Bodo League massacre

The Bodo League massacre was a massacre and war crime against communists and suspected sympathizers that occurred in the summer of 1950 during the Korean War. Estimates of the death toll vary. According to Prof. Kim Dong-Choon, Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, at least 100,000 people were executed on suspicion of supporting communism; others estimate 200,000 deaths. The massacre was wrongly blamed on the communists for decades.

Bodo League
In 1950, just before the outbreak of the Korean War, the first president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, had about 30,000 alleged communists imprisoned; he also had about 300,000 suspected sympathizers or his political opponents enrolled in an official "re-education" movement known as the Bodo League (or National Rehabilitation and Guidance League, National Guard Alliance, National Guidance Alliance National Bodo League, Bodo Yeonmaeng, Gukmin Bodo Ryeonmaeng, 국민보도연맹, 國民保導聯盟) on the pretext of protecting them from execution. Non-communist sympathizers or political opponents of Rhee were also forced into the Bodo League to fill enlistment quotas.

In June 1949, the South Korean government accused independence activists of being members of the Bodo League, and subsequently arrested them.

Executions


Kim Il-sung's communist army attacked from the North on 25 June 1950, starting the Korean War. According to Kim Mansik, who was a military police superior officer, President Syngman Rhee ordered the execution of people related to either the Bodo League or the South Korean Workers Party on 27 June 1950, the first massacre was started one day later in Hoengseong, Gangwon-do on 28 June. Retreating South Korean forces and anti communist groups executed the alleged-communist prisoners, along with many of the Bodo League members. The executions were without any trials.

United States official documents show American officers witnessed and photographed the massacre. In one case a US officer is known to have sanctioned the killing of political prisoners so that they would not fall into enemy hands. On the other hand, United States official document showed that John Muccio, then United States Ambassador to South Korea, made recommendations to South Korean President Rhee Syngman and Defense Minister Shin Sung-mo that the executions be stopped. American witnesses also reported the scene of 12- or 13-year old girls' executions. The massacre was also reported to both Washington and General Douglas MacArthur.

There were also British and Australian witnesses. Britain raised this issue with the U.S. at a diplomatic level, causing Dean Rusk, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs, to inform the British that U.S. commanders were doing "everything they can to curb such atrocities". During the massacre, British protected their allies and saved some citizens.

South Korean Retired Admiral Nam Sang-hui confessed that he authorized 200 victims' bodies to be thrown into the sea, saying: "There was no time for trials for them."

Aftermath
After the UN offensive in which South Korea recovered its occupied territories, the police and militia executed people who were suspected as North Korean sympathizers. In October 1950, the Goyang Geumjeong Cave Massacre occurred. In December British troops saved civilians lined up to be shot by South Korean officers and seized one execution site outside Seoul to prevent further massacres. In 1951 the Ganghwa massacre were conducted by South Korean police.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission
In 2008, trenches containing the bodies of children were discovered in Daejon, South Korea, and other sites. South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented testimonies of those still alive and who took part in the executions, including former Daejon prison guard Lee Joon-young.

Besides photographs of the 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.