Jeju uprising

{{Short description|1948–1949 insurgency in South Korea}} {{redirect|April 3rd Incident|the short story collection by Yu Hua|The April 3rd Incident}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Use American English|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox military conflict | conflict = Jeju uprising | width = | partof = the division of Korea and the Cold War | image = Jeju Province in South Korea.svg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Map of South Korea with Jeju highlighted at the bottom in red | date = {{start date|1948|04|03}} – {{end date|1949|05|13}} ({{Age in months, weeks and days|year1=1948|month1=04|day1=03|year2=1949|month2=05|day2=13}}) | place = Jeju Island, South Korea | coordinates =  | territory = | result = Uprising suppressed | combatants_header = | combatant1 = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Workers' Party of South Korea.svg}} Workers' Party of South Korea | combatant2 = {{flagdeco|United States|1912}} United States Army Military Government in Korea (until August 1948) {{flagicon|South Korea|1948}} South Korea (from August 1948) Right-wing militias * Northwest Youth League * {{ill|Korean Youth League|ko|대한청년단}} | commander1 = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Workers' Party of South Korea.svg}} Kim Dal-sam {{flagicon image|Flag of the Workers' Party of South Korea.svg}} Pak Hon-yong | commander2 = {{flagdeco|United States|1912}} William F. Dean {{flagdeco|South Korea|1948}} Syngman Rhee {{flagdeco|South Korea|1948}} Kim Ik-ryeol | units1 = | units2 = | strength1 = | strength2 = | casualties1 = Several thousand killed<ref name=":1" />{{rp|189}}{{efn|2,345 killed from March to May 1949 alone}} | casualties2 = 162 soldiers killed 289 policemen killed 640 paramilitaries killed '''Total:''' 1,091 killed | casualties3 = 14,373 civilians killed (86% by security forces and 14% by insurgents) 30,000 total dead including combatants<ref name="Blowback">{{cite book| first = Chalmers| last = Johnson| author-link = Chalmers Johnson| title = Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire| date = January 23, 2001| edition = 2000, rev. 2004| pages = [https://archive.org/details/blowback00chal/page/99 99–101]| publisher = Owl Book| isbn = 0-8050-6239-4| url = https://archive.org/details/blowback00chal/page/99}} According to Chalmers Johnson, death toll is 14,000–30,000</ref> Other estimates reach as high as 80,000<ref name="The Korean War A History">{{cite book | first = Bruce | last = Cumings| author-link = Bruce Cumings| title = The Korean War A History|edition= 2010|pages= 124–125 | publisher = Modern Library}} According to the governor of Jeju at the time, the death toll was reported to be at 60,000</ref><ref name="Cumings, 2010, p.124">Cumings, 2010, p.124.</ref> | notes = | campaignbox = }} {{Infobox Korean name/auto | hangul = ^제주 4·3 사@건 | hanja = 濟州四三事件 }}

The '''Jeju uprising''' (in South Korea, the ''Jeju April 3 incident'', {{Korean|hangul=제주 4·3 사건}}) was an insurrection on Jeju Island, South Korea from April 1948 to May 1949.<ref>{{cite news |title=Moon vows continued push for honor of Jeju April 3 incident victims |url=http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210403000060 |access-date=April 5, 2021 |work=Yonhap News Agency |via=The Korea Herald |date=April 3, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

Tensions in Jeju Island began to escalate following protests against an assault incident by the police that occurred during the March 1st Independence Movement Day celebration in 1947, and the violent suppression of the protests which resulted in 6 deaths.<ref>{{cite news| title=“제주4.3 당시 미 군정, 묵인‧방조 아닌 지시‧조장 역할”| url= https://www.jejusori.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=327800| work=제주의 소리| date=April 2, 2021 | language=ko}}</ref> A general strike was later organized by the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) from February to March 1948, protesting against the general election scheduled to be held only in the United States-occupied half of the country. Kim Dal-sam, the head of the WPSK in Jeju, formed a partisan organization and launched an armed insurgency in April 1948, attacking police facilities and right-wing civilians.<ref name=":1" />{{rp|166–167}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = The Korean War 1945–1953|last = Deane|first = Hugh|publisher = China Books and Periodicals Inc.|year = 1999|isbn = 0-8351-2644-7|location = San Francisco|pages = 54–58}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |author = 朴贊殖 |title=제주4·3사건 당시 대중운동과 무장투쟁 |date=2012-01-13 |work=한국근현대사연구 84 |pages=251-285 |url=https://scholar.kyobobook.co.kr/article/detail/4010028017982 |language = ko}}</ref> The First Republic of Korea under President Syngman Rhee escalated the suppression of the uprising from August 1948, declaring martial law in November and beginning an "eradication campaign" against rebel forces in the rural areas of Jeju in March 1949, defeating them within two months. This resulting campaign has led to the event being called the ''Jeju massacre''. Many captured rebels and suspected sympathizers were later extrajudicially executed upon the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, and the existence of the Jeju uprising was officially censored and repressed in South Korea for several decades.<ref name=":2" />{{rp|41}}

