| Bodo League massacre | |
|---|---|
 Summary execution of South Korean political prisoners by the South Korean military and police atDaejeon, South Korea | |
| Location | South Korea |
| Date | Summer of 1950 (75 years ago) (1950) |
| Target | Alleged communists and communist sympathizers[1] |
Attack type | Massacre,politicide,summary execution |
| Deaths | 60,000[2] to 200,000[3] |
| Perpetrators | South Korean police, military, and anti-communists on direct orders from PresidentSyngman Rhee |
| Motive | Anti-communism; fear of North Koreanfifth column |
TheBodo League massacre (Korean: 보도연맹 학살;Hanja: 保導聯盟虐殺) was themass killing of allegedcommunists and communist sympathizers by South Korean forces in the summer of 1950, during theKorean War. Many victims were civilians who had no connection to communism or communists. Estimates of the death toll vary, with historians estimating that between 60,000[2] and 200,000 people were killed.[3]
South Korean presidentSyngman Rhee ordered the massacre, but the South Korean government falsely blamed it on the communists led by North Korean leaderKim Il Sung.[4] The South Korean government made efforts to conceal the massacre for four decades. Survivors were forbidden by the government from revealing it, under threat of being treated as communist sympathizers; public revelation carried with it the threat of torture and death. From the 1990s onwards, several corpses were excavated from mass graves, resulting in public awareness of the massacre.[5][6] Half a century after the massacre, theTruth and Reconciliation Commission investigated the massacre among other incidents that were largely kept hidden from history, unlike the well-publicized North Korean executions of South Korean right-wingers.[7]
The Bodo League was an official group formed by the South Korean government under PresidentSyngman Rhee, starting in 1949 and primarily working in 1950.[8] The group was created by Korean jurists who had collaborated with the Japanese colonial government.[9] Rhee and other government officials enrolled 300,000[citation needed] suspected communist sympathizers or political opponents in an official "re-education" movement primarily known as theNational Bodo League[10][a] on the pretext of protecting them from execution.[4][11][13] Non-communist sympathizers and others were also forced into the Bodo League to fill enlistment quotas.[10][13]
In 1950, just before the outbreak of theKorean War, the first president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, had about 20,000 alleged communists imprisoned.[14]
Under the leadership ofKim Il Sung, theKorean People's Army attacked from the north on 25 June 1950, starting the Korean War.[15] According to Kim Mansik, who was a military police superior officer, PresidentSyngman Rhee ordered the execution of people related to either the Bodo League or theSouth Korean Workers Party on 27 June 1950.[16] The first massacre was started one day later inHoengseong,Gangwon Province on 28 June.[17][18] Retreating South Korean forces and anti-communist groups[19] executed the alleged communist prisoners, along with many of the Bodo League members.[4] The executions were performed without any trials or sentencing.[20] Kim Tae Sun, the chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police, admitted to personally executing at least 12 "communists and suspected communists" after the outbreak of the war.[21] When Seoul was recaptured in late September 1950, an estimated 30,000 South Koreans were summarily deemed collaborators with the North Koreans and shot by ROK forces.[9] At least one US lieutenant colonel is known to have approved the executions at the request of a South Korean regimental commander. Lt. Col. Rollins S. Emmerich, after initially stalling and disapproving, told the South Korean regimental commander Kim Chong-won that he could kill a large number of political prisoners inBusan if the North Korean troops approached so that they would not fall into enemy hands. A mass execution of 3,400 South Koreans did indeed take place near Busan that summer.[9][22][4][23]
United States official documents show that American officers witnessed and photographed the massacre.[20] In another, United States official documents show thatJohn J. Muccio, thenUnited States Ambassador to South Korea, made recommendations to Rhee andDefense MinisterShin Sung-mo that the executions be stopped.[20] American witnesses also reported the scene of the execution of a girl who appeared to be 12 or 13 years old.[12][20] The massacre was also reported to bothWashington and Gen.Douglas MacArthur,[4] who described it as an "internal matter".[9][24] According to one witness, 40 victims had their backs broken with rifle butts and were shot later. Victims in seaside villages were tied together and thrown into the sea to drown.[9] Retired South Korean Adm.Nam Sang-hui confessed that he authorized 200 victims' bodies to be thrown into the sea, saying, "There was no time for trials for them."[20]
There were also British and Australian witnesses.[4][25] Great Britain raised this issue with the U.S. at a diplomatic level, causingDean Rusk,Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, to inform the British that U.S. commanders were doing "everything they can to curb such atrocities".[12] During the massacre, the British protected their allies and saved some citizens.[26][12] TheAssociated Press conducted extensive archival research and found documents classified "secret" and "filed away" bythe Pentagon andState Department in Washington, that had indicated the US commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur made no attempts to curb the summary mass killings.[22]
| Daejeon Massacre | |
|---|---|
| Date | 28 June 1950 – 16 July 1950 |
| Target | Communists and suspected communist sympathizers |
Attack type | Massacre |
| Deaths | 4000–7000[27] |
| Perpetrator | South Korean anti-communists |
| Daejeon Massacre | |
| Hangul | 대전형무소 학살 사건 |
|---|---|
| RR | Daejeonhyeongmuso haksal sageon |
| MR | Taejŏnhyŏngmuso haksal sakŏn |
As the North Korean army was nearingDaejeon, the South Korean paramilitary forces executed around 7,000 political prisoners, men, women, and children in mass graves as American officers took photographs which were kept classified until they were released in 1999. This was merely one of many such mass killings conducted by South Korean forces against political prisoners in the first months of the war. Many, including the Daejon Massacre, were propagandistically blamed on the North Koreans.[28][7][29]
After the UN offensive in which South Korea recovered its occupied territories, the police and militia groups executed suspected North Korean sympathizers. In October 1950, theGoyang Geumjeong Cave massacre occurred. In December, British troops saved civilians lined up to be shot by South Korean officers and seized one execution site outsideSeoul to prevent further massacres.[12][26] On 4 January 1951, theGanghwa massacre was committed by South Korean police, who killed 139 civilians in an effort to prevent their collaboration with the North Koreans. According to a South Korean report, South Korea and the U.S. "aided right-wing civil organizations, such as the Ganghwa Self-defense Forces, by providing combat equipment and supplies."[30]
In 2008, trenches containing bodies were discovered inDaejeon, South Korea, and other sites.[23][31][3] South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented testimonies of those still alive and who took part in the executions, including former Daejeon prison guard Lee Joon-young.
Besides photographs of the execution trench sites, theNational Archives in Washington D.C. released declassified photographs of U.S. soldiers at execution sites including Daejeon, confirming American military knowledge.[12]
