The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) confirmed that approximately 1,700 religious figures nationwide were victimized around the time of the Korean War in 1950.
On the 17th, the TRC announced at its 76th meeting held the previous day that it had made a truth-finding decision regarding the incident in which 104 Christians in the Jeonbuk region were killed by hostile forces such as the People's Army around the Korean War period.
Through this investigation, the TRC identified that 104 Christians were killed over four months starting from July 1950 in the Jeonbuk area. More than half of the victims, 57.7% (60 people), were killed around September 28, when the People's Army was retreating. By church rank, ordinary church members accounted for the majority with 54 people. There were also 23 deacons, 15 elders, and 6 pastors and evangelists each.
Among the victims were Hong Jae-gi, known as the "country's first lawyer," and two members of the Constituent National Assembly, Yoon Seok-gu and Baek Hyung-nam.
The region with the highest number of victims was Gunsan, where 28 religious figures were collectively killed in three underground shelters during the People's Army retreat. In Jeongeup, it was confirmed that partisans burned churches and church members' homes and attacked those escaping the flames, killing about 20 people ranging from children to the elderly.
The TRC explained that the main cause of the mass killings was the hostile forces labeling Christians as an uncooperative group because they were active in right-wing organizations or largely migrated south after liberation.
Additionally, conflicts arose between local people's committees and church members over the use of worship halls, and church members were considered "pro-American forces" due to their close ties with American missionaries, which was also analyzed as a cause of the massacre.
The TRC urged the North Korean regime to apologize and recommended that the government support victim restoration and memorial projects. Furthermore, it decided to conduct an ex officio investigation, emphasizing the great need to accurately understand the causes and nature of the religious figure massacres carried out by hostile forces during the Korean War in May 2022.
The TRC stated, "Starting with this truth-finding, we plan to sequentially announce the investigation results of religious figure massacre incidents divided by religion and region."
Meanwhile, the TRC also decided to investigate the truth regarding incidents in the Gyeongbuk region where 29 residents were victimized by the police and national army for being members of the National Guidance Alliance or special surveillance targets, as well as an incident in Seosan, Chungnam, where 36 civilians were victimized by the police for being family members of suspected collaborators around the Korean War period. It also plans to investigate the truth about an incident in the Hwasun-gun area of Jeonnam where 17 civilians were killed by partisans and other hostile forces.
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