US troops killed civilians in Korean War -- Probe

US troops killed civilians in Korean War -- Probe
REUTERS

SEOUL, JAN 12: The United States and South Korea have found that poorly trained US troops killed an unknown number of refugees near the village of No Gun Ri in the opening days of the Korean War, a joint statement said.

The US President Bill Clinton has expressed deep regret in the statement, which fell far short of a formal apology and admission of guilt some Korean officials had sought.

It followed a 15-month investigation into the July 26, 1950, killings.

``On behalf of the United States of America, I deeply regret that Korean civilians lost their lives at No Gun Ri in late July, 1950,'' Clinton said in a statement in which he offered his condolences to those who had lost loved ones.

The statement was released on Thursday in Washington andagain in Seoul on Friday.

``The comment `deeply regret' encompasses an apology,'' said Ahn Byoung-woo, leader of South Korea's side of the investigation team, on Friday, an indication that the two sides agreed to disagree on several key elements of the investigation.

Korean culture generally demands formal apologies for any mistakes that have been made and Seoul clearly wants to mollify public opinion amid a climate of growing anti-American sentiment about this incident and other issues.

``It (the investigation) provided an opportunity to clarify the truth and settle an unfortunate past,'' Ahn said in a televised statement, adding it marked a step forward in Korean-US Relations.

Meanwhil, US Defence Secretary William Cohen on Thursday released a report from the Army's Inspector General on the incident, which determined that US soldiers killed or injured an `unconfirmed number' of Korean refugees as they withdrew under pressure in the vicinity of No Gun Ri.

``The passage of 50 years has reduced the possibility that all of the facts can be known about the tragic incident that took place in the vicinity of No Gun Ri in South Korea,'' Cohen read from a prepared statement.

The incident occurred in the chaotic first days of the Korean War with ill-equipped and badly prepared US forces in retreat from the North Koreans.

In a Statement of Mutual Understanding agreed by the United States and South Korea, the Koreans reported an "unverified" number of 248 civilians killed, injured or missing.

The statement found no proof of orders to fire oncivilians.

But it did cite military documents that US troops had guidelines to shoot refugees to prevent them from crossing US lines and highlighted the North Korean policy of infiltrating refugee groups with the aim of breaking lines of Defence.

Charles Cragin, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Reserve Affairs, said the North Koreans had a history of posing as civilian refugees and then attacking military forces from the rear.

``Refugee population control was a major challenge,'' Cragin told reporters after Cohen read his statement.

The report said the US team believed the number killed to be much lower than the Korean claim and said an aerial reconnaissance photograph of the area taken on August 6, 1950, showed no indication of human remains or mass graves.

While neither side could agree on the numbers killed, thejoint statement spoke of "diligent and conscientious" bilateral efforts to find out what had happened and Clinton highlighted strong ties between the two nations.

No compensation will be paid to the families of refugeesbut Cohen said as a "symbol of our deep regret", the United States would build a monument in honour of those Korean civilians who died in the war and set up a scholarship fund.

Cragin said some lawyers for some of the victims' families had approached the Defence department for compensation but the Pentagon did not believe this was the type of case where payments would be made.

``Unfortunately, in the fog of war and in war, innocentcivilians die,'' he said.

North and South Korea are till technically at war as the1950-53 civil conflict, in which US troops backed South Korea against North Korean troops backed by China, ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.