Korea International War Crimes Tribunal, June 23, 2001, New York
Report on US Crimes in Korea 1945-20012. Report from the Democratic People's Republic of
Investigation Committee
Korea on U.S. War Crimes During the Korean War
National Front for Democratic Unification
May 2000Complaint I: June 25-August 1950
Complaint II: August-September 1950
Complaint III: October-December 1950
Pyongyang
Democratic People’s Republic of KoreaJune 25-August 1950
Documents from the U.S. Library of Congress; recently uncovered U.S. military documents; and statements and testimony given by U.S. soldiers, south Korean victims, and eye witnesses during the National Liberation War (“Korean War”) have revealed information on civilian massacres committed by U.S. military forces everywhere they penetrated, including Nogunri in the southern part of Korea, as well as Masan, Changnyong, and Sachun in South Kyungsang Province; and Pyongtaek in Kyunggi Province. The truth has outraged our people as well as people of conscience the world over.
The Investigation Committee of the National Front for Democratic Unification was established at the beginning of the National Liberation War and continues to investigate U.S. war crimes. The Committee hereby releases this Bill of Indictment to make the world aware of a portion of the evidence collected over the last fifty years. This paper is a report on atrocities committed by the U.S. military from June 25 through early August 1950.
I. U.S. Military Massacres of Civilians
The U.S. provoked the Korean War on June 25, 1950. From that day, U.S. forces committed criminal acts, killing large numbers of civilians by indiscriminate bombings and artillery attacks. These include the following:
§ July 2-July 27, Wonsan District, Kangwon Province: U.S. bombers carried out 20 incidences of indiscriminate bombing and machine-gunning, killing 1,647 civilians and fatally wounding an additional 2,367. Among those killed were 739 women and 325 children. The bombing of a service-area building on July 3 destroyed the two-storey building and killed 170 model workers and dozens of other employees living there.
§ July 2-August 3, Hamheung and Heungnam Districts, South Hamkyung Province: Indiscriminate bombings and machine-gunning of residential areas took place on 8 occasions. 200 U.S. bombers and fighters killed 297 civilian residents and wounded 446.
§ July 3, Pyongyang: 60 U.S. bombers flew over Pyongyang, bombing indiscriminately and killing 63 residents, including 14 workers on the construction site of Pyongyang Station. At the time of the bombardment, the workers were studying and conversing during their lunch hour.
§ July 2, Jangyun County, South Hwanghae Province: Flying over Jangyun Station, U.S. military personnel killed 17 people, including one girl and 10 women, by firing machine guns at a train that had arrived at the station.
§ July 3, Bongsan County, North Hwanghae Province: Four U.S. warplanes fired machine guns at farmers working in the fields, killing 10 farmers and wounding eight.
§ July 3-8, Nampo: Dozens of U.S. bombers and fighters bombed and fired machine guns in a residential area of Nampo, killing approximately 400 people.
§ July 4, Pyongyang: Flying on repeated occasions around the streets near the Pyongyang City People’s Committee building and the office building of the Ministry of Commerce, 36 U.S. planes machine-gunned and killed some 30 people. The same day, U.S. bombers dropped bombs killing 10 people who were having lunch in a noodle shop behind Moranbong. The bombers also fired machine guns in another residential area, killing 15 civilians and wounding 35.
§ July 4, Moonae-ri near Nampo: Six U.S. planes flew over an agricultural area and fired four times at farmers working in the fields, eventually killing 15 farmers, including a woman nursing her baby on a levee. They then fired five times at a passenger ship departing from Nampo Port for South Hwanghae Province, killing 33 passengers.
§ July 4, Byoksung County, South Hwanghae Province: Four U.S. bombers dropped 8 bombs on a farming village, killing nine farmers working in the fields.
§ July 4, Ryunchun County, Kwangwon Province: U.S. bombers killed 15 civilians.
§ July 5, Yangak-ri near Pyongyang: U.S. bombers bombarded an agricultural area, killing 28 men and women.
§ July 5, Hamheung, South Hamkyung Province: 12 U.S. bombers bombarded a residential area in the city, killing 159 people. They also fired machine guns at women washing clothes and children swimming, killing 12 and wounding 13.
§ July 5, Guisung Salt Factory: One U.S. bomber dropped 16 bombs on the factory, killing 11 residents.
§ July 5, Sokcho, Kangwon Province: Four U.S. warships appeared in the water and killed three farmers on the coast with approximately 30 rounds of naval bombardment.
§ July 8, Seoheung County, North Hwanghae Province: Four U.S. fighters dropped 12 bombs on farmers working in the fields, killing two and wounding two
§ July 9-19, Wonsan District, Kangwon Province: U.S. planes flew over the area nine times and killed approximately 200 people by firing indiscriminately at civilians attempting to seek refuge in the mountains.
§ July 14 and July 21, Tongchun County, Kangwon Province: Four U.S. bombers dropped 116 bombs and incendiary devices over two days, killing 44 farmers. In particular, on July 14 they dropped 12 bombs that killed 24 people, including 14 women on their way home from a farmers’ union meeting.
§ July 9, Yonggwang, South Hamkyung Province: Flying over Yonggwang Station, 28 U.S. bombers dropped bombs and fired machine guns, killing four station employees.
§ July 9, Ragwon, South Hamkyung Province: 16 U.S. fighters killed 12 fishermen and destroyed scores of fishing ships by bombing and firing at the Ragwon Port.
§ July 20, Pyongyang: Six U.S. bombers dropped some 70 bombs on a residential neighborhood, killing 65 civilians, and continued to bomb the surrounding rural area, killing 28 residents, including 10 women and 12 children.
§ July 21, Pyongyang: Indiscriminate bombing of residential areas left 31 people dead and 75 wounded.
§ July 22, Ranam District, North Hamkyung Province: U.S. bombing of residential districts killed 149 people, of whom 95 were men, 39 women, and 15 children; and wounded 177 more.
§ July 23, Pyongyang: A barrage of 162 bombs dropped by dozens of U.S. bombers in residential areas killed 39 people.
§ July 23, Sariwon, North Hwanghae Province, and Cholwon, Kangwon Province: U.S. bombers indiscriminately bombed residential areas, killing 107 residents. They killed 54 more people by firing machine guns, even at crowds fleeing to the mountains. Among them were 35 women and five children.
§ July 28 and August 3, Pyongyang and the districts of South Hamkyung Province: U.S. warplanes indiscriminately bombed the areas, killing 47 civilians.
II. Indiscriminate Bombing and Destruction of Urban and Rural Residential Areas
The U.S. military destroyed and burned residential areas and properties with bombs and incendiary devices in both urban and rural residential areas unrelated to military facilities.
§ July 2-27, 1950, Wonsan, Kangwon Province: Flying 12 times to Wonsan, 128 U.S. bombers and fighters dropped 712 bombs, each weighing 500 kg-1 metric ton, on residential areas, completely destroying or burning 4,028 houses.
§ July 3-August 3, Heungnam District, South Hamkyung Province: Approximately 200 U.S. warplanes conducted eight sorties, bombarding the area with approximately 2,000 bombs, destroying 1,811 homes.
§ July 3, 4, 6, and 8, Nampo: Taking advantage of the raining weather, scores of U.S. bombers and fighters flew to Nampo and bombed the city indiscriminately, destroying or burning 558 residences. The bombing left the city in blazes and flames for over a week.
§ July 3, Pyongyang: Indiscriminate U.S. bombing destroyed 45 residences.
§ July 4, Ryunchun County, Kwangwon Province: U.S. bombing destroyed 23 houses.
