Massacres of civillians under and after Japanese rule----Korea

Notes

1919
March Movement




Crowd watches the March 1 demonstrations in Seoul

Activities and demonstrators are arrested



Inspired by the idea, the right of "self-determination" proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference, Korean students studying in Tokyo published a statement that demanded Korean independence. At 2pm on the 1st of March, the 33 patriots who formed the core of the Samil movement assembled at Pagoda Park in downtown Seoul to read the Declaration of Independence that they had drawn upand the crowds that had assembled in the park to hear it formed into a procession.The movement soon spread throughout the country.

According to Japanese source, the riot intensified, people smashed the police stations and the government facilitiessome policeman were brutally killed, .there were numerous incidents of arson and vandalism against houses whose owners were pro-Japanese.In reaction, astonished,the police used excessive, brutal measures. As a result,according to Japanese police, 8437 were arrested, 553 killed and 1409 wounded.[1]


toron

According to Korean sources, demonstrations were done peacefully but the police abused its forces.49,948 were arrested, 7,509 killed and 15,961 wounded.

The consequence of the March 1st movement was that it marked a change in Japanese imperial policy. The government general, Hasegawa resigned. and , the Japanese inaugurated their 'cultural policy'. Some examples of this movement included the relaxing of restrictions that the Japanese authorities had placed on freedom of speech and assembly, and this allowed the publication of Korean newspapers and novel
As a result,The leaders of the movement such as 崔南善 , 李光洙,and 崔 麟 turned to pro-Japanese.[2]

1923
the great kanto earthquake

The lack of lines of communication inevitably gave rise to rumors, the most sinister of which was that the Koreans were planning some form of takeover in the aftermath of the disaster, and that they had started the fires.� On Sept. 5th the Prime Minister issued a warning to the public that these rumors were without basis and were contradictory to the spirit of assimilation that Japan wished to achieve with Korea. Nonetheless, the rumors led to groups of vigilantes who patrolled the streets looking for Koreans to kill.� As many as 2000 Koreans were massacred after the earthquake.� This prompted the government to open a shelter where Koreans were lodged for their own safety. By Sept. 8, the city of Tokyo was placed under martial law, and the army became instrumental in distributing food and beginning the long reconstruction process. Martial law allowed the government to disperse people, prohibit or suppress newspapers or advertisements, seize property, enter buildings, or take any action it deemed necessary to maintain order. Citizens caught in the act of looting were hung or shot.Jody Clark

[3]

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/lovelovedog/20020901

1931
万宝山事件 Manbosan incident
　　Korean farmers put an fire on Chinese houses and massacred more than a hundred of Chinese.They had disputes over the water supply. There is a conspiracy theory about it:some claim that that Japanese police was acting behind the scene.
naver[4]
see wanpaoshan-affair by Lytton report

1945
Korea was liberated from Japan as a result of Japanese defeat to the U.S.

1946-60 The Syngman Rhee Era,
The Syngman Rhee was in power during this period.He was one of the leaders of Independent club, and he was arrested and was not released from prison until 1904.



1946 10
Daegu incident대구 사건大邱事件
Korean farmers rioted,trying to get appropriate ration of rice. The police and theUS force intervened. 1500 farmers were killed.[5]


1948
April The Jeju massacre
　제 주도 4.3사건, 済州島「4.3事件」

The Jeju massacre or the Cheju April 3 massacre happened as a result of suppression against armed rebellion in Jeju island, South Korea, during the period of April 3, 1948 to September 21, 1954.wiki

The National Commission on the Cheju April 3 Incident adopted in late March a report after studying the clash between islanders and authorities where an estimated 25,000-30,000 people perished.Korea times10-31-2003

The governer of Cheju, however, privately told American intelligence that 60,000 had died, and that as many as 40,000 had fled to Japan ; officially 39,285 homes had been domolished,but the governer hought "most of the houses on the hills" were gone : of 400 villages , only 170 remained. In other words, one in ecery five or six islanders had perished and more than half villages been destroyed.page223