The Jeju uprising and its repression were notable for its extreme violence; between 14,000 and 30,000 people (10 percent of Jeju's population) were killed, and 40,000 fled to Japan.<ref name=":0"/><ref name="newsweek">{{cite magazine |date=June 19, 2000|url = http://www.newsweek.com/id/85131|title = Ghosts of Cheju|magazine = Newsweek| access-date = March 30, 2009 | author=Hideko Takayama }}</ref><ref name="Hugh Deane 1999 54-58">{{cite book|last=Deane|first=Hugh|title=The Korean War, 1945–1953|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=32Vy2Fj4KFUC|year=1999|publisher=China Books&Periodicals, Inc|pages=54–58|isbn=9780141912240}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|title = Cheju-do Rebellion|last = Merrill|first = John|date = 1980|journal=The Journal of Korean Studies|volume = 2|doi = 10.1353/jks.1980.0004|pages = 139–197|s2cid = 143130387}}</ref>{{rp|139, 193}} Other estimates reach as high as 80,000 dead.<ref name="Cumings, 2010, p.124"/> Atrocities and war crimes were committed by both sides, but historians have noted that the methods used by the South Korean government to suppress protesters and rebels were especially cruel, with violence against civilians by pro-government forces giving rise to the Yeosu–Suncheon rebellion in South Jeolla Province during the conflict.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":0"/><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title = The Massacre at Mt. Halla: Sixty Years of Truth Seeking in South Korea|last = Kim|first = Hun Joon|publisher = Cornell University Press|year = 2014|isbn = 9780801452390|pages = 13–41}}</ref>{{rp|13–14}}<ref name=":1"/> According to Bruce Cumings, right-wing paramilitary groups, including the North-West Youth Association, were especially brutal towards civilians, exercising more authority than the police.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://islandstudies.net/weis/weis_2016v06/v06n4-2.pdf |title=American Responsibility and the Massacres in Cheju Conference on Overcoming the Past: Healing and Reconciliation -- Cheju and the World in Comparison |last=Cumings |first=Bruce |date=December 20, 2016 }}</ref> Some historians and scholars, including military historian Allan R. Millett, regard the Jeju uprising as the true beginning of the Korean War.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3nEDAAAQBAJ&q=jeju.+100%2C000.+spencer+c.&pg=PA320|title=The Roots and Consequences of 20th-Century Warfare: Conflicts that Shaped the Modern World: Conflicts That Shaped the Modern World|last=Tucker|first=Spencer C.|date=September 6, 2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610698023|pages=320}}</ref>

In October 2003, the National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Incident chaired by South Korean prime minister Goh Kun released a comprehensive report detailing the violence that occurred during the uprising,<ref name="2003report">{{cite web |url=http://www.jeju43peace.or.kr/report_eng.pdf |title=The Jeju April 3 Incident Investigation Report |publisher=The National Committee for the Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Incident |date = September 1, 2014 | orig-date= April 30, 2003 | via = Jeju 4·3 Peace Foundation |access-date=August 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921114226/http://www.jeju43peace.or.kr/report_eng.pdf |archive-date=September 21, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun issued an official apology on behalf of the South Korean government.<ref name="rohspeech">{{cite speech |title=President Roh Moo-hyun issues a state apology for the Jeju 4·3 Uprising and Massacre |first=Moo-hyun |last=Roh|author-link= |event=Jeju Peace Forum |location=Jeju City |date=October 31, 2003 |url=http://dams.pa.go.kr:8888/dams/DOCUMENT/2009/11/26/DOC/SRC/0104200911264276100042761014728.PDF |access-date=3 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702165033/http://dams.pa.go.kr:8888/dams/DOCUMENT/2009/11/26/DOC/SRC/0104200911264276100042761014728.PDF |archive-date=2 July 2023| url-status=live}}</ref> In 2019, the South Korean police and the defense ministry apologized for their involvement in the massacres during the Jeju uprising.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/03/asia-pacific/south-korean-police-apologize-army-expresses-regret-1948-jeju-massacres/|title=South Korean police apologize and army expresses regret for 1948 Jeju massacres|work=The Japan Times|last=AFP|author-link=Agence France-Presse|date=April 3, 2019|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=April 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404141419/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/03/asia-pacific/south-korean-police-apologize-army-expresses-regret-1948-jeju-massacres/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Background== ===Political situation in Korea=== After Imperial Japan surrendered to Allied forces on August 15, 1945, the 35-year Japanese occupation of Korea ended. Korea was subsequently divided along the 38th parallel, with the Soviet Union overseeing the north and the United States the south. In September 1945, Lt. General John R. Hodge established a military government to administer the southern region, including Jeju Island. In December 1945, representatives from the US, Soviet Union, and United Kingdom met to discuss a joint trusteeship. However, a lack of consensus led the US to bring the "Korean question" to the United Nations. On November 14, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 112, calling for a general election in Korea on May 10, 1948, under the supervision of the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK).<ref name="UN2">{{cite web |year = 2007|url = https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/2/ares2.htm|title = United Nations Resolution 112: The Problem of the Independence of Korea|publisher = United Nations|access-date = March 29, 2009}}</ref>

Fearing a loss of influence over northern Korea, the Soviet Union rejected the UN resolution and barred UNTCOK from entering the region.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Korea: The First War We Lost|last = Alexander|first = Bevin|publisher = Hippocrene|year = 1998|location = New York|page = 11}}</ref> The UNTCOK nevertheless proceeded with the elections, albeit only in the southern half of the peninsula. In response, the Soviet Union organized its own elections in the north on August 25, 1948.<ref>{{Cite book|title = From Stalin to Kim Il Sung: The formation of North Korea, 1945–1960|last = Lanʹkov|first = A. N.|publisher = Rutgers University Press|year = 2002|isbn = 0813531179 |location = New Brunswick, New Jersey|page = 46}}</ref>

===Political situation on Jeju Island=== Residents of Jeju island were some of the most active participants in the Korean independence movement against colonial Japanese occupation. Due to the island's relative isolation from the mainland peninsula, Jeju experienced relative peace after the Japanese surrender, contrasting with the period of heavy unrest in the southern region of mainland Korea. As with the mainland, the period immediately following the Japanese surrender was characterized by the formation of People's Committees, local autonomous councils tasked with coordinating the transition towards Korean independence. When the American military government arrived on Jeju in late 1945, the Jeju People's Council was the only existing government on the island. As a testament to this relative stability, the US military governor under the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) John R. Hodge stated in October 1947 that Jeju was "a truly communal area that is peacefully controlled by the People's Committee without much Comintern influence."<ref name="cum1">{{cite book|last = Cumings|first = Bruce|chapter = The Question of American Responsibility for the Suppression of the Jejudo Uprising|editor-first = Sang Soo|editor-last = Hur|title = For the Truth and Reparations: Jeju April 3rd of 1948 Massacre not Forgotten|year = 2001|publisher = BaekSan Publisher}}{{page needed|date=April 2022}}</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2022}}