§ July 5, Hamheung, South Hamkyung Province: 12 U.S. B-29 bombers indiscriminately bombed the city and destroyed 80 residential homes.
§ July 5, Yangak-ri, near Pyongyang: U.S. bombers dropped approximately 70 bombs, each weighing 100-500 kg, over this rural area near Pyongyang, completely destroying 100 residences.
§ July 20, Pyongyang: Flying over the city, six U.S. bombers dropped 70 bombs on downtown residential areas and destroyed 83 residences. An additional 11 bombs were dropped on the surrounding rural villages of Misan-ri and Chungam-ri in West County, completely destroying 11 farmhouses, in addition to damaging crops and some 30 farmhouses.
§ July 21, Pyongyang area: Approximately 10 U.S. bombers dropped 28 bombs, each weighing 500kg–1 ton, destroying 181 residences.
§ July 22, Yangak-ri, near Pyongyang: the rural area of Yangak-ri, which had already been devastated by numerous bombings, was turned to complete ruin by 27 large bombs.
§ July 23, Pyongyang: Again under cover of rain, dozens of U.S. bombers indiscriminately raided downtown residential areas for over six hours, completely destroying 165 residences.
§ July 23, Sariwon, North Hwanghae Province: two U.S. warplanes bombarded the city of Sariwon with about 30 bombs and destroyed about 40 residences.
§ July 23, Cholwon, Kangwon Province: A barrage of 24 bombs on residential areas of the city destroyed 18 worker residences.
§ July 28, Pyongyang: Seven U.S. warplanes bombarded downtown residential areas of Pyongyang with large bombs, destroying 229 houses and burning stores.
§ August 3, Pyongyang: 53 U.S. planes dropped 582 bombs, completely destroying 130 residences.
III. Destruction of Cultural Institutions and Industrial Facilities
U.S. military bombers and fighters committed the crime of destroying or burning numerous cultural facilities and peaceful facilities such as schools, hospitals, and theaters through indiscriminate bombardment.
§ June 29-July 20, Pyongyang: Five U.S. bombing raids over two days destroyed the Pyongyang Railroad Company, the Pyongyang Textile Mill, an oxygen plant, a rayon plant, a beer mill, and Oysung Department Store, among others; Pyongyang Kocsan Plant Hospital and the Public Transportation Hospital; and numerous schools, including a technical university.
§ July 6-8, Nampo: U.S. bombers completely burned down the Nampo People’s Hospital, a theater, the Nampo People’s School IV, the Nampo Shipyard, and other facilities.
§ July 7-13, Wonsan District, Kangwon Province: Bombs and machine-gunning from U.S. bombers and fighters destroyed numerous national agencies, government buildings, social organizations, and cultural institutions, and completely destroyed a smokeless coal mill, the Moonchun Zinc Mill, a leather plant, and Wonsan Shipyard.
§ July 13-30, Pyongyang: With their bombs and incendiaries, U.S. warplanes either destroyed or burned down the Pyongyang Soy & Sesame Oil Mill, a fabric plant, the Pyongyang Sock Factory I, the Pyongyang Electric Car Factory, and the Ryongsung Machinery Factory.
§ July 30-August 3, Heungnam, South Hamkyung Province: Important factories in Heungnam such as the Heungnam Pharmaceutical Factory, a carbide plant, and the Heungnam Refinery were largely destroyed over the course of three bombardments of 1,500 bombs dropped by 115 U.S. bombers during this period. The Heungnam Fertilizer Plant in particular was completely destroyed. The bombers also destroyed cultural institutions, government buildings, and other public institutions including numerous hospitals, the Heungnam Library, and schools, including Heungnam Chemistry College.
Between June 25 and early August 1950, during the early period of the National Liberation War (the “Korean War”), the U.S. military committed offenses against humankind by killing 10,730 civilians, either destroying or burning 14,119 residences, and turning approximately 100 cultural facilities and peaceful industrial facilities to ashes. The brutal atrocities and indiscriminate destruction committed by the U.S. during the National Liberation War are crimes against humanity.
The U.S. has demonstrated through these acts that it is the enemy of our people. We stake the integrity of our nation on settling by any necessary means the criminal atrocities the U.S. has committed during the National Liberation War.
February 20, Juche 89 (2000)
Investigation Committee
National Front for Democratic Unification
Pyongyang, D.P.R.K.
August-September 1950
The U.S. provoked the Korean War on June 25, 1950. From that day, U.S. forces violated international law and the regulations of war, committing such atrocities as the indiscriminate murder of men and women and the brutal destruction of the entire north of the Republic with their bombs, machine guns, and naval bombardments.
Following upon the publication of its first Bill of Indictment, the Investigation Committee of the National Front for Democratic Unification now presents its second Bill of Indictment on U.S. war crimes committed from early August through mid-September in 1950 in the northern part of the Republic.
U.S. Military Massacres of Civilians
The U.S. military conducted civilian massacres with bombs, machine guns, and artillery attacks wherever people lived in the northern part of the Republic.
§ Early August 1950, Heungnam, South Hamkyung Province: U.S. fighter-bombers dropped 28 bombs targeting the Heungnam Central Hospital. The attack killed 18 physicians and nurses, including Dr. Choi Woo Hyung, and 117 patients, including Han Jae Joon in delivery; and injuring another 106 hospital patients. U.S. fighters also bombed and machine-gunned Heungnam Nursery, where children aged six months to four years old were under care. The attack completely destroyed the nursery, killing 54 children, including Kim Choon Hee (1 year old), Oh Soon Dol (two years old), and a teacher who died embracing three children.
§ August 7, Pyongyang: 33 U.S. fighter-bomber B-29s invaded the city. Their indiscriminate bombing killed 72 civilians.
§ August 7, Tanchon, South Hamkyung Province: six U.S. battle cruisers in the ocean off the coast of Tanchon killed 68 civilians with artillery fire.
§ August 7, Keumchun County, North Hwanghae Province: The U.S. Air Force fired 14 bombs at farmers working in the fields. The bombs killed six people, including three women and two children, and injured seven.
§ August 7, Tanchon County, South Hamkyung Province: A U.S. naval ship fired 80 bombs at three Tanchon County villages: Ohbong, Doo-uhtae, and Yongam. Following the bombing, four fighter-jets machine-gunned civilians fleeing into a forest, killing nine and injuring 12.
§ August 9, Hamheung, South Hamkyung Province: Nine U.S. bombers’ indiscriminate bombardment of a residential area of the city killed 169 civilians, including 78 women and children.
§ August 9, Wonsan, Kangwon Province: Nine U.S. fighter-bombers attacked, machine-gunning and dropping 77 bombs on civilians restoring the streets and houses destroyed by previous bombardments. The attack killed 42 civilians.
§ August 9, Chungju County, North Pyongan Province: U.S. fighter jets fired nine bombs at rural women gathering wild herbs in Moonrae Village, Ko-an Town, killing three women and setting fire to 200 acres of land.
§ August 9-10, Kowon, South Hamkyung Province: Bombings targeting a rural area killed 38 farmers.
§ Pyongyang: The U.S. dropped 40 bombs on a synthetic thread factory and the surrounding residential area, killing 77 workers and residents and injuring another 60.
§ August 9, Wonsan, Kangwon Province: 120 bombs were dropped on a factory workers’ residential area, killing 21 workers and their families.
§ August 9, Ahndo, Kangwon Province: Nine farmers were killed and four seriously injured, including seven women, by indiscriminate bombing and machine-gunning.
