have the background or the education that many on this list have
> but I would like to ask
> all of you to show caution in your investigation of war time atrocities. What
> has particularly
> caught my eye is the fact that Georgy Katsiaficas lives in Kwang Ju and works
> for Chun Nam
> University. As we all know, Kwang Ju and Chun Nam University are historically
> a hot bed for Korean
> political activity and has seen it's fare share of demonstrations (protests).
> I agree that this
> should be investigated. But, as one who has lived and worked in Korea and in
> Kwang Ju in particular
> I fear that if this investigation is not done in a sensitive manner, emotions
> will run high and
> people could get hurt.
>
>
> Respectfully,
> Michael Knudsen
> Salt Lake City, Utah
> utwingnut at gimail.af.mil
>
>
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> The original uncropped version of this moving photo in Taejon (which I was
> shown by the son of one of these executed prisoners in 2002) clearly depicts
> a uniformed American standing in the foreground overseeing the executions. I
> am surprised that the uncropped version was not mentioned--nor was direct US
> involvement in this particular massacre. Apparently, more than half a
> century after this tragedy, the American public continues to be denied full
> disclosure and an accurate accounting of our government?s actions.
>
> Georgy Katsiaficas
> Visiting Professor and Senior Fulbright Scholar
> Department of Sociology
> Chonnam National University
> Buk-ku Yongbongdong 300
> 500-757 GWANGJU
> South Korea
>
>
>
>
> ------- Original Message -------
> >From    :
> koreanstudies-request at koreaweb.ws[mailto:koreanstudies-request at koreaweb.ws]
> Sent    : 5/19/2008 2:58:47 PM
> To      : koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> Cc      :
> Subject : RE: Koreanstudies Digest, Vol 59, Issue 22
>
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> <<------------ KoreanStudies mailing list DIGEST ------------>>
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: Korean War atrocities (George Katsiaficas)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 03:25:53 +0900
>
>
> Dear all,
>
> The full text of Charles Hanley?s new article is much longer (and more
> disturbing) than the one on Yahoo to which Bruce Cumings linked.  Check it
> at:
>  http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h2rT2wzhviymfyfyRdmdKw6tciagD90O9DJ80
>
> I have been in the macabre cave to which the article refers and to several
> other massacre sites, including the one in Taejon in this photo:
>
> :
>
> The original uncropped version of this moving photo in Taejon (which I was
> shown by the son of one of these executed prisoners in 2002) clearly depicts
> a uniformed American standing in the foreground overseeing the executions. I
> am surprised that the uncropped version was not mentioned--nor was direct US
> involvement in this particular massacre. Apparently, more than half a
> century after this tragedy, the American public continues to be denied full
> disclosure and an accurate accounting of our government?s actions.
>
> Georgy Katsiaficas
> Visiting Professor and Senior Fulbright Scholar
> Department of Sociology
> Chonnam National University
> Buk-ku Yongbongdong 300
> 500-757 GWANGJU
> South Korea
>
> Cell phone +82-10-6798-5852
> Home phone +82-62-530-0549
> Fax +82-62-530-2649
> www.eroseffect.com
>
>
> > From: Bruce Cumings <rufus88 at uchicago.edu>
> > Reply-To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> > Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 19:51:41 -0400
> > To: <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> > Subject: [KS] Korean War atrocities
> >
> > Below is a very good report by Charles Hanley of Associate Press, who
> > was one of the AP reporters who brought the Nogun-ri massacre to
> > American attentions in 1999. In addition to his discussion of
> > American suppression of information about the Taejon massacre, note
> > that in his official history of the war, South to the Naktong, North
> > to the Yalu, with full access to secret documentation, Roy Appleman
> > blamed the Taejon massacre entirely on the North Koreans.
> >
> > Fear, secrecy kept 1950 Korea mass killings hidden
> > By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent
> > May 18, 2008
> >    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080518/ap_on_re_as/
> > korea_mass_executions_covered_up
> >
> >
> > SEOUL, South Korea - One journalist's bid to report mass murder in
> > South Korea in 1950 was blocked by his British publisher. Another
> > correspondent was denounced as a possibly treasonous fabricator when
> > he did report it. In South Korea, down the generations, fear silenced
> > those who knew.
> >
> > Fifty-eight years ago, at the outbreak of the Korean War, South
> > Korean authorities secretively executed, usually without legal
> > process, tens of thousands of southern leftists and others rightly or
> > wrongly identified as sympathizers. Today a government Truth and
> > Reconciliation Commission is working to dig up the facts, and the
> > remains of victims.
> >
> > How could such a bloodbath have been hidden from history?
> >
> > Among the Koreans who witnessed, took part in or lost family members
> > to the mass killings, the events were hardly hidden, but they became
> > a "public secret," barely whispered about through four decades of
> > right-wing dictatorship here.
> >
> > "The family couldn't talk about it, or we'd be stigmatized as
> > leftists," said Kim Chong-hyun, 70, leader of an organization of
> > families seeking redress for their loved ones' deaths in 1950.
> >
> > Kim, whose father was shot and buried in a mass grave outside the
> > central city of Daejeon, noted that in 1960-61, a one-year democratic
> > interlude in South Korea, family groups began investigating wartime
> > atrocities. But a military coup closed that window, and "the leaders
> > of those organizations were arrested and punished."
> >
> > Then, "from 1961 to 1988, nobody could challenge the regime, to try
> > again to reveal these hidden truths," said Park Myung-lim of Seoul's
> > Yonsei University, a leading Korean War historian. As a doctoral
> > student in the late 1980s, when South Korea was moving toward
> > democracy, Park was among the few scholars to begin researching the
> > mass killings. He was regularly harassed by the police.
> >
> > Scattered reports of the killings did emerge in 1950 ? and some did not.
> >
> > British journalist James Cameron wrote about mass prisoner shootings
> > in the South Korean port city of Busan ? then spelled Pusan ? for
> > London's Picture Post magazine in the fall of 1950, but publisher
> > Edward Hulton ordered the story removed at the last minute.
> >
> > Earlier, correspondent Alan Winnington reported on the shooting of
> > thousands of prisoners at Daejeon in the British communist newspaper
> > The Daily Worker, only to have his reporting denounced by the U.S.
> > Embassy in London as an "atrocity fabrication." The British Cabinet
> > then briefly considered laying treason charges against Winnington,
> > historian Jon Halliday has written.
> >
> > Associated Press correspondent O.H.P. King reported on the shooting
> > of 60 political prisoners in Suwon, south of Seoul, and wrote in a
> > later memoir he was "shocked that American officers were unconcerned"
> > by questions he raised about due process for the detainees.
> >
> > Some U.S. officers ? and U.S. diplomats ? were among others who
> > reported on the killings. But their classified reports were kept
> > secret for decades.
> >
>
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