The Jeju People's Committee had come under the directive of the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) by late 1946. The WPSK encouraged the People's Council to establish military and political committees, as well as mass organizations. The 1946 USAMGIK dissolution of the provisional People's Republic of Korea and their associated People's Committees on the mainland sparked the Autumn Uprising of 1946, which did not spread to Jeju (as its PC still operated virtually undisturbed by the American military government) but did contribute to rising tensions on the island.<ref name = "cum1"/>{{rp|17–18}} However, since the 2000s, many South Korean liberal scholars and bereaved families of the victims of the massacre have maintained that the Jeju People's Committee has nothing to do with directive of the WPSK.<ref>{{cite news|author1=양수연 |url=https://www.sisain.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=47267 |script-title=ko:자립으로 뭉친 4·3 당시 제주도, 미군도 놀랐다 |work=SisaIN |date=20 April 2022 |access-date=23 April 2023}}</ref>

==Incidents leading up to the uprising== === Sam-il demonstrations === Residents of Jeju began protesting against the elections a year before they took place. Particularly concerned about permanently dividing the peninsula, the WPSK planned gatherings on March 1, 1947, to denounce the elections and simultaneously celebrate the anniversary of the March First Movement (also known as the Sam-il Movement).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> An attempt by the security forces to disperse the crowds only brought more citizens of Jeju out in support of the demonstrations. The police fired indiscriminately into the crowd, killing six civilians, including a six-year-old child.{{efn|U.S. State Department analyst John Merrill originally reported that only one person was killed, a six-year-old child. However, this conflicts with the official G-2 Periodic Report given by the 6th Infantry Division, the division responsible for firing on the protesters. The G-2 report states that 6 civilians were killed.}}<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name="2003report" />

=== Chong-myon jail incident === On March 8, 1947, a crowd of about a thousand demonstrators gathered at the Chong-myon jail, demanding the release of WPSK members the military government had arrested during the Sam-il demonstrations. When the demonstrators started throwing rocks and subsequently rushed the jail, the police inside shot at them, killing five. In response, WPSK members and others called on the military government to take action against the police officers who fired on the crowd. Instead, 400 more police officers were flown in from the mainland, along with members of an extreme right-wing paramilitary group known as the Northwest Youth League.<ref name=":1"/> Although both the police and paramilitary groups employed violent and harsh tactics in their suppression of the locals, the Northwest Youth League was especially ruthless, described as borderline terroristic.<ref name="Blowback"/><ref name=":1"/><ref name=":0"/><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=1435|title = The Northwest Youth League|publisher = Jeju Weekly|last = Flenniken|first = Lauren|date = April 10, 2011|access-date = October 29, 2017|archive-date = November 2, 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191102073700/http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=1435|url-status = dead}}</ref>

=== February 1948 general strike === As the May 10, 1948 elections approached, WPSK leaders hardened in their opposition to the involvement of UNTCOK in Korean affairs, as they believed the elections would formalize the 38th parallel partition as a border, rendering a unified, independent Korea much less likely. In January 1948, Pak Hon-yong, the leader of the WPSK, called on WPSK members south of the 38th parallel to oppose the elections by whatever means necessary, and called for a general strike to begin on February 7. At this point, there were at least 60,000 members of the WPSK on Jeju, and at least 80,000 active supporters.<ref name=":1"/> These members and supporters not only went on strike but in some cases attacked government installations and engaged with police forces in open conflict. These engagements between WPSK guerrillas against rightist groups and police continued through March 1948.<ref name=":1"/>{{rp|164}}

==Rebellion== === April 3, 1948 === thumb|Jeju inhabitants awaiting execution in late 1948 Although skirmishes had been taking place on Jeju Island since early 1947, April 3, 1948, is considered as the day the Jeju uprising officially began. Some sources claim it came about when military police "fired on a demonstration commemorating the Korean struggle against Japanese rule," igniting mass insurrection.<ref name="Blowback"/> Other sources, however, make no mention of this demonstration incident, and claim that WPSK plans to attack on April 3 had been in the works for some time.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/>{{rp|30}} Whatever the case, at approximately 02:00, around 500 WPSK guerrillas alongside up to 3,000 sympathizers attacked Northwest Youth League positions as well as 11 of the 24 police stations on the island, killing 30 police officers, specifically targeting those who were known to have previously collaborated with the Japanese.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":0"/>

Lieutenant General Kim Ik-ryeol, commander of police forces on the island, attempted to end the insurrection peacefully by negotiating with the rebels. He met several times with rebel leader Kim Dal-sam of the WPSK but neither side could agree on conditions. The government wanted a complete surrender and the rebels demanded disarmament of the local police, dismissal of all governing officials on the island, prohibition of paramilitary groups, and the re-unification and liberation of the Korean peninsula.<ref name=":1"/>{{rp|174}}<ref name=":0"/>