§ August 11-12, Koosung County, North Pyongan Province: Nine U.S. fighter jets bombed farmlands and fired machine guns, massacring 49 farmers working in the fields.
§ August 13, Siljung, South Pyongan Province: 11 U.S. planes bombed farmlands and fired machine guns, killing 10 farmers.
§ August 13, Chori and Dongjin, Kangso County, South Pyongan Province: 11 farmers were killed by U.S. forces.
§ August 13, Ryonggang County, South Pyongan Province: 18 U.S. fighters bombed and machine-gunned the area, killing eight farmers and injuring 13.
§ Nampo: The U.S. military killed 44 passengers and injured eight by bombing and sinking a passenger ship operating between Nampo City and Hwanghae Province. Five of the U.S. invaders’ fighters fired machine guns at five ox-carts on a street, brutally killing three farmers and an elderly woman riding on one of them, and injured two others.
§ Keumchun County, North Hwanghae Province: Nine airplanes dropped firebombs and three bombs on houses and buildings, destroying them and setting them afire. They then killed with machine guns 30 civilians attempting to put out the fire.
§ Jangyun County and Ryongkeum Port, South Hwanghae Province: U.S. planes killed 15 civilians, including residents on their way to a farmers’ market, women washing clothes by the river, and toddlers, and destroyed many fishing boats.
§ August 16, West Sea coast, North Pyongan Province: Several U.S. fighters flew to a fishing village on the coast. Their indiscriminate bombing and machine-gunning killed 13 fishers, including five women.
§ August 16, Shimdae, North Pyongan Province: Two U.S. warplanes bombarded eight fishing boats leaving to fish, killing three fishermen and destroying three boats.
§ August 17, Moonchun County, Kwangwon Province: U.S. fighter jets attacked farming areas. The attack killed 14 farmers and two children and seriously injured seven people.
§ August 17, Tonghun and Anbyun Districts, Kangwon Province: U.S. warplanes killed 32 and injured 12 by attacking farming areas with bombs and machine guns.
§ August 17, Kowon County, South Hamkyung Province: 10 fighter-bombers attacked farming areas. The attack killed 62 and seriously injured 41 farmers.
§ August 17, Shinchang, South Hamkyung Province: Three low-flying planes gunned down two fishing boats and killed nine fishermen off the coast of Shinchang in Pukchong County.
§ Jubok, South Hamkyung Province: Nine U.S. planes attacked a passenger train passing through Jangheung Station, killing five passengers and injuring six.
§ Poduk Village, Jungpyung County: Three fighter-bombers dropped 15 bombs and fired machine guns at fishing boats and a fishing town on the waterfront, killing 10 fishermen and destroying four boats.
§ Jungpyung County, South Hamkyung Province: U.S. planes fired machine guns at a passenger train on its way to Hamheung, near Moonbong Station. The shooting killed 13 passengers and injured 16. 11 fighters bombarded farming areas in the environs of Kowon in Hamkyung Province with about 100 bombs, killing 41 farmers, and injuring 56 more, as well as destroying 114,940 acres of land.
§ August 19, Chungjin City: U.S. fighter-bombers turned 90 percent of the city to ruin with their targeted bombardment, killing 1,034 civilians, including 393 women, and injuring 2,347.
§ August 19, Chulsan County, North Pyongan Province and Heungnam District in South Hamkyung Province: U.S. fighter jets indiscriminately attacked with bombs and machine guns, killing 16 fishermen and 35 factory workers.
§ August 20-22, Hwanghae Province: U.S. warplanes bombed and machine-gunned both rural and agricultural areas, killing 41 civilians and injuring 79.
§ August 20-22, South Pyongan Province: U.S. bombers flew to Daedong, Soonchun, Joongwha, Kangso, Ryongkang, Sungchun and Kangdong, firing numerous bombs, rockets, and machine guns, killing 73 residents and injuring 104, including farmers working in the fields and gathering in a local market.
§ August 23, Keumchun County, Hwanghae Province: Fighters of the U.S. invaders flew over a village where their machine guns killed five children playing in the streets.
§ August 24, Hamheung and Heungnam Districts, South Hamkyung Province: Fighter-bombers attacked a residential area and a nursery of the Heungnam Refinery. The attack killed 203 civilians and injured 60.
§ Taedong and Joongwha Counties, South Pyongan Province: U.S. fighter jets killed 12 farmers, including seven women, and seriously injured nine farmers.
§ Hwanghae Province: U.S. warplanes fired at women working on farms, pregnant women, and students fishing in a river, killing six people and destroying 800 acres of farmland.
§ August 26, Heungsang Village, Jooji Town, Hamjoo County, South Hamkyung Province: Two U.S. fighter jets committed the atrocity of firing machine guns at two children with their cows, killing the children and three cows.
§ August 27, Songnim City, North Hwanghae Province: U.S. fighter bombers killed about one hundred civilians.
§ August 27, South Hamkyung Province: Indiscriminate U.S. bombing and shooting killed 24 and injured 27.
§ August 27, 30, and 31, Nampo: Indiscriminate bombing destroyed a great part of the city and killed 304 residents. On August 31, U.S. military personnel killed with bombs and machine guns residents recovering their ruined houses and streets. On a single day they either killed or injured 197 civilians.
§ August 31, South Hamkyung Province: Low-flying U.S. fighters killed farmers and passers-by: three in Bookchung District, four in Tanchon District, five in Hongwon District, five in Youngheung District, and four in Hamjoo District.
§ September 4-5, Pyongan Province and Pyongyang: U.S. military personnel bombed and machine-gunned throughout the region, killing 323 civilians and injuring 12.
The massive civilian massacres committed by U.S. military forces in the early period of the Korean War rank among the most brutal wartime atrocities in history.
Indiscriminate Bombing and Destruction of Urban and Rural Residential Areas
The U.S. Air Force flew over major cities without air defence and turned them into ruins by attacking them, heedless of the target. With bombs, machine guns, and artillery attacks, they indiscriminately bombarded farming and fishing villages, anywhere where there were residential homes.
§ August 7, Pyongyang: 33 B-29 fighter jets attacked and bombarded the city with approximately 450 bombs, turning 428 residences to ashes.
§ August 9, Hamheung and Wonsan, South Hamkyung Province: U.S. fighter-bombers destroyed 253 houses in Hamheung and 26 in Wonsan with bombs and machine guns.
§ August 10, Wonsan, South Hamkyung Province: U.S. fighter-bombers destroyed Worker’s Residence No. 67.
§ August 10, Taedong County, South Pyongan Province: Indiscriminate bombing destroyed 20 farmhouses and damaged large farming areas and orchards.
§ August 11 and 12, Pyongkang County, Kangwon Province; Hamheung District, South Hamkyung Province; and Koosung County, North Pyongan Province: U.S. bombers destroyed 67 residential homes in Pyungkang County, 56 houses in Hamheung District, and 13 residences in Koosung County. The attack also devastated much farmland.
§ August 13, various regions: Indiscriminate bombing and artillery attacks by U.S. fighter jets and warships either destroyed or set fire to many houses: 11 houses in Taedong County, South Pyongan Province; 24 in Pyongkang County, Kangwon Province; 88 in districts of South Hamkyung Province; and 16 in Rongchun County, also in Kangwon Province.
§ August 17 and 19, South Hamkyung Province: A warplane that destroyed two dormitory buildings and 264 residences in Hamheung and Heungnam Districts also bombed Chungjin, destroying 2,626 houses.