Historically, the people of Jeju Island have been the victim of discrimination due to its location and isolation. The history of Jeju has been largely omitted from South Korean history books and textbooks. Cruise Talk

President Roh Moo-hyun apologized on behalf of the national government on Friday for the Cheju April 3 Incident Incident

``Now we should put an end to the tragedy of this miserable event,’’ Roh said. ``We can now open a new era of peace in Northeast Asia and in the globe, starting by ending discord in our own land.Korea times10-31-2003

1948
The Yosu Army Mutiny of 1948

On October 19, 1948 at 8:00pm, the 14th and 6th Regiments of Rhee's army, some 2,000 men strong, rose up against Rhee's government

Many Korean soldiers and police refused to obey their American "advisors" commands to kill their fellow countrymen and joined the nationalist rebels. kimsoft

The army and police meved quickly to supress the mutiny. As a result, 89 were sentenced death penalty, 363 shot dead, 2116 captured alive, 3,392 died,2,056wounded, 82 missing ,5,242 houses burned down.[6]

1950
National guidance Alliance incident
The government recrueted people who wanted to confess that they were communists.
When North Korean army advanced to the south, the army killed more than 200000 people on the list of the alliance. [7]

1951
太田 prison incident
Korean army and the police killed 1800 prisoners in 太田 prison.for fear that the enemy liberate the prisoners if the it advanced to Soeul[8]

the North Korean People’s Army bore down upon the city of Taejon, south of Seoul. Police authorities removed political prisoners from local jails, men and boys along with some women, massacred them, threw them into open pits, and dumped the earth back on them. Somewhere between 4,000 and 7,000 died, and their stories remained buried for half a century. American officers stood idly by while this slaughter went on, photographing it for their records, but doing nothing to stop it. In September 1950 the Joint Chiefs of Staff decided to keep these photos classified; they were not released until 1999, after a determined effort by a psychologist in New York, Do-Young Lee, whose father had been murdered by southern authorities in August 1950.Japan focusJapan focus魚拓

1951
　국민 방위군 사건 등은国民防衛軍事件
More than 90000 soldeirs were starved to death because excutives of defence army embezzeled a military budget.[9]

　
1951
　居昌事件 거창사건　
The Korean army massacared more than 700 farmers, including 385 children, whom it alledged to be communists.[10]
　　　

1950-53
The Korean War, [11]

the photothe south Korean soldier laughing at the corpse of a guerilla.

the photothe leftist teachers are being shot.

the photo

the photoEnemy forced to come and see the corpse of killed patriot

the photoThe Syngman Rhee's navy is shooting civilian workers.They refused to obey the commands to kill their fellow countrymen,

Over 200,000 Civilians Killed During Korean War: Report
More than 200,000 civilians were killed indiscriminately by troops from North and South Korea and the United States during the 1950-53 Korean War, a civic research group claimed Tuesday.Korea Times, November 1, 2005

See also massacres-of-civillians-at-korean-war


1,964.9.22----1,975.4.30
Vietnam War[12]

Korean soldiers participated in the Vietnam war from 1963 to 1973. They killed approximately 41,400 of the enemy. However, an unknown number of ordinary Vietnamese people tragically lost their lives as well. The Ministry of Culture and Communication of Vietnam has publicly estimated that the number of innocent victims killed in the provinces like QUANG NGAI, QUANG NAM, and BINH DINH was approximately 5,000 people. It was reported that most Vietnamese people have not forgotten the shock of the
massacres yet and the mental anguish of the survivors have had serious and had lasting effects.link

An official at Tay Son's Communist Party history unit said the attacks began in early 1966 and culminated in a massacre of 380 people on February 26, 1966, at a place called Go Dai.
``They (the Korean troops) herded people up onto the hill, shot them and threw grenades,'' he said. ``In some cases they tied old men up... until they died. They tore children apart and threw their (limbs) onto trees,'' he said, adding that some Viet Cong were also killed. The Korean troops threw some bodies into an existing 150-200 metre (500-650 ft) long trench, the official said. Survivors later buried most of the rest of the dead. The names of those who died at Go Dai, along with other known victims of the six-week killing period, were carved on the gravestone, the official said. The number totalled 1,004.

