Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Nation & World_ Korea from page 4 lice investigator, Sgt. 1st Class Frank Pearce, said in a written report to his company commander on the shootings. He and other American witnesses re ported that 200 to 300 prisoners, including women and agirl 12 or 13 years old, were killed by South Korean military police on Aug. 10, 1950, on a mountain near this hamlet 155 miles southeast of Seoul, South Korea’s capital. A South Korean officer told the Amer icans the prisoners were “spies” — not North Korean soldiers or guerrillas. Pearce, who went to the scene after hearing gunfire, said the Korean soldiers placed 20 prisoners at a time on the edge of a cliff and shot them in the back of the head. Because of poor aim, some did not die immediately. “At about three hours after the exe cutions were completed, some of the con demned persons were still alive and moan ing. The cries could be heard coming from somewhere in the mass of bodies piled in the canyon,” Pearce wrote in his one page report. Local Korean witnesses today echo Pearce’s description of cruel treatment. Several times in mid-1950, military trucks loaded with people in white peasant cloth ing drove up the winding mountain pass, and shooting later echoed through the vaiiey, vuidgcii :*uu. “A truck pulled up with seven or eight people. They were all tied togeth er, so they had difficulty getting off the truck. The soldiers kicked them and hit their heads with the butts of their rifles,” NBae In-soo, 83, told the AP. “They dragged the poor people in the gully and shot them.” “ Whenever we heard the shootings, ” recalled Bae Choon-dal, 79, “police came later and press-ganged us to bury the bod ies. We hastily threw some dirt over the bodies and ran away as quickly as possi ble. It was a dreadful time.” The documents found by the AP con sist of two brief U.S. Army reports on the Dokchon shootings and the high-level correspondence that resulted. In one note, Muccio’s top aide, Everett Drumright, told the ambassador he had protested pre vious such shootings — in the city of Tae jon in early July. Those earlier executions are recounted in other declassified documents, accom panied by photographs, found by re 1 «$earcher Lee Do-young at the U.S. Na tional Archives and published in January in the Seoul newspaper Hankook Ilbo. In that material, which was reviewed by the AP, the U.S. Army attache at the embassy, Lt. Col. Bob E. Edwards, re ported that 1,800 political prisoners were executed over three days at Taejon, 93 miles south of Seoul. A U.S. Army ma jor took photos of the killings with Ed wards’ camera. The report and photos were sent to the U.S. Army intelli eence staff in Washington. Edwards wrote that he believed “thousands of political prisoners were executed within few weeks after fall of Seoul to prevent their possible release .'4>y advancing enemy troops. Orders for execution undoubtedly came from top.” After the Hankook Ilbo stories, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said it would investi gate reports of mass executions. The AP located the declassified doc uments on Dokchon while investigating what happened at No Gun Ri, South Ko rea, July 26-29, 1950, when witnesses say U.S. forces killed about 400 South Korean refugees. American veterans ac knowledged to the AP that their unit killed many civilians there. Both Wash ington and Seoul are investigating. The AP’s No Gun Ri report last Sep tember spurred South Koreans to go pub lic with other painful episodes from the J 950-53 war, including accounts of mass killings of fellow citizens by soldiers and police. Rhee’s government had fought a guer rilla war with indigenous left-wing ele r ments in the late 1940s. In mid-1950, it feared leftists would collaborate with the (.North Koreans sweeping down the penin sula. Tens of thousands were arrested, 1 historians say. i. “There was no time for trials for them. ' Communists were streaming down. It , (summary execution) was a common ...practice at that time,” said retired Rear ' Adm. Nam Sang-hui, 74, now living in ' New York City. Following orders as a navy coni imander in early July 1950, Nam said, he • authorized three ships to carry 200 peo - pie out to sea off the eastern port of Po ^ap0vhere they were shot by police and their bodies were thrown into the sea, weighted with stones. "It happened during a critical situa ■ Jion for South Korea. Wfe should not judge these incidents through the standards of j peacetime,” Nam said. Relatives say many execution victims jiJiad bathing to do with cdrtimunism and were not convicted of any crimes. “You cannot kill people just because you think they were unreliable or there is something wrong with their ideology,” said researcher Lee, a U.S.