§ August 20, various regions: The U.S. Air Force destroyed and set fire to many residential homes with firebombs, resulting in the complete destruction of 39 houses in Jaeryung County and 34 in Jangyung County in South Hwanghae Province; 30 houses in North Pyongan Province; 34 in Heungnam, South Hamkyung Province; and 45 in Haejoo, South Hwanghae Province.
§ August 21-26, various regions: U.S. fighter-bombers attacked many regions in the northern parts of the Republic: 45 houses in Sungjin District, North Hamkyung Province; 36 in Pyongyang; 125 in Hamjoo District, 354 in Hamheung District, and 183 in Heungnam, all in South Hamkyung Province; and 77 in Tongchun County, Kangwon Province.
§ August 27-September 5, various regions: Fighter-bombers turned hundreds of residential homes to ashes and devastated farmlands in the northern part of the Republic with bombs and artillery. The damage was as follows: 481 houses in Nampo, 141 in Chungjin, 730 in Pyongyang, 17 in South Hamkyung Province, 114 in North Pyongan Province, and 31 in South Pyongan Province.
Many barbaric atrocities have been recorded in the history of humanity. The U.S. destruction of civilian homes and farmlands, unrelated to military facilities, stands out among these.
Destruction of Cultural Institutions and Industrial Facilities
The U.S. military forces destroyed numerous important cultural and industrial facilities that were unrelated to any military operation.
§ August 7, Pyongyang: U.S. fighters attacked peaceful residential areas in the city and destroyed many cultural institutions and national establishments. The bombing that day completely destroyed numerous national facilities such as the the Agriculture and Forestry Administration building, the administrative office building for the Internal Affairs of South Pyongyang, the Pyongyang Southern District Inmin (“People’s”) Committee Building, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern District, a railway post office, an industrial university, two newspaper buildings, the National Education Library Publication Company, the Central Hospital of Transportation, and the Central Tuberculosis Clinic, besides many other schools and hospitals.
§ August 9, various regions: U.S. planes attacked factories in the area of Cholwon, Kangwon Province, with rockets and machine guns, completely destroying a private silk mill and a private cooperative firm. The attack also damaged Masun Reservoir in Cholwon County, and destroyed Kowon Railway Hospital in Kowon County, South Hamkyung Province.
§ August 10-20, various regions: U.S. fighter-bombers destroyed many factories important to our economy such as the Pyongyang Synthetic Silk Mill, the Pyongyang Noodle Factory, the Haejoo Cement Factory, the Haejoo Paper Mill, the Wonsan Soy Sauce Factory, the Kyungsung Textile Mill, Kyungsung Ceramics, the Sungjin Steel Mill, the Chungjin Textile Mill, Chungjin Pharmaceutical, and the South Pyongan Irrigation Site. They also destroyed party offices, social organizations, civic buildings, and schools, including the Inmin School in Kogkoo, Riwon County, South Hamkyung Province; Aurang Middle-High School in Kyungsung County, North Hamkyung Province; and Chungjin Industrial School.
§ August 20-September 4, various regions: U.S. fighters bombed and completely destroyed factories and mills including the Hwanghae Steel Mill, the Pyongyang Jungchang Shoe Factory, the Pyongyang Cigarette Factory, the Sungchun Mine, the Sariwon Textile Mill, the Nampo Cooking Oil Factory, and the Shinchun Cigarette Factory. Numerous schools and hospitals were indiscriminately bombed and destroyed.
§ Early August- September 1950, various regions: U.S. military forces attacked rural areas in the northern part of the Republic and devastated farmlands ripe with grain for the fall harvest. The barbaric attacks destroyed 401,498 acres of farmland in South Hamkyung Province and 34,182 acres of farmland in South Pyongan Province.
The U.S. invaders killed 3,695 civilians, destroyed or set fire to 7,236 residential homes, and turned 122 cultural institutions and peaceful industrial facilities to ashes in the northern part of the Republic during the period from early August through mid-September 1950 alone.
Our people will never forget the atrocities of the U.S. imperialists, who set afire and destroyed the invaluable nests of our lives and stained our land with blood for generations to come, and we shall be compensated for our suffering many thousand-fold.
March 26, Juche 89 (2000)
Investigation Committee
National Front for Democratic Unification
Pyongyang, D.P.R.K.
October-December 1950
The inhuman massacre of civilians committed by U.S. forces during the National Liberation War (“Korean War”), while they temporarily occupied the northern part of the Republic, was unprecedented in its brutality.
The Investigation Committee of the National Front for Democratic Unification hereby releases its Bill of Indictment on the unforgivable massacres and subversive activities that the U.S. committed from mid-October through late-December 1950, during its temporary occupation of the northern part of the Republic of Korea.
I. U.S. Military Massacres of Civilians
The distinctive feature of crimes carried out in the northern part of the Republic by the U.S. is the mass massacre of innocent civilians, including women and children, and the cruel means of their slaughter.
Shinchon
§ The civilian massacre by the U.S. military in Shinchon was particularly extreme in its cruelty. The U.S. set living fire people on fire; buried them alive; cut their ears and noses off; pulled out their eyeballs; skinned them alive; dragged them by their noses; burned their hair, breasts and sexual organs with heated iron; destroyed their five major organs with axes, picks, and shovels; tore their legs and arms apart; sawed through their bodies; drove nails through their heads and backs with their bodies hanging upside down on a tree; and let dogs tear them to pieces. The cruelty of such deeds is simply unimaginable. U.S. forces slaughtered 1,550 civilians in the Shinchon region over the course of three days beginning on October 17, 1950. During their temporary occupation of the region, they mercilessly massacred a total of 35,383 civilians, amounting to one fourth of the regional population.
§ In Mankang Village in Kungheung Town, 87% of the civilians were massacred, and in Woobong-ri in Onchun Town, 70% were massacred. What is more, in Yangjang-ri in Shinchon, the entire male population was tragically slaughtered.
§ On October 18, the U.S. military arrested Mr. Lee Yong Jin, the former chairman of the People’s Committee of Hwanghae Province. They stuck hundreds of large needles into his body, scraped out his eyes, and cut off his ears and nose before they finally hanged him on a telegraph pole.
§ In Wolsan Village in Chori Town, Shinchon County, the U.S. military arrested a man whose wife’s name was reported to be Woo Maljae, for being a communist supporter. They ran an iron wire through his nose and ears and hammered a certificate he had been awarded for being an exemplary farmer to his forehead with a nail. They captured his daughter-in-law and cut off her breasts, drove a stake into her groin, and burned her to death. They then axed her children to death.
§ The U.S. military went on to arrest dozens of farmers with good harvest records. They seared their bodies with hot irons and metal skewers, tore out their eyeballs, struck them with picks and spades, and drove stakes into their stomachs and groins before burying them barely alive.
§ In Jinwoo Village in Onchun Town, the U.S. military hanged a member of the Labor Party upside down on a ladder and burned him. They also arrested the chairman of the Ryongmunmyun Party, hanged him on a tree and skinned him before burning him.
§ On October 21, the U.S. military tied patriotic residents in tens and twenties together with rocks and sandbags, and drowned them alive at the southern reservoir. They drowned 4,093 people in this manner through the end of November.
§ In Sansoo Village in Onchun Town, they arrested the parents of a political cell chairman and dragged them about with their palms pierced with a wire, before ten people beat them to death.
§ In Walsung Village in Karyun Town, they murdered the principal of a public school by sawing his head off, while dozens of the villagers were forced to watch
§ In Moonhwa Town, they gathered roughly 70 children aged five or less, and slaughtered them by using their bodies as balls, throwing them over a steep cliff.
Such brutal massacres by the U.S. military were carried out not only in and around Shinchon, but also in other regions of the northern part of the Republic.