`South Korean troops committed crimes against Vietnamese people. With humanitarian and peaceful neighbourly traditions, it is Vietnam's policy to close the past...,''Reuters - January 10, 2000

本多勝一の欺瞞・魚拓
Monday, Sep. 18, 1972
Another My Lai?
VIETNAM, NEWS ANALYSIS, JANUARY 15, 2000
SOUTH KOREAN TROOPS IN THE VIETNAM WAR cashe
Enjoy Korea魚拓

1980
Kwangju Incident[13]

the photo

A violent ten-day confrontation in May 1980 between ROK special forces troops under the command of Roh Tae Woo and anti-martial law demonstrators in Kwangju, South Cholla province. The death toll is still not certain; somewhere between 190 and 2,000 people were killedlink

There were several aftereffects resulting from the Kwangju incident. It deepened the chasm that had existed between the Kyongsang provinces (from which Park and Chun originated) and the Cholla provinces, of which Kwangju is a capital and from which the opposition leader Kim Dae Jung came (see Population Settlement Patterns , ch. 2). The United States' role also was controversial. General John A. Wickham, Jr., had released South Korean troops from the South Korea-United States Combined Forces Command to end the rebellion; President Reagan had strongly endorsed Chun's actions (see Relations with the United States , ch. 4).link

In 1980, just after General Chun Doo Hwan took power by military coup, his martial government arrested 60,755 civilians from 1980 August to January the following year, under the pretext of clearing "social evils" from society. While Chun’s government claimed the arrested were vagrants and troublemakers, they were never officially charged with any crime. Many of those arrested were forced to undergo a combination of imprisonment and brutal training under the surveillance of armed military police; according to a National Assembly report, 52 died during their "education," 397 died soon after as a result, and 2,678 were left with severe mental or physical injuries.The Hankyoreh/Posted at : Sep.6,2006/

North Korea
As you know ,it is still a corrupt dictaionship that murders civillians

As well as the massacares on the list here, Japan has notorious records of massacares of POWS ---Nanjing massacre , the unit 731 and Bataan Death March for instance.
Killing civilians and POWS are crimes, whoever did it.whatever purpose. Its madness must not be forgotten.

Natinalists want to use the massacare to fuel natinoalism.or to demonize other nationals.
I think that is a stupid thing to do.It is a sad fact that every county has dark history.If you study the massacre to hate other nationals, you have to hate yourself in the end.Besides,as a social phychologist, Milgram showed, sadly any nationals can be brutal under a specific context.
The reseach on the masacare should be done to get an accurate picture,:we should know the truth about it.However , in my opinion,it is wrong to use it for one's political ends.

O, the impregnable Koreans...

The Koreans are marching after us.

We are hiding while they attack us.

The sound, that sound of the mighty

Koreans.

—Poem attributed to a Communist soldier killed in Viet Nam.

Since they arrived in South Viet Nam seven years ago, South Korean troops have gained a reputation as the toughest and meanest of the allied forces. Off duty, they arm-wrestle and break layers of bricks with a single karate-like chop. In battle they are fierce, frightening the peasants by the zeal with which they patrol their zones of operation, which are mainly in the central coastal region and include vital sections of Highways 1,19 and 21. It is an area that is considered "hostile"; much of it continues to be controlled by the Viet Cong. Even at this late date, the overextended South Vietnamese badly need the combat support of the ROK forces.*

As with other foreign troops, particularly the Americans, the Koreans' lack of understanding of local customs has contributed to suspicious and mistrustful relations with the Vietnamese. Rumors abound of incidents in which Korean soldiers brutalized the civilians —for example, by wiping out entire hamlets in retaliation for losing a single soldier to a Viet Cong sniper. One of the few incidents to be confirmed was in October 1969, when eyewitnesses said that they saw uniformed Koreans enter a temple in Phan Rang and murder four Buddhist monks. The South Vietnamese government absolved the Koreans, saying that a captured Communist soldier had confessed that he and some comrades had dressed in Korean uniforms and killed the monks.

