75 Years of Silence: The Continuing Need for Acknowledgment, Accountability, and Reconciliation between the United States and the Korean People
September 13, 2023
In the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, South Korean authorities massacred and "disappeared" thousands of civilians to eradicate left-wing or communist political thought. In some instances, U.S. forces tacitly approved and oversaw these massacres; in others, U.S. forces directly perpetrated them. Almost without exception, the massacres were indiscriminate, lawless, and exceptionally cruel. These atrocities were not investigated or even discussed during decades of authoritarian rule, when speaking publicly about such issues would have been very dangerous. Only recently has a quiet discussion of these events begun to emerge, at a time when many in Korea prefer to look blindly to the future without fully understanding the past.