In the wake of these failed peace negotiations, the fighting continued. The US military government responded to guerrilla activity by transferring another regiment to Jeju from Busan and deploying police companies, each 1,700 strong, from the southern provinces of the mainland.<ref name=":1"/> The guerrillas retreated to their bases in the forests and caves around Hallasan, Jeju's central volcano and the highest mountain in South Korea. On April 29, the Korean, non-military, governor of Jeju province abandoned his post, defected, and joined the guerrillas. This caused many police officers, disillusioned by the atrocities they were ordered to commit against their own, to do the same. In response, US military provincial governor William F. Dean ordered a purge of WPSK sympathizers from the ranks of the Korean constabulary, and three sergeants were summarily executed.<ref name="m2">{{cite book | last = Merrill | first =John | year = 1989 | title = Korea: The Peninsular Origins of the War | publisher =University of Delaware Press | isbn =0-87413-300-9}}</ref>{{rp|68}}

Fighting continued through the May 10 elections. A total of 214 people had been killed by then.<ref name="jeju43"/> During election week, the guerrillas "cut telephone lines, destroyed bridges, and blocked roads with piles of stones to disrupt communications."<ref name=":1"/> The WPSK Women's League campaigned for residents to hide in the mountainous region controlled by guerillas the night before the election so they could not be brought out to vote at gunpoint, and thousands did. Many election officials even declined to show up. These campaigns, along with sporadic arson, violent demonstrations and attacks on three government installations on election day rendered the election useless. The turnout in Jeju was the lowest in all of South Korea, so low that the two seats reserved for Jeju province in the new national assembly were left vacant.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/>

Fearing an upsurge in guerrilla activities after they succeeded in getting what they wanted out of the election, General Dean requested a US Navy blockade of the island on May 11, so that sympathizers from the mainland could not reach Jeju. The Navy sent the {{USS|John R. Craig}} to enforce the blockade.<ref name=":1"/>

=== August 1948 underground elections and Yeosu rebellion === Although guerrilla activities waned during the summer months of 1948, they picked up again in August after the Soviet Union held elections north of the 38th parallel to form the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).<ref name=":1"/> In conjunction with these elections, the Workers' Party of North Korea (WPNK) organized "underground elections" for those wanting to participate south of the 38th parallel, including on Jeju Island.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/> Although the turnout of these elections is disputed,{{efn|U.S. intelligence estimated a voter turnout of 25 percent, while the DPRK reported a 77 percent turnout.<ref name=":1"/>{{rp|177}}}} they succeeded at emboldening WPSK military forces.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":0"/> In the months following the elections, conditions worsened to the point that Republic of Korea (ROK) officials decided to send the Fourteenth Regiment of the Korean Constabulary, stationed near the southern port city of Yeosu, to Jeju Island to assist counter-guerrilla efforts. Not wanting to "murder the people of Jeju," however, thousands of these troops mutinied on October 20, 1948, just as they were preparing to depart. They killed many of the high-ranking officers and former Japanese collaborators and seized Yeosu and surrounding areas before retreating into the areas around Jirisan mountain and setting up guerrilla bases, much as the Jeju guerrillas did while hiding out in Hallasan.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/>{{rp|34}} Embarrassed by this incident, Syngman Rhee, the newly elected president of the ROK, intensified the government's efforts to stamp out the rebellion.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/>{{rp|34}} On November 17, 1948, Syngman Rhee proclaimed martial law in order to quell the rebellion.<ref name="rohspeech"/> During this period, ROK police forces engaged in numerous war crimes. One report describes the events of December 14, 1948 at a small Jeju village, in which ROK forces attacked the village and kidnapped many young men and girls. The girls were gang-raped over a two-week period and were then executed along with the young men.<ref name="newsweek"/>

By the end of 1948, the ROK's harsh tactics and effective suppression campaigns had reduced the number of guerrilla forces to just 300.<ref name=":1"/>

=== WPSK's 1949 New Year offensive and the ROK's eradication campaign === On January 1, 1949, the guerrillas launched one last offensive against ROK police. They attacked at Odong-ni and Jeju City, but were beaten back by ROK police and driven to the island's interior mountains.<ref name=":1"/> ROK police pursued the guerrillas and continued to commit atrocities, including rounding up whole villages and killing them all.<ref name="Blowback"/><ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/>{{rp|36}} The ROK forces, now determined to destroy the remaining WPSK guerrillas, launched an eradication campaign in March 1949. During the campaign, 2,345 guerrillas and 1,668 civilians were killed.<ref name=":1"/> With the campaign now effectively over, the ROK held elections on Jeju Island to fill the province's empty seats in the National Assembly; Jeju Island was now effectively and symbolically under ROK jurisdiction.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/>

==United States involvement== At the beginning of the uprising, the island was controlled by the United States Army Military Government in Korea.