Last week new charges of Korean atrocities were reviewed. A Lower House Deputy, Nguyen Cong Hoang, one of the representatives of Phu Yen province, had prompted an official investigation several weeks ago into a My Lai-type massacre that reportedly occurred in his province on July 31. On that day, troops of the First Battalion of the "Tiger" Division's 26th Regiment were conducting a mopping-up operation. As the troops passed near Phu Long hamlet, they were fired upon by small arms. A platoon leader and a sergeant were killed. The Koreans dug in and, with the approval of the district chief, called for artillery and gunship support. When most of the houses in the hamlet had been demolished, the troops entered and "secured" the area. Among the dead: 21 civilians.

Passionate Stories. Beyond those simple facts, the events at Phu Long are disputed. The Koreans say that the civilians were killed in the artillery fire. But the villagers contend that they survived the battle by hiding in bunkers. After it was over, they say, Korean soldiers came into the village and murdered the 21 people. Tom Fox of TIME'S Saigon bureau visited the province last week. "When they gather to tell their story, they speak with passion," he cabled. "Each fights to let a visitor hear his or her own story. Tell him everything!' someone says. 'Let him know exactly what happened,' adds another. Tears come to the eyes of the women as they speak."
"The soldiers called Ba Truoc to come out of her hut," a twelve-year-old girl told Fox. "She came out slowly with her baby in her arms. She stood in front of the hut, and they shot them dead." Then a woman told how six Korean soldiers took the prettiest girl in the hamlet, 16-year-old Nguyen Thi Sang, and forced her behind a small hut, where they raped her as she screamed. Then they shot and killed her.

Another woman recalled that she was leaving the village with her elderly mother. The soldiers asked the woman where her husband was. She replied that he was in Tuy Hoa, the capital of the province. They let her pass but detained her mother. Minutes later she heard shots ring out. Her mother, along with a group of others, had been killed.
Hamlet officials are reluctant to take sides. But at least one member of the Phu Yen province council privately supports the villagers' charges. "The Koreans overreacted. They got mad, moved in and went after the people," he said. "It's understandable and regrettable. But what does one say?"

A six-man commission of investigators—three from the Saigon government and three Koreans—has completed a report on the charges. Although the report has not been officially released, its contents have become known in Saigon. It acknowledges the deaths of the civilians but finds insufficient evidence that they were executed. Said Lieut. Colonel Chung Yuk Jin, press spokesman for the Korean command: "If there were villagers killed in the hamlet, they were killed by artillery, stray bullets or the gunships—not by Korean troops." Why would the survivors lie about the incident? "This hamlet has been controlled by the Communists for more than 20 years," argued Chung. "All the relatives and families belong to or are sympathetic to the Viet Cong." Chung's assertion is one hauntingly familiar to American soldiers: how to tell the difference between the Viet Cong and the people.

*Nevertheless, last week the Seoul government announced that its 37,200 troops in Viet Nam —now the largest foreign force in the country despite a reduction of 11,000 since last December —would be completely withdrawn between December of this year and May 1973. The move, prompted by the U.S. pullout and the Vietnamization of the ground fighting, should enhance South Korea's position in current diplomatic efforts to bring about an accommodation with North Korea.

it's one I've heard a few times (the story of the paratrooper in Kwangju in May 1980 who waved his bayonet at students and told them he had cut off numerous female Vietcong soldiers' breasts may not be so far-fetched)

Gusts Of Popular Feeling