The U.S. military did not simply massacre innocent civilians. They slaughtered them using every known feudal method: they murdered them, burned them alive, and buried them alive, laying on the worst pain imaginable both mentally and physically.
§ On November 7, the U.S. military entered Haeju City and shot dead 500 civilians on Mount Sudo in Yongdang Town, and 600 in the valley of Hau Hill, in Kumsan, Byuksung Town.
§ On November 20, they took four exemplary farmers to the mountains and shot them dead in Sujungdae Village, Erang County.
§ On November 27, they arrested a house wife, dragged her around for eight miles before shooting her in Mugae Village, Erang Town.
§ On December 5 in Sariwon, they took 950 patriotic civilians to Mount Mira and swept them with machine-gun fire.
§ When the U.S. military entered Pyongyang, they arrested 4,000 civilians and threw them into Pyongyang Prison. 2,000 of them were shot dead in the yard, after which their bodies were swept into 21 dugouts, three wells, and nearby reservoirs.
§ On December 2 at 4 PM in Jungsuh, Kaechun County, the U.S. military killed by machine-gun fire 35 patriotic civilians who had been locked up.
§ They also killed 900 men in Chosan County, 80 in Songjon pine grove in Riwon County, and 60 in Jinheung Village, Kumya County, among hundreds more.
§ The U.S. military massacred dozens of civilians by throwing hand grenades in places they were living temporarily.
§ On December 7, Harrison, one of U.S. commanders around Shinchon, came into a gunpowder magazine in Wonam Village, Shinchon County. Upon seeing children together with their mothers, he said ‘Don’t they look happy together. Lock them up separately and let them get worried sick about their loved ones until they die’. Once the U.S. military had locked people up separately on Harrison’s order, they tortured and burned them before blasting the magazines by throwing hundreds of hand grenades. In two magazines, they killed 910 people in total, including 400 mothers and 102 children.
The U.S. military continued to massacre civilians in every city in which they set foot, including Kumsung Village in Moonchun County and Samjung Village in Hwangjoo County.
§ On December 5, they locked up 64 workers in Nampo in a dugout; 20 mine workers in Sariwon in a prison cell; 10 people in Taepyung Village in Shinkye County; and 70 people in Kujung Village in Shunchun County, Labor Party members and their families in a house; 400 in Choohwa Village in Jangyun County; 73 in Ryusang Village in Soonchun County in a natural cave; and dozens more in Eunyul County in a mine, killing them all by hand grenades.
§ Furthermore, the U.S. military murdered hundreds more of our civilians by using them as targets for grenade-throwing practice.
§ In Hwangjoo County, the U.S. military designated one area as a hand-grenade field and killed 500 civilians. In Joopo Village in Pyongsan County, and in Jinchun Village in Rinsan County, they murdered several children and the family of a chairman of a cell committee by using them as targets for hand-grenade throwing practice.
When they got bored, they claimed that killing with lethal weapons was no fun. They then continued their massacres by burying alive, burning, drowning, stabbing and beating people to death. They even used planes and cannon balls to kill civilians. The U.S. military wherever they set foot buried dozens of civilians alive in dugouts, cellars, mines, and wells.
§ In Yunan, Shinchon, and Tanchon, the U.S. military buried 1,670 civilians alive, including children. And in a cellar near Pyongyang station, they imprisoned 52 civilians, then buried them alive.
§ On October 18 in Hamheung, the U.S. military buried the vice-chairperson of a women’s union alive after cutting out her breasts with a knife. They also buried another woman alive after sticking a tree root into her groin, and another after cutting off her ears and stabbing her in the stomach with a spear.
§ On November 20 in Hwemun Village in Erang County, the U.S. military arrested the chairperson of a women’s union and cut off her breasts, legs, and arms, then gouged out her eyes, before stabbing her to death.
§ On December 2 they arrested the mother of a cell committee chairperson and cut off her breasts, stabbed her, and heung her together with her two-year-old grandson.
§ On December 12, the U.S. military buried 41 innocent civilians alive, including 10 patriots, two women who were both nine months pregnant, as well as children.
§ In the Rakyun Mines in Hwanghae Province, the U.S. military tied villagers up in groups of 10 to 12 and pushed them into a 800m-deep vertical pit. In mines including Eunyul Mine, they buried alive 2,000 men who had been tied together in tens.
§ The U.S. military further buried alive hundreds and thousands of civilians in valleys and wells wherever they set foot, including in Seonchon, Shinkye, Jaeryung, Rinsan, South Hamkyung Province, and Kangwon Province. They even buried innocent civilians with their heads sticking out, forcing them suffer to their final minutes.
§ At 6 PM on October 19 in Kyungjee Village in Shinchon County, the U.S. military buried a woman alive with her head protruding, because her father was an exemplary farmer and a member of the Labor Party.
§ In Kangkyo Village in Jaeryung County, they buried members of the Labor Party and their families alive and facing each other, making them watch their loved ones die in extreme pain.
Such unimaginable brutality was carried out in every city and village in which the U.S. military set foot, including Pyongyang; Samhun Village, Hwangjoo County; and Hongbo Village, Hamjoo County.
The U.S. military tortured thousands of innocent civilians by means so cruel that they would make even tyrants of the Middle Ages cringe.
§ The U.S. military burned alive 100 men in Soosan Village in Kangso County; 42 in Choonghang Village in Pyongwon County; 40 in Okya Village in Jungjoo County; 300 in Bongmyung Village in Hamjoo County; and 80 in Raengjung Village in Bongsan County.
§ In Suhwon Village, Nambu, Shinchon County, the U.S. military hanged a patriotic family of six upside down from a tree and burned them alive.
§ They also hanged a chairman of the Ryongmunmyun Party and skinned him before burning him.
§ In a village in Joonam in Erang County, they arrested three men, exemplary members of the Party, and scorched their faces and bodies until they were unrecognizable.
§ In Ryongam Village in Ranam city, they tied up the head of the women’s league and dragged her about until her body became unrecognizable. They then cut off her and her young son’s heads and stabbed their bodies, before finally burning them.
§ In Kim Chaek City, they dragged 28 patriotic civilians to a mountain and burned them.
§ In Jubuk subcounty in Hamjoo County, they burned alive two students aged 15 and 16 for being members of a Red (“communist”) family.
§ In late October in Shinchon County, the U.S. military locked up 300 men in a dugout and set a fire within, making them die of suffocation.
§ In Yoduk in South Hamkyung Province, they locked up dozens of civilians in a natural cave in Wolkwangnyung. They then set a fire and blocked the entrance, suffocating them to death.
The brutal massacres of the U.S. military do not end here. They also drowned alive and stabbed to death dozens of civilians.
§ In Jaeryung County, the U.S. military tied up 100 men and drowned them in Jaeryung River, pushing them off Suhho bridge.
§ In Haeju, they dragged 180 men to Haeju Harbor, tied them up with a thin wire and buried them at sea.
§ They drowned 300 men in Paechon River in Kojan Village in Jaeryung County, and another 500 in Nam River near Rakyun Mine field.
As a result of the brutal mass drownings the U.S. military carried out in the seas and rivers of Korea, this once-beautiful and -peaceful land of ours became overspread with the bodies of our own people, who died bearing unimaginable bitter resentment against the U.S. military.
In the areas they temporarily occupied, the U.S. military made use of everyday tools, including knives, bats, spears, stones, sticks, clubs, flails, and pickaxes, weapons that have been used for hunting since the dawn of human civilization, to kill hundreds of innocent and patriotic people.