Only a small number of Americans were present.<ref name="Blowback"/> Jimmie Leach, a captain in the US Army, was an adviser to the South Korean Constabulary and claimed that there were six Americans on the island, including himself, and that they could call on two small L-4 scout planes and two old minesweepers converted to coastal cutters, manned by Korean crews.<ref name="beaufortgazette">{{cite web |date = January 10, 2006|url = http://dwb.beaufortgazette.com/local_news/military/story/5443010p-4914264c.html|title = Col. Jimmie Leach, a former U.S. Army officer, recalls the Cheju-do insurrection in 1948|publisher = beaufortgazette|access-date = March 29, 2009|last = Col. Jimmie Leach, as told to Matt Hermes}}{{dead link|date=March 2016}}</ref> On March 8, 1949, the US Armed Forces sent an investigation team headed by Colonel James A. Casteel to Jeju to investigate the causes of the rebellion. They summarized that the February 1948 Jeju general strike prior to the rebellion was caused by instigation by the WPSK and hostility towards the police as a result of shootings. They also described the strike as "communist inspired" but participated by both the left and right in response to the March 1 shootings.<ref name="2003report"/> By the spring of 1949 four South Korean Army battalions arrived and joined the local constabulary, police forces, and right-wing Northwest Youth Association partisans to suppress protests. The combined forces quickly destroyed or disabled most of the remaining rebel forces. On June 7, 1949, the leadership of the movement fell apart following the killing of major rebel leader Lee Deok-gu.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ko |first=Young-chul |script-title=ko:어디까지가 사실이고 허구인가? – 제주신보 김호진 편집국장과 인민군사령관 이덕구 명의의 삐라인쇄사건 기록을 중심으로 |trans-title=How far are the truths and lies? – Based on the recorded propaganda leaflets distributed under the names of Kim Ho-jin, the executive editor of Cheju Sinbo, and Lee Deok-gu, the commander of the People's Army |url=https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002619617 |journal=Jeju Island Studies |publisher=Jeju Society |volume=54 |pages=141–198 |language=ko |date=August 2020|doi=10.47520/jjs.2020.54.141 |s2cid=234631438 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The US military later called the complete destruction of Jungsangan village a "successful operation."<ref name="2003report"/> The National Committee for the Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Incident concluded that the US Army Military Government in Korea and the Korean Military Advisory Group shared responsibility for the incident as it began under the rule of the military government and an American colonel was in charge of the security forces of Jeju until August 1948.<ref name="2003report"/> According to Heo Hojun ({{Korean|hangul=허호준|labels=no}}), US liaison aircraft helped to arrest and kill villagers who evacuated to middle mountain area. Song Yo Chan ({{Korean|hangul=송요찬|labels=no}}), commander of punitive forces in Jeju during late 1948, show appreciation to Fred M. Erricson who helped punitive operation and noticed the rally point, command post of Rebel forces and battle situation between Rebel and Punitive forces by reconnaissance flight.<ref>허호준 (2021). 4·3, 미국에 묻다, 도서출판 선인, p. 220. ISBN 9791160684650.</ref>

After the outbreak of the Korean War, the US assumed command of the South Korean armed forces.<ref name="Lankov">{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8yupvBRohJ4C&q=elections&pg=PR7|title = From Stalin to Kim Il Sung: the formation of North Korea, 1945–1960|author = Andreĭ Nikolaevich Lanʹkov|publisher = Rutgers University Press|year = 2002|isbn = 0813531179|access-date = March 24, 2016}}</ref> Brigadier General William Lynn Roberts commanded Americans on Jeju.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gibby |first=Brian |editor-last=Stoker |editor-first=Donald |editor-link = Donald Stoker (historian) |date=2008 |title=Military Advising and Assistance: From Mercenaries to Privatization, 1815–2007 |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |page=88 |isbn=978-0203938713}}</ref><ref name="jwusgr">{{cite web |url = http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/photoView.html?idxno=948 |title = U.S. Gen. Roberts, center, back, commanded the operation in Jeju. Image courtesy Yang Jo Hoon |publisher = Jeju weekly |access-date = May 4, 2013 |archive-date = July 14, 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140714143252/http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/photoView.html?idxno=948 |url-status = dead }}</ref>

The US military documented massacres but did not intervene.<ref name="newsweek"/> On May 13, 1949, the US ambassador to South Korea wired Washington that the Jeju rebels and their sympathizers had been, "killed, captured, or converted."<ref name="Blowback"/> ''Stars and Stripes'' reported on the South Korean Army's suppression of the rebellion, local support for the rebels, as well as rebel retaliation against local rightist opponents.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sandler |first=Stanley |date=1999 |title=The Korean War: No Victors, No Vanquished |location=Padstow, Cornwall |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |page=[https://archive.org/details/koreanwarnovicto0000sand/page/38 38] |isbn=0813121191 |url=https://archive.org/details/koreanwarnovicto0000sand/page/38 }}</ref>

==Korean War== {{Main|Korean War}} thumb|Recreation of the Daranshi cave massacre on Jeju Island Immediately after the North Korean invasion of South Korea, the South Korean military ordered the "preemptive apprehension" of suspected leftists nationwide. Thousands were detained on Jeju and then sorted into four groups, labeled A, B, C and D, based on the perceived security risks each posed. On August 30, 1950, a written order by a senior intelligence officer in the South Korean Navy instructed Jeju's police to "execute all those in groups C and D by firing squad no later than September 6."<ref name="newsweek"/>

==Aftermath== In one of its first official acts, the South Korean National Assembly passed the National Traitors Act in 1948, which among other measures, outlawed the Workers Party of South Korea.<ref name="Malkasian">{{cite book | last = Carter Malkasian| title = The Korean War (Essential Histories)| date = September 25, 2001|edition= September 25, 2001|page= 2222 | publisher = Osprey Publishing| isbn= 1-84176-282-2}}</ref> For almost fifty years after the uprising, it was a crime punishable by beatings, torture, and a lengthy prison sentence if any South Korean even mentioned the events of the Jeju uprising.<ref name="Blowback"/> The event had been largely ignored by the government. In 1992, President Roh Tae Woo's government sealed up a cave on Mount Halla, where the remains of massacre victims had been discovered.<ref name="newsweek"/> After civil rule was reinstated in the 1990s, the government admitted that the events on Jeju Island had taken place.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/south-koreas-jeju-island-paradise-with-a-dark-side/2012/04/19/gIQAVlFaVT_story.html|title=South Korea's Jeju Island, paradise with a dark side|last=Feffer|first=John|date=April 20, 2012|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=February 16, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