-educated psy chologist who said his father, a govern ment official, was among 210 people killed by policemen and soldiers on Aug. 20.1950, on the southern island of Cheju. Lee said those executed included chil dren, students, teachers and even right ist youth leaders against whom local po licemen bore grudges. Lee, citing the Taejon killings, blames U.S. authorities as well. “The Americans cannot escape the charge that they condoned, if not sup ported, the massacres. After all, those soldiers killed these people with rifles and bullets the Americans gave them, while American officers stood behind their backs taking pictures,” Lee said. Reports of such mass shootings ap pear to have circulated routinely among U.S. Army staff officers. “The South Korean police have been quite busy in the Yunchon, Sangju, Ham chang vicinity disposing of South Kore an communists,” a secret U.S. intelli gence report said matter-of-factly on Aug. 22.1950. It said U.S. officers declined a South Korean invitation to witness one mass execution. AP Investigative Researcher Randy Her schaft contributed to this report. Jesse Jackson joins NAACP push to kill Senate flag compromise by Jim Davenport The Associated Press The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Thurs day he is supporting NAACP efforts to kill a Senate-approved compromise on the Confederate flag. The compromise moves the flag from atop the Statehouse dome and leg islative chambers and places a similar flag at a monument to Confederate war dead on Statehouse grounds. The NAACP, which forced the flag debate when it started an economic boycott of the state, has said that proposal won’t work because the flag shouldn’t fly on the Statehouse grounds or in any other position of sovereignty. “That flag should be in the muse um as a relic of the nation’s past,” Jack son, a Greenville native, said. He did not elaborate on a specific museum. “The vanquished have no right to fly the flag,” he said. “One could not fly a Nazi flag over the capital in Germany or fly it on the ground of the Statehouse.’’ “Vfe appreciate any support that we get,” James Gallman, president of the NAACP’s South Carolina Conference of Branches, said Jackson s remarks came in a tele phone interview after a state repre sentative of his Rainbow/Push Coali tion spoke in Columbia with other flag opponents, including the Read Street Freedom House Project, American Civ il Liberties Union and Malcolm X Grass roots Movement Those groups say they will continue to support the NAACP’s economic sanctions and its efforts to keep the Confederate flag from being flown on the Statehouse grounds. “It is time we take a look at all these statues and all these monuments on the Statehouse grounds because the State house grounds is nothing more than a monument to the Confederacy,” said Kevin Gray, head of the Read Street group. “It’s time we reject those sym bols of immorality and wrong.” Gray aid black lawmakers who sup port the plan will face oppositions the polls. “TThey either didn’t read their his tory, or they were wrong,” said Gray, who singled out Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Columbia. Jackson had advocated the NAACP’s position, but embraced the compromise. Gray said the NAACP “knew he was a snake when they brought him in” and that Jackson “sold out Jackson said he would not respond to criticism from Gray, who Jackson said frequently criticizes his actions. Jackson said he had previously offered to pay Gray’s filing fee if he wanted to run for Jackson’s Senate seat. The increased support for the NAACP’s position came as House lead ers prepared for debate on the Senate compromise plan that passed a Judicia ry subcommittee Wednesday. With 123 House members, the bill would need 62 votes to pass and could have as' many as 60 votes already. “I think we’re picking up a little bit of momentum,” Republican HouseMa jority Leader Rick Quinn of Columbia said. Quinn said he expects a majority of House’s 64 GOP members to sup port the plan. Rep. James Smith, D-Co lumbia, said he is confident 26 to 28 of the House’s 59 Democrats will vote for the plan. Much of the outcome “depends on how intractable the Black Caucus mem bers are," Quinn said. Smith, a white Democrat, said he has about five black House members willing to vote for the bill. Columbine from page 4 you walk on, so I owe it to him,” Shoe said. Earlier, 1,000 students, includin alumni, and about 175 staff members a % tended a private assembly inside th Columbine gymnasium where a repn sentative for each victim spoke. Aboi 500 parents met in the auditorium. Clasi es were canceled, and the building w< closed to the public. “Obviously, there’s a lot of cryin and a lot' of hugging, a lot of solemn n membering,” school district spokesma Rick Kaufman said “It was a good remembrance of pet pie who were lost,” sophomore Angi Schwartz said. After the assembly, more than 3,00 students, teachers and residents gathere in nearby Clement Park for a public ot servance. Teacher Patti Nielson, wh was wounded and was among the first t call 911, shared memories of the mar sacre. “At this exact time one year ago, was curled up in a cupboard in a bac room of the library,” she said adding thr to her the anniversary marks the. da “I let go of the anger.” * ' ;r ’ " ' .. lf| Jrak.- # jjp' rit Ml. J£§ k, ■ A Pjp|BBBipfpHnpppHBMPWBB ^ 1 (JTever pass up a great offer*^[ (180 DAYS ■ { DEFERRED PflYMENT" B I f CUSTOMER ^ (1) Payment deferral not available in PA and limited in Ml and DC. Offer not available on lease contracts. Qualified buyers, as determined by Mazda American Credit, take new retail delivery from dealer stock by 12/31/00. (2) $400 College Graduate cash back or “Get Professional Kit” (allow 6-8 weeks for delivery) available on purchase of any new '99 or ’00 Mazda vehicles. Limit one per customer. 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