§ In Haesoo Village, Suhbong Subcounty, Pyongsan County, the U.S. military arrested a cell chairperson and teachers, along with dozens of other members of the Labor Party and gouged out their eyes.
§ In Ru Village in Eunyul County, they murdered a member of the Labor Party by gouging out his eyes with a spear.
§ In Yunam Village in Eunyul County, they even murdered two young children by thrusting spears into their eyes.
§ In Soosan Village in Kangseo County, they gouged out the eyes of a man with a piece of broken glass, and arrested the chairman of the farmers’ league and cut off his nose.
§ In Nampo, they crushed a farmer’s nose with a metal object.
§ In Seokdang Village, Pukpu Subcounty, Shinchon County, they killed a husband and wife after shaving off their noses.
§ In Suhkye Village, Haeju County, the U.S. military hanged four patriots in a room and beat them to death with iron rods and sticks.
§ In Eungbong, Cheungnyong Subbounty, Pakchun County, and in Jangheung Village in Wonsan city, they hanged and beat to death a member of the Labor Party and an 82-year-old man, their hands tied behind their backs and their mouths gagged.
§ In Kamjuk Village, Jangnyun Subcounty, Eunyul County, the U.S. military arrested the chairman of the People’s Committee, pierced his nose with a wire, and tied his hands and feet with a wire before beating him to death.
§ In Okdong Village, Pyongkang County, they tied a woman who was eight months pregnant to a tree and beat her in the stomach until she choked to death on her own blood.
§ The U.S. military arrested the cell chairmen in Suksan Village, Jungju County, and Junam Subcounty, Erang County, and a school teacher in Shinrae Village in Sooan County, and beat them to death with sticks and rocks.
§ In Junam Subcounty, Erang County, they strangled the headmaster of Nampyong People’s School with a rock and in Meehyun Village, Anbyun County, Kangwon Province, they murdered the child of the chair of a women’s league by crushing the child’s head with a rock.
The U.S. military murdered hundreds of civilians wherever they set foot, by beheading, stabbing, and beating them.
§ On October 23, the U.S. military arrested 300 Labor Party members and their families and chopped them up to pieces in Eunyul Mine.
§ In Dongkang coastal area near Haeju, they beheaded 300 innocent civilians with Japanese swords.
§ In Shinchon, they arrested the chairperson of the Kyunjee People’s Committee and killed him by hammering a 10 cm spike into his forehead.
§ On November 25 in Pyuksung County, they murdered nine members of the Labor Party by slicing open their stomachs and pulling out their hearts and livers.
§ On October 25, they captured a Labor Party member and skinned him alive from head to toe.
The U.S. military carried out such brutal massacres in every city in which they set foot even briefly, including Honghwin and the Kangso area.
The U.S. military massacred not only men, but also children, women, and elderly people by dragging them tied behind cars, burning them, and drowning them.
§ In Ansung Subcounty, Pyungsan County, the U.S. military arrested the head of the Civil Office, tied him to the back of a car by his throat and drove for 16km at full speed until his body became unrecognizable.
§ In Anak County, they killed a farmer and his wife in the same way for being members of the Labor Party.
§ In Samhoon Village, Hwangjoo County, they tied a 71-year-old lady behind a cart by her throat and let an ox draw it until she died, simply because her grandson was a Labor Party member.
§ In Sunheung Subcounty, Youngheung County, when a six-year-old child ran out from burning millet straw, they broke his arms and legs, smashed his brain with a stick, and threw him back into the fire to burn to death.
§ In Jupo Village, Pyongsan County, they set fire to a house where several children were fast asleep, and when the children ran out screaming for their mothers, the U.S. soldiers stabbed them with spears and threw them back into the fire.
§ In Hongbo Village, Jungpyung County, two U.S. soldiers threw two children to the ground, killing them, and in Talchon Village in Tanchon City, a U.S. military serviceman held a child by its ankles and threw it against a rock until it died.
They further killed dozens of children, women, and elderly people by cutting their bodies to pieces and smashing them on the ground. In a murderous rampage, the U.S. military skinned people’s faces and took them as a ‘souvenirs’.
The U.S. military massacred civilians everywhere they set foot, by means of modern war devices that included warplanes and cannons.
As they were chased by the advance of the People’s Army, the U.S. military made threats to use an atomic bomb over the two-day period of December 4-5.
§ They forced 4000 civilians whom they had kept as hostages onto a temporary bridge on the Taedong River as well as on the icy ground, and massacred them with bombs and machine-gun fire from a flying plane.
§ They further massacred 30,000 innocent civilians on Haeju Highway in Sariwon.
The U.S. military murdered thousands of civilians, only after they had gouged out women’s breasts; cut away their flesh; drowned them in boiling water and oil; burned their skin with hot iron bars; trampled their bodies; imposed leg-screw torture; stuffed their mouths and noses with broken glass, sand, and earth; gouged out their lips; cut off their tongues; inserted detonators in their mouths and blew them up; and run over their bodies with tanks, military automobiles, and mine trucks.
Because of their brutal massacres, our once beautiful land drowned in an ocean of blood wherever the U.S. military set foot. Civilians either lost their lives or became disabled, and the adult male population in some areas was completely wiped out.
The following are the initial figures compiled with still insufficient data, of the victims in some areas in the northern part of the Republic during the temporary occupation by the U.S. military.
1. Pyongyang: 15,000
2. Shinchon: 35,383
3. Anak: 19,072
4. Eunyul: 13,000
5. Haejoo: 6,000
6. Pyuksung: 5,998
7. Songhwa: 5,545
8. Eunchon: 5,131
9. Taetan: 3,429
10. Sariwon: 950
11. Bongchon: 3,040
12. Yunan: 2,450
13. Jaeryung: 1,400
14. Jangyun: 1,199
15. Rakyun: 802
16. Pyongsan: 5,290
17. Tosan: 1,385
18. Bongsan: 1,293
19. Songnim: 1,000
20. Huichon: 850
21. Anjoo: 5,000
22. Kangso: 1,561
23. Nampo: 1,511
24. Kaechon: 1,342
25. Soonchon: 1,200
26. Pakchon: 1,400
27. Jungjoo: 800
28. Yangyang: 25,300
29. Cholwon: 1,560
30. Wonsan: 630
31. Hamjoo: 648
32. Tanchon: 532
33. Seonchon: 1,400
34. Chosan: 900
35. North Hamkyung: 100
36. Yunpyong: 2,000
Due to the brutal massacres and kidnappings carried out by the U.S. military, the Republic of Korea suffered a tremendous decrease in its population. Furthermore, villages such as Ryeo-do,Young-do, and Shin-do in Wonsan in Kangwon Province, Waejang-do, Ssangnyung-do, Jukjee-do, Neung-do, Sohwa-do, Daehwa-do, Tan-do, Daekacha-do, Sogacha-do, and Ka-do in North Pyongan Province, and Sosuap-do, Moo-do, Jangjae-do, and Seok-do in South Hwanghae Province became uninhabited.
II. U.S. Military Sexual Assault and Rape
Among the worst crimes the U.S. military committed while they temporarily occupied the northern half of the Republic were their assaults upon and rapes of women. The U.S. military left behind a shameful record of innumerable rapes and sexual assaults upon women from the day they set foot in the northern half of the Republic. Such acts of barbarity reveal the demented character of monsters with human faces.
In the northern half of the Republic, the U.S. military made victims not only of young women, but also of married women, pregnant women, women ill in bed, and even old women and little girls who had barely reached puberty, in the worst ways imaginable.