In 2003, the National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Incident chaired by South Korean prime minister Goh Kun described the event as a genocide.<ref name="2003report"/> In October 2003, President Roh Moo-hyun apologized to the populace of Jeju for the brutal suppression of the uprising: "Due to wrongful decisions of the government, many innocent people of Jeju suffered many casualties and destruction of their homes."<ref name="rohspeech"/> In March 2009, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission revealed, "At least 20,000 people jailed for taking part in the popular uprisings in Jeju, Yeosu and Suncheon, accused of being communists, were massacred in some 20 prisons across the country," when the Korean War broke out.<ref name="jinsil">{{cite web|year = 2009|url = http://jinsil.go.kr/English/Information/notice/read.asp?num=343&pageno=&stype=&sval=&data_years=&data_month=|title = Truth commission confirms civilian killings during war|publisher = Republic of Korea|access-date = March 29, 2009|quote = At least 20,000 people jailed for taking part in the popular uprisings in Jeju, Yeosu and Suncheon, or accused of being communists, were massacred in some 20 prisons across the country.|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110722140425/http://jinsil.go.kr/English/Information/notice/read.asp?num=343&pageno=&stype=&sval=&data_years=&data_month=|archive-date = July 22, 2011}}</ref>

The commission reported 14,373 victims during the uprising, 86 percent at the hands of the security forces and 14 percent at the hands of armed rebels, and estimated that the total death toll was as high as 30,000. The commission listed the number of confirmed deaths at each stage of the incident; 104 deaths from March 3, 1947, to April 4, 1948; 214 deaths during the initial armed uprising from April 4 to May 10; and 637 deaths during armed conflict from May 11 to October 10. The most violent period was from October 11, 1948, to March 1, 1949, with 9,709 confirmed deaths. There were a further 2,668 confirmed deaths between March 3, 1949, and June 24, 1950. 800 more deaths occurred on Jeju up to 21 September 1954. The commission confirmed 7,624 victims of the security forces, and 1,528 victims of the armed rebels. Further, they confirmed 448 victims of systematic civilian massacres.<ref name="jeju43">{{cite web|year = 2008|url = http://www.jeju43.go.kr/english/sub05.html|title = The National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Incident|access-date = December 15, 2008|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090224221736/http://www.jeju43.go.kr/english/sub05.html|archive-date = February 24, 2009}}</ref>

Some 70 percent of the island's 230 villages were burned to the ground, and over 39,000 houses were destroyed.<ref name="Blowback"/> Of the 400 villages before the uprising only 170 remained afterwards.<ref name="rohspeech"/> In 2008, bodies of massacre victims were discovered in a mass grave near Jeju International Airport.<ref name="rohspeech"/> Estimates of the overall deaths of the 1948–1950 uprising run as high as 100,000.<ref>Spencer C. Tucker, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=uYI2DwAAQBAJ&dq=jeju.+100%2C000.+spencer+c.&pg=PA672 Enduring Controversies in Military History]'' (ABC-CLIO, 2017), p. 672</ref>

In January 2019, the Jeju District Court overturned military court rulings that imprisoned Jeju Islanders, clearing the names of the 18 surviving plaintiffs and recognizing them as wronged victims of the Jeju April 3 Uprising and Massacre.<ref name="Shim">{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2019/01/17/South-Korea-Jeju-Massacre-survivors-found-not-guilty-after-70-years/8421547747533/|title=South Korea Jeju Massacre survivors found not guilty after 70 years|work=UPI|last=Shim|first=Elizabeth|date=January 17, 2019|access-date=May 20, 2019}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{cite news|url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2019/01/251_262242.html|title=Jeju massacre victims get their names cleared in court|work=The Korea Times|last=Lee|first=Suh-yoon|date=January 17, 2019|access-date=May 20, 2019}}</ref> At the 71st commemoration of Jeju uprising, April 3, 2019, the South Korean police and defense ministry apologized for the first time over the massacres.<ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/03/asia-pacific/south-korean-police-apologize-army-expresses-regret-1948-jeju-massacres/#.XOLHHvkzbIU|title=South Korean police apologize and army expresses regret for 1948 Jeju massacres|work=The Japan Times|last=AFP|author-link=Agence France-Presse|date=April 3, 2019|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-date=April 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404141419/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/04/03/asia-pacific/south-korean-police-apologize-army-expresses-regret-1948-jeju-massacres/#.XOLHHvkzbIU|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2025, the ''Revealing Truth: Jeju 4·3 Archives'', a series of documents related to the event, was included in the Memory of the World Programme by UNESCO.<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 April 2025 |title=Jeju massacre, post-war reconstruction archives added to UNESCO Memory of the World |url=https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10462826 |access-date=12 April 2025 }}</ref>

==Controversies== ===Supression of discussion=== Families of victims of the uprising and associated massacres, as well as various civic organizations, continuously attempted to openly discuss the uprising but the national government suppressed all materials and discussions, and even made the topic of the uprising illegal. The first published recollection in South Korea of the massacre was the 1978 novel ''Sun-i Samch'on'' ({{Korean|hangul=순이삼촌}}, "Uncle Suni") which is set during the event. However, it was swiftly banned by the ROK government and its author, Hyun Ki-young, was arrested and tortured for three days by the National Intelligence Service.<ref name="jejuweekly20121120">{{cite news|url = http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=28415|title = My dinner with Hyun Ki Young|publisher = Jeju Weekly |last = Coote|first = Darryl|date = November 20, 2012|access-date = October 29, 2017}}</ref><ref name="jejuweekly20121025">{{cite news|url = http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=2813|title = 'Sun-i Samch'on' revisited for the first time|publisher = Jeju Weekly|date = October 25, 2012|access-date = October 29, 2017}}</ref>

