Bodo League massacre

The Bodo League Massacre ( _ko. 보도연맹 사건) was a that occurred in the summer of 1950 during the Korean War. Estimates vary of the death toll, while police records estimate around 10,000 deaths, the truth commission has said there may be more and according to Prof. Kim Dong-Choon, Commissioner of the TRC, at least 100,000 people were executed. [cite web |title=Khiem and Kim Sung-soo: Crime, Concealment and South Korea |publisher=Japan Focus |url=http://www.japanfocus.org/_______Khiem___Kim_Sung_soo-Crimes__Concealment_and_South_Korea___s_Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission/ |accessdaymonth= 11 August | accessyear= 2008] Others estimate that more than 200,000 members of the Bodo League (National Rehabilitation and Guidance League, Gukmin Godo Ryeonmaeng, 國民輔導聯盟) were killed for the suspicion of supporting communism.

Discoveries in 2008 in Daejon, South Korea (among other sites) of trenches of executed leftist civilians and Communist sympathizers have opened a long silent chapter of South Korean history unknown to most South Korean civilians. South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented testimonies of those who are still alive and took part in the executions, including former Daejon prison guard Lee Joon-young, as the country addressed a long surpressed part of its history which took place between 1950-51. AP reports Charles J. Hanley and Jae-soon Chang released in their stories lately in regards that General Douglas MacArthur called "An internal South Korean matter" at that time.

Besides images now revealed of the unopened execution trench sites, the National Archives in Washington D.C. released declassified photographs of U.S. soldiers at execution sites including Daejon, confirming American military knowledge and involvement.

References

Massacres http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080519/ap_on_re_as/korea_mass_executions;_ylt=AgquZsCI52y_FZ8rdmnY3HIUewgF

Lee Joon-young's Testimony http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/1950-Korea-Mass-Killings/ss/events/wl/051808koreakillings/s:/ap/20080519/ap_on_re_as/korea_mass_executions;_ylt=As/im:/080518/481/39bed18462bb4d21aa04194357f59275/#photoViewer=/080518/481/94d89d7aef7b4f50b5237320131b9064

Slide show http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/1950-Korea-Mass-Killings/ss/events/wl/051808koreakillings/s:/ap/20080519/ap_on_re_as/korea_mass_executions;_ylt=As

ee also

*Taegukgi (film)
*Cheju Uprising

Footnotes

External links

*ko icon [http://www.cbs.co.kr/nocut/show.asp?idx=556349 헌병대의 보도연맹원 '대량학살' 최초 구체증언 확보] , Nocut News (CBS), 2007-07-04.
*ko icon [http://www.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=419896 "왜, 어떻게 죽었는지라도 알고 싶다"] , OhmyNews, 2007-07-02.
* [http://www.kimsoft.com/2002/bodo-killing.htm The Secret Massacre of 200,000 Bodo League Members By Rhee Syngman]
* [http://www.kimsoft.com/2002/bodo-mbc.htm Revisiting the Satanic Era of the Bodo Massacre]