To begin, they made victims of young women.
§ On November 25, 1950, the U.S. military arrested an 18-year-old girl in Youngmoon Village, Jung-ku district in Pyongyang, and raped her at gun- and knife-point.
§ In Yaksoo, Dongsong Subcounty, Cholwon County, 15 U.S. military servicemen gang-raped a 21-year-old woman.
Such brutal assaults and rapes by the U.S. military were carried out everywhere, including in Hwangjoo County and Jaeryung County.
The U.S. military made victims not only of young women, but also of married women, on pain of death by guns and knives.
§ In Kamheung Village, Pyongyang, the U.S. military gang-raped three married women.
§ In Bongsoo Village, Wonsan, 14 of them gang-raped a 42-year-old married woman.
§ And in Suhheung, Dongheungsan District, Hamheung, several of them gang-raped a 32-year-old married woman.
§ In Ryongho Village, Songhwa County, the U.S. military locked up a woman and gang-raped her day after day.
§ And in Koam Village, Moonchon County, they arrested a woman for being an ‘evil Red’ and raped her for two to three days.
§ On October 28 in Songhwa County, they gang-raped a 19-year-old daughter of a respected farmer as well as the sister of a local People’s Committee secretary.
§ Claiming that they had to wipe out the seeds of ‘Reds’, the U.S. military locked up 40 women in Soodong Subcounty, Kosung County, and 142 in Sangdong Village, Bukcheung County, and gang-raped them day after day before eventually killing them.
§ In early December 1950, in Sariwon, three U.S. military kidnapped three women in the street and raped them. Such deeds were carried out also in Hwanghae Province as well as in Bongsan and Soonchon, South Pyongan Province.
The U.S. military made victims not only of young women and married women, but also of mere children and older women.
§ In Wolam Village, Dong Subcounty, Ichon County, two U.S. military servicemen dragged a 12-year-old girl in the 4th grade to a dugout and raped her.
§ In Onchon Village in Shinchon County, a 10-year-old girl was brutally raped.
The U.S. military, like a pack of heungry wolves, gang-raped little girls. Such deeds would surely shame even animals.
§ In Sungdong Village, Youngjung Subcounty, Cholwon County, 30 U.S. military servicemen captured a 16-year-old girl on her way to the toilet and gang-raped her, causing her to bleed to death within three days.
§ In early November 1950, they raped a 13-year-old girl in Yunsan Subcounty, Nyungbyun County, a 17-year-old girl in Huichon, and another 17-year-old girl in Cholwon.
The U.S. military transgressed moral laws by such assaults and rapes of young girls, which doubtlessly affected their growth both physically and mentally.
The U.S. military dared to rape even old women, a most barbaric behaviour.
§ In November 1950, in Soonchon and Pyongchon, the U.S. military raped two women, 64 and 70 years of age.
§ In Cholwon, Kangwon Province, two U.S. military servicemen raped an 81-year old woman whose surname is recorded as Lee.
They even raped pregnant women and women still in childbed, a deed upon which even animals would spit.
§ On November 18, 1950, in Cheognyung Subcounty, Hwangjoo County, the U.S. military raped a woman who was nine months pregnant.
§ And on December 5, in Meegok Village, Sariwon City, they also raped a pregnant woman.
§ On October 20, 1950, in Cholwon, Kangwon Province, six U.S. military servicemen raped a 32-year-old woman who had given birth a week before.
§ And in Haejoo, they locked up a woman who had given birth less than a month before, and gang-raped her day after day before they shot her dead.
§ On December 8, 1950, while in retreat, 14 U.S. military servicemen raped a woman who had given birth three days before in Sanbook Village, Sajee Subcounty, Shinkye County.
§ In Cholwon, two U.S. military servicemen raped a woman sick in bed with a disease, and 15 more raped her the following day, causing her to cough up blood and die.
§ In the same region, a 16-year-old girl also sick with a disease died after being raped by several U.S. military servicemen.
The U.S. military assaulted and raped women irrespective of time and place.
§ On October 27 in Wolam Village, Kumchon County, the U.S. military forced all men to assemble in one location, claiming to hold a ‘civil convention’, and locked them up. They then ran into every household and raped every woman.
§ On October 17, 1950 in Sariwon, the U.S. military used the same trick, by which they managed to gang-rape dozens of women.
§ On November 4, 1950, in Kwanjon Village, Cholwon County, two U.S. military servicemen raped a 19-year-old girl in broad daylight.
§ And in Daeo Village, another two U.S. military ran into a women’s toilet and raped a 22-year-old woman, also in broad daylight.
§ In Obong Village, Sansoo Subcounty, Bongsan County, the U.S. raped two daughters while their parents were forced to watch, before they killed them all.
§ In Seonjung Village, Youngjung Subcounty, Cholwon County, a group of U.S. military servicemen raped a 45-year-old mother and her two daughters, aged 13 and 15, one after the other.
The U.S. military raped our women day after day, morning and night, in every village in which they set foot.
§ On October 18, 1950, in Daewon Subcounty, Anak County, the U.S. military locked up all the women in a school building and raped them for 10 days. If anyone fought back, they killed them by driving stakes into their groins.
§ In Pyongyang, they ran into a church and gang-raped those who were attending services.
§ In Cholwon County, the U.S. military locked a woman in a house and gang-raped her day after day.
§ In Haejoo, they locked eight women in the provincial governor’s residence and raped them.
§ Also in Sariwon, they locked several women in an ice storehouse and raped them one after the other in a so-called ‘interrogation room’.
§ In Riwon County, 17 U.S. military servicemen dragged a woman to a pine grove that had been designated as an execution ground, raped her by turns, and hanged her naked on a pine tree before shooting her to death.
§ In Seokjon Village, Moonchon, six U.S. military servicemen, stripping and dragging patriots to an execution ground, found a 26-year-old woman and raped her before shooting her.
§ In Tosung Subcounty, Bongsan County, the U.S. military locked up 20 women and raped them day after day before shooting them.
Such offences against humanity were carried out everywhere the U.S. military set foot.
The assaults upon and rapes of women by the U.S. military were carried out not simply individually and arbitrarily, but systematically, publicly, and generally. From the first day they entered the northern half of the Republic, the U.S. military set up so-called ‘UN Military Service Clubs’, ‘UN Military Comfort Stations, ‘US Military Comfort Stations, and red-light districts where they raped and defiled hundreds of women. In doing so, they achieved the object of their invasion, by making their hired army submissive, and at the same time satisfying their own beastly carnal appetites. The U.S. military set up so-called ‘UN Military Service Clubs’, ‘UN Military Comfort Stations and ‘US Military Comfort Stations,’ claiming the need to be ‘comforted’, and satisfied their filthy carnal appetites day and night, through women aged 15 to 35. The U.S. military also set up red-light districts and amusement quarters in several cities, including in the National Theatre of the Arts in Pyongyang and at the sanitarium in Onchon Subcounty, Shinchon County. They then compelled hundreds of young women in the region to ‘serve’ them to satisfy their filthy sexual desires, further exacerbating a degenerate atmosphere. As a result of the intentional violation of human rights, sexual assaults, and rapes committed against Korean women by the U.S. military, the female population, from young girls to old women, was wiped out in masses. And many of those who survived after undergoing such tragedy either suffered from mental illness or committed suicide. Through such assaults and rapes, the U.S. military not only satisfied their own grotesque needs, but also made women unable to produce children, achieving their genocidal policy.
§ In Kaechon, two U.S. military servicemen raped a married woman and killed her by running electricity through her genitals.