However, on November 23, 1998, after the democratization of South Korea, President Kim Dae-jung stated that "the Jeju uprising was a communist rebellion, but there are a lot of people who died under false accusations as innocents, so now we have to reveal the truth and clear their false charges."<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|last=Lee |first=Ki-Sueng |script-title=ko:한나라당 제주도지부, 김총장 발언 유감 표명 |url= http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=001&aid=0000028398 |work=Yonhap News Agency}}</ref> On December 26, 1999, the National Assembly passed a bill, 'A special law for the Jeju uprising truth ascertainment and the regaining impaired reputation of the victims'. On January 12, 2000, the National Assembly legislated a law so the Korean government could begin conducting an investigation of the uprising. Due to this decision, it could be possible to expand the human rights of the residents of Jeju. On October 15, 2003, a truth ascertainment committee of the Jeju uprising was assembled according to the special law, and ascertained a fact-finding report of the Jeju uprising.<ref name="auto1"/> In line with the finding of the committee, on October 31, 2003, former president Roh Moo-hyeon admitted that the brutal suppression of the uprising was a massive abuse of governmental power and made a public apology to the people of Jeju on behalf of the Republic of Korea. On the 71st anniversary of the event, the defense ministry and police under the Moon Jae-in administration apologized for the past government's role in the Jeju massacre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3004517/lives-were-sacrificed-south-korean-police-apologise-massacres|title = South Korean police apologise for Jeju massacres 71 years after uprising|date = April 3, 2019}}</ref>

=== Textbook inclusion === Despite ongoing efforts, controversy over the representation of the Jeju Uprising in public memory and education has persisted. For many decades, the incident was absent or misrepresented in South Korean school textbooks. In 2017, media outlets noted that elementary school textbooks continued to distort the causes and background of the Jeju Uprising,<ref>{{Cite web |work=Jeju Economic Daily |date=October 4, 2022 |script-title=ko:초등교과서 제주4·3사건 원인과 배경·발발주체 등 왜곡 | trans-title = Distortion of the causes, background, and perpetrators of the Jeju April 3 Incident in elementary school textbooks | language = ko | url=http://www.jejukyeongje.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=27206 |access-date=May 20, 2025}}</ref> and concerns were raised in 2022 that the incident might be removed altogether from the national curriculum under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.<ref name=SrL22>{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Seung-rok |date=November 22, 2022 |script-title=ko:윤석열 정부, '제주4.3' 교과서 삭제하나?...2022 교육과정서 배제 |url=https://www.jejusori.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=409727&ref=blueroofpolitics.com | work = Jeju Sori | access-date=May 20, 2025}}</ref> The Ministry of Education's 2022 Revised Curriculum deleted specific "learning elements" referring to the uprising, prompting public backlash from civic groups, the Jeju Provincial Office of Education, and the Jeju 4.3 Bereaved Families Association.<ref name=SrL22/> Critics argued that the curriculum's focus on "liberal democracy" risked justifying the historical division of the Korean Peninsula while omitting key anti-colonial and unification movements such as the Jeju Uprising.<ref name=SrL22/>

In response to public pressure, the National Education Commission revised the curriculum in late 2022 to include explicit reference to the uprising.<ref name=SrL22/> As of 2023, the Jeju Provincial Office of Education reported that content related to the incident had been included in all seven middle school and all nine high school history textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yoo |first=Cheong-mo |date=September 2, 2024 |title=Jeju uprising included in all middle, high school history textbooks |work=Yonhap News Agency |url=https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20240902005500315 |access-date=May 20, 2025}}</ref> Textbooks began to feature more comprehensive accounts, not only of the April 3, 1948 uprising itself, but also the March 1, 1947 police shooting that preceded it, the military's scorched-earth operations, and subsequent truth and reconciliation efforts.<ref name=MbK24>{{Cite web |last=Kim |first=Min-beom |work=미디어제주 |date=September 2, 2024 |script-title=ko:내년부터 모든 중학교·고등학교 교과서에 제주4.3 실린다 |url=https://www.mediajeju.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=353703 |access-date=May 20, 2025}}</ref> Nevertheless, discrepancies remained. Some publishers inaccurately described victims as "rebel forces" or used incorrect legal terminology, prompting calls for further revisions. Testimonies of sexual and gender-based violence, particularly against women, have received limited attention in public discourse and educational materials. The Jeju education authorities have continued to advocate for accurate, objective, and consistent representation of the Jeju 4.3 Incident in textbooks.<ref name=MbK24/>

===Causes=== {{See also|Division of Korea#US–Soviet Joint Commission}} Some right-wing groups, including the Wallganjosun ({{Korean|hangul=월간조선}}), and Jaehyanggooninhwe ({{Korean|hangul=재향군인회}}) argued that the Jeju uprising was led and instigated by the WPSK.{{Citation needed|date=January 2026}}

A Presbyterian minister, Lee Jong-yoon, said at a church in Seoul that "the Jeju rising was incurred by the leftist forces and they provoked the rebellion to disturb the May 10 general election." The statement was broadcast through the CTS channel.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kwon |first=Na-Kyeong |script-title=ko:강남 대형교회에서 '광주출정가' 울려 퍼져 |url= http://www.vop.co.kr/A00000227793.html |work=Voiceofpeople |date=November 2, 2008 }}</ref>

On November 20, 2010, a chairman of an adjustment committee of past affairs and a former new right, Lee Young-Jo argued that the "Jeju rising was apparent communist-led rebellion."<ref>{{cite web|last=Lee |first=Young-Sub |script-title=ko:제주 광주 격노, 망언한 이영조 사퇴하라 |url=http://www.viewsnnews.com/article?q=69334 |work=views&news|date=November 19, 2010 }}</ref>

===Legality of martial law=== There are controversies about the legality of martial law, which took effect on November 17, 1948. One side believes it was illegal according to the first constitution of South Korea. The other side argues that martial law from the Japanese colonial era still existed and therefore permitted any violence effectuating martial law.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsSc.do?menuId=0&p1=&subMenu=1&searchName=LicLs%2C0&query=4.3#undefined|script-title=ko:국가법령정보센터}}</ref> This part continued before August 15, 1948, and after the formation of the South Korean government.{{Citation needed|date=January 2026}}

