U.S. Ambassador's 1950 Refugee Letter

[Joanne98]

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-shooting-refugees-text,0,2618544,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
U.S. Ambassador's 1950 Refugee Letter

By The Associated Press

April 13, 2007, 1:53 PM EDT

The text of a declassified letter sent by American Ambassador John J. Muccio to Assistant Secretary of State Dean Rusk in 1950 advising that the U.S. military in South Korea had adopted a policy of shooting refugees approaching its lines:

PERSONAL-CONFIDENTIAL

The Foreign Service of the United States of America

American Embassy

July 26, 1950

Dear Dean: The refugee problem has developed aspects of a serious and even critical military nature, aside from the welfare aspects. Necessarily, decisions are being made by the military in regard to it, and in view of the possibility of repercussions in the United States from the effectuation of these decisions, I have thought it desirable to inform you of them.

The enemy has used the refugees to his advantage in many ways: by forcing them south and so clogging the roads as to interfere with military movements; by using them as a channel for infiltration of agents; and most dangerous of all by disguising their own troops as refugees, who after passing through our lines proceed, after dark, to produce hidden weapons, and then attack our units from the rear. Too often such attacks have been devastatingly successful. Such infiltrations had a considerable part in the defeat of the 24th Division at Taejon.

Naturally, the Army is determined to end this threat. Yesterday evening a meeting was arranged, by 8th Army HQ request, at the office of the Home Minister at the temporary Capitol. G-1, G-2, Provost Marshall, CIC, the Embassy, the Home and Social Affairs Ministries, and the Director National Police. The following decisions were made:

1. Leaflet drops will be made north of US lines banning the people not to proceed south, that they risk being fired upon if they do so. If refugees do appear from north of US lines they will receive warning shots, and if they then persist in advancing they will be shot.

2. Leaflet drops and oral warning by police within US combat zone will be made to the effect that no one can move south unless ordered, and then only under police control, that all movement of Korean civilians must end at sunset or those moving will risk being shot when dark comes.

3. Should the local tactical commander consider it essential to evacuate a given sector he will notify the police liaison officers attached to his HQ, who through the area Korean National Police will notify the inhabitants, and start them southward under police control on specified minor roads. No one will be permitted to move unless police notify them, and those further south not notified will be required to stay put.

4. Refugee groups must stop at sunset, and not move again until daylight. Police will establish check points to catch enemy agents; subsequently Social Ministry will be prepared to care for, and direct refugees to camps or other areas.

5. No mass movements unless police controlled will be permitted. Individual movements will be subject to police checks at numerous points.

6. In all cities, towns curfew will be at 9 p.m., with effective enforcement at 10 p.m. Any unauthorized person on streets after 10 p.m. is to be arrested, and carefully examined. The last item is already in effect.

Sincerely,

John J. Muccio
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[Joanne98]

1. South Koreans: Many Killed After Letter

South Koreans: Many Killed After Letter
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-shooting-refugees-glance,0,2598957,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
By The Associated Press

April 13, 2007, 1:52 PM EDT

Since the No Gun Ri refugee killings were confirmed in 1999, South Koreans have filed complaints with their government about more than 60 other alleged large-scale killings of civilians by the U.S. military during the Korean War.

In the war's early days, the U.S. ambassador in South Korea reported to Washington that the military, fearing North Korean infiltrators, had adopted a policy of shooting refugees approaching U.S. lines.

Some of the reported mass killings:

POHANG BEACH

A declassified U.S. Navy document confirms that on Sept. 1, 1950, the destroyer USS DeHaven, at the Army's request, opened fire on a refugee encampment on a beach near the southern South Korean port of Pohang. Survivors say 100 to 200 refugees -- mostly women and children -- were killed.

KOKAN-RI SHRINE

On Aug. 10, 1950, survivors say, U.S. troops and aircraft fired on villagers who had sought shelter from fighting in a large family shrine in Kokan-ri in southernmost South Korea. They say 83 were killed, including many children. Declassified documents show that commanders of the U.S. 25th Infantry Division, operating in that area, had issued orders two weeks earlier to shoot civilians found in the war zone.

YOUNGCHOON CAVE

As many as 300 refugees were killed, many suffocated, on Jan. 20, 1951, when U.S. warplanes dropped apparent napalm firebombs at the entrance to a cavern where the South Koreans were sheltering 90 miles southeast of Seoul, survivors say. An observer plane had flown overhead beforehand. Declassified documents show U.S. pilots were sometimes directed to attack large civilian groups on suspicion they harbored infiltrators.

DOON-PO STOREHOUSE

Also in January 1951, south of Seoul, U.S. warplanes killed 300 South Korean refugees as they jammed into a storehouse at the village of Doon-po, survivors say. They say the planes attacked without warning after the refugees set a fire outside to keep warm.

SANSONG VILLAGE

In another napalm attack that month, U.S. warplanes struck Sansong village, 125 miles southeast of Seoul, killing 34 villagers, a declassified U.S. military document said. It quoted U.S. officials saying Sansong villagers had helped North Korean troops, who kept supplies there, but it also reported "no enemy casualties" in the strike. Survivors denied they had aided the enemy and said they had no warning to evacuate.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-shooting-refugees-glance,0,2598957,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[yurbud]

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