§ And in Shinchon County, a group of U.S. military servicemen raped a woman and killed her by driving a stake into her groin.
§ In Samhoon Village, Hwangjoo County, the U.S. military raped several married women, burned their genitals and foreheads with heated irons and gouged out their breasts.
§ On October 27, 1950, in Hakbong Subcounty, Ichon County, the U.S. military arrested a 19-year-old girl and raped her day after day. They then hanged her on a tree and skinned her to death.
§ In Kaechon, the U.S. military gang-raped a 28-year-old woman and drowned her.
Such outrageous brutality was carried out in every corner of the country.
The initial figures of rape victims include 1,000 in Pyongyang, 860 in Kaechon, 513 in Pyongwon, 42 in Tanchon, and 170 in Shinmee in North Pyongan Province. The U.S. military produced such results within barely two months of their temporary occupation of the northern half of the Republic. In so doing, they once again revealed to the whole world that they are indeed not only the most vile raiders, plunderers, and robbers on earth, but also beasts with no moral conscience whatsoever, wearing only masks of humanity.
III. Destruction of Homes, Cultural Institutions, and Industrial Facilities
In areas of the northern half of the Republic that they temporarily occupied, the U.S. military destroyed and burned countless private homes in several cities and agricultural districts. They also demolished and burned factories, business buildings, national institutions, and other industrial facilities.
§ In mid-October 1950, in Pyongsan, the U.S. military burned down the homes of every Labor Party member, completely wiping out 2,000 private homes within half a day.
§ On October 21, 1950, in Hachon, Paekam Village, Sookchon County, the U.S. military burned down every private home in the village.
§ In Poongnam Village, Kumya County, the U.S. military demolished almost every private home by ruthlessly bombing the village, claiming that ‘the People’s Army and their guerrillas had appeared’.
§ In Kimhwa County, the U.S. military burned down 353 farm households within a period of a few days.
§ In Kusung, they demolished and burned down 80 private homes.
§ In the Kaechon region, the U.S. military burned down dozens of private homes, claiming that they were on a mission to ‘extinguish’ every ‘Red’.
§ And in Jookchon Village, Pyuksung County, while retreating, they completely wiped out 500 private homes by bombing them.
§ In early December 1950, in Sariwon and Sooan County, the U.S. military, while retreating, demolished 1,100 households of members of the village cooperative with fire bombs.
§ Also in Kowon County and Kosung County, they burned down dozens of private homes.
§ In early December 1950 in Pyongyang, which they temporarily occupied, the U.S. invaders formed a ‘special unit’ consisting of technicians to demolish and burn down industrial facilities, buildings, and other cultural institutions. As a result of such brutality by the U.S. military, the remaining industrial facilities and other buildings that had survived the previous bombings, namely, Pyongyang Chemical Factory, Pyongyang Textile Factory, Pyongyang Candy Factory, Pyongyang Rubber Factory, Pyongyang Record Factory, and Pyongyang Cigarette Factory were completely demolished.
§ The U.S. military also wiped out many schools including Kim Il Sung University, the College of Education, the Communications College, the Technical University, the school of the Central Labor Party, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 10th Middle Schools, and the 2nd Women’s High School.
§ They also demolished central hospitals, the National Theatre of the Arts, Pyongyang Children’s Court, the Labor Newspaper office as well as other cultural facilities.
§ In Pyongyang, they blew up water lines and the reservoir which provided some 400,000 people with water.
§ They also destroyed the power distribution station which provided the city with electricity.
§ Furthermore, they demolished the Taedong steel bridge, the Indo bridge, as well as railroad lines in the city.
§ The U.S. military burned down and demolished the buildings of different parties, institutions, as well as labor organization institutions, which included the buildings of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the National Democratic People’s Republic, the Cabinet, the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Judicial Affairs, the Pyongyang People’s Committee, the Pyongyang Telegraph and Telephone Office, the Central Bank, the Labor Party Central Committee, and the Democratic Young People’s Union Central Committee of the DPRK.
§ While fleeing the Heungnam region, the U.S. military completely wiped out the main facilities of the Heungnam Fertilizer Factory, as well as the waterworks and electrical facilities.
§ While fleeing Songnim, the U.S. military burned down and demolished essential machinery in the Hwanghae Steel Mill, which included four transformers, as well as electric motors and machinery fittings.
§ As they were retreating, the U.S. military wiped out the main factories and other industrial buildings of the northern half of the Republic, which included Nampo and Moonpyung Refinery.
§ As they were retreating, the U.S. military also destroyed bridges and steel roads in the northern half of the Republic by methods such as bombing. These include the steel bridge over River Sungcheon, Pukdae-cheon steel bridge, and Pyongwon-cheon steel bridge in Hamheung, several more steel bridges in the eastern coastal region, as well as other large and small steel bridges in the western region.
The U.S. military’s indiscriminate demolition not only of military targets, but also of civilian homes, industrial facilities, and cultural institutions in the northern half of the Republic clearly shows the true character of the leaders of inconceivable destruction and massacre.
IV. Plunder of Cultural Treasures and the People’s Property
In the northern half of the Republic, which they temporarily occupied, the U.S. military destroyed, burned, and plundered many national cultural treasures which our people created and developed over a long period of history. They also plundered items from national institutions, national department stores, and consumers’ cooperatives, as well as property from private business offices and households.
§ In the western part of Nampo, the U.S. military turned three tombs where frescos from the Kokuryo Period were kept into ammunition store rooms.
§ In Oncheon, South Pyongan Province, they used Ryongkang Twin Pillar Tomb as well as Anak Tomb No. 3 to lock up and torture our innocent civilians, during which the frescos were ruthlessly destroyed.
§ The U.S. military demolished the National Central History Museum and plundered its historical relics.
§ They further destroyed the ancient tombs in Raknang region in Pyongyang as well as Pubyuknoo, one of the most important sites of historical relics, and stole the gold-plated Buddha at Youngmyung Temple.
§ The U.S. military demolished the National Central Library as well as Kim Il Sung University Library, and burned hundreds and thousands of ancient books and cultural artifacts.
The U.S. military trespassed in the houses of civilians and plundered them of their properties.
§ In Dongchang Village in Pyongyang, the U.S. military marched into Kim Keun-Yong’s household and plundered his wife of two gold rings.
§ They illegally trespassed in Kim Duk-Sam’s house in Kamheung and stole a clock.
§ The U.S. military marched into Shim Yong-Ku’s household in Samheung Village in Pyongyang, and plundered them of 40 sacks of rice, one pig, one sewing machine, three duvets, and other goods.
§ They also forced their way into the premises of Kim Bong-Woon, an owner of a rice mill, in Jungpyung in Namku, beat him, and stole gold and other goods worth 70 million won in total.
§ In the city of Haejoo alone, the U.S. military plundered 20,360 sacks of national provisions, including 6,500 sacks of rice, 8,200 sacks of wheat, 1,300 sacks of buckwheat, and 500 sacks of polished rice.
The U.S. military plundered the civilians of their domestic animals, household furnishings, and clothing, as well as brassware.
As set forth here, wherever U.S. military forces set foot during their temporary occupation of the northern half of the Republic, the bodies of millions of our brutally murdered people formed mountains, their blood ran in rivers, and the ruthlessly dishonored women bore them an eternal grudge. Our nation will never forgive the sins of the U.S. military, soaked in our blood. These deeds cannot go unavenged. Blood must be answered with blood. The U.S. military will have to pay for the blood we shed.
May Juche 89 (2000)
Investigation Committee
National Front for Democratic Unification
Pyongyang, D.P.R.K.
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