===Post-processing=== Although the June, 2000 incident report stated that 14,028 victims were found, it is very likely that the number was higher since there are both unidentified or unidentifiable victims. In addition, about 180 soldiers died in combat, and 140 policemen died in the April 3 incident.{{Citation needed|date=January 2026}}

In 2003, South Korea's National Committee for the Investigation of the Truth concluded that the US Army military government and the Korean military shared responsibility for the incident.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2019/04/01/South-Korea-Jeju-Massacre-victims-seek-reparations-ahead-of-anniversary/6571554122095/|title=South Korea Jeju Massacre victims seek reparations ahead of anniversary|work=UPI|last=Shim|first=Elizabeth|date=April 1, 2019|access-date=May 20, 2019}}</ref> On October 31, 2003, South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun offered an apology to the victims of the Jeju incident. On March 28, 2008, the Korea Institute of Science and Technology opened a chemical aid project in Bonggae-dong, Jeju as part of a joint compensation program for the Jeju April 3 incident.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jeju 4.3 incident|url=http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=1141380&cid=40942&categoryId=33385|website=Naver Dictionary}}</ref>

In January 2019, 18 survivors, who were formally charged with insurrection, were acquitted more than 70 years after their imprisonment. The Jeju District Court overturned military court rulings that imprisoned Jeju Islanders, clearing the names of the 18 surviving plaintiffs and recognizing them as wronged victims of the Jeju April 3 Uprising and Massacre.<ref name="Shim"/><ref name="auto2"/> At the 71st commemoration of Jeju uprising, April 3, 2019, the South Korean police and defense ministry apologized for the first time over the massacres.<ref name="auto"/>

===Calls for US government apology=== At a symposium about the uprising at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. in 2022, participants called on the United States government to apologize for its role in the incident. One participant called on then United States president Joe Biden and South Korea's then president Yoon Suk Yeol to visit the Jeju 4.3 Peace Park.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.jejusori.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=410264 |script-title=ko:미국의 심장에서 '4.3 미군정 책임' 촉구..."바이든, 4.3공원 찾아오길" |work=제주의 소리 |date=11 December 2022 |access-date=23 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.kbs.co.kr/mobile/news/view.do?ncd=5620236 |script-title=ko:미 워싱턴서 "제주 4.3 사건, 미국의 책임" 공론화 |work=KBS News |date=9 December 2022 |access-date=23 April 2023}}</ref>

==In popular media== * ''Jiseul'' is a 2012 South Korean film about Jeju residents during the uprising.<ref name=":4">{{cite web|last=Yun |first=Suh-young |title=Requiem for Jeju's forgotten massacre |url=https://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/culture/2013/03/141_132311.html |work=The Korea Times |access-date=March 20, 2013 |date=March 18, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328043735/http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/culture/2013/03/141_132311.html |archive-date=March 28, 2014 }}</ref> * Zainichi Korean writer Kim Sok-pom wrote a novel titled ''Kazantō'' (''Volcanic Island'') about the event; his work is seen as controversial in South Korea and he has been denied entry to the country twice (in 1980 and 2015).<ref name=Asahi>{{cite web|title=Seoul bans entry to ethnic Korean writer on 1948 massacre |url=https://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201510170053 |website=AJW by The Asahi Shimbun |access-date=October 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151020232612/http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201510170053 |archive-date=October 20, 2015 }}</ref> * "The Southern Province That Doesn't Sleep" ({{lang|ko|잠들지 않는 남도}}, often shortened to {{lang|ko|남도}}) is a popular Korean song with words and music by Ahn Chi Hwan. This song contains the agony of the victims of Jeju uprising. In 2013, the Soreyu choir from Tokyo, Japan sang this song. A choir member of the Soreyu, Saito Gathuki said, "Years ago, I recognized the 4.3 affair through the documentary of NHK. Because I am in a generation before war, I couldn't know about the war and Korea. But now, I get to know the tragedy of war and massacre since I visit [Jeju]."<ref>{{cite news |url = http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/culture/music/581121.html|title = We could learn the tragic history of Jeju by singing the song "Namdo cannot sleep": From peace island to war island |newspaper = The Hankyoreh | last = Heo | first = Hojun |date = April 3, 2013}}</ref> * ''The Island of Sea Women'' by Lisa See is set on Jeju Island, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s, followed by World War II, the Korean War, and its aftermath, including great detail of the Jeju uprising. * ''Impossible Goodbyes'' (English Translation title ''We Do Not Part'') by Han Kang prominently features Jeju Island and the massacre.

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Kim, Seong-nae. "The Work of Memory: Ritual Laments of the Dead and Korea's Cheju Massacre." ''A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion'' (2013): 223–238. {{ISBN?}}

== External links == * [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/20887 Footage of the aftermath of the protests which occurred a year prior to the uprising]

Category:1948 in South Korea Category:1948 protests Category:1949 protests Category:20th-century rebellions Category:Allied occupation of Korea Category:Anti-communist mass killings Category:Anti-communist terrorism in South Korea Category:Civil wars in Korea Category:Cold War rebellions Category:Communism in South Korea Category:Communist rebellions Category:Conflicts in 1948 Category:Conflicts in 1949 Category:Conflicts in 1950 Category:Conflicts in 1951 Category:Conflicts in 1952 Category:Conflicts in 1953 Category:First Republic of Korea Category:History of Jeju Province Category:Insurgencies in Asia Category:Korean conflict Category:Massacres committed by South Korea Category:Massacres in 1948 Category:Massacres in South Korea Category:North Korean refugees Category:Political repression in South Korea Category:Rebellions in Asia Category:Rebellions in South Korea Category:South Korean military scandals Category:South Korean war crimes Category:United States military scandals in South Korea Category:United States war crimes in the Korean War Category:United States war crimes Category:War crimes in South Korea Category:Wars involving South Korea Category:Workers' Party of South Korea Category:Zainichi Korean history