75 years later, victims of Korean War massacre honored with memorial

Seventy-five years after the Korean War, families and civic groups gathered to commemorate the victims of the Molmongjae massacre. In 1950, police executed over 30 innocent civilians in Gwangju, accusing them of collaboration with North Korean forces. The event, which saw victims' property confiscated before their deaths, had been largely erased from history.

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Innocent people were robbed of their money, thrown into a dug pit, and shot dead. Is this something a human would do?

During the Korean War, as North Korean forces entered Gwangju, local police retreated. Upon their return after the UN's Incheon Landing, they targeted local leaders, including village chiefs and clerks. One such leader, Heo Won-dong, was gathered with about 30 other local officials under the pretense of a meeting. They were then accused of collaborating with North Korean forces, a charge that may have stemmed from the North Koreans' perception of the police as pro-Japanese collaborators. The police also confiscated 140,000 won from the victims, equivalent to six months' salary for a police officer at the time.

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After the massacre, we tried to recover the victims' bodies, but the police were guarding the area, so we could only approach months later. The bodies had decomposed and were intertwined, making them indistinguishable. Fortunately, my grandfather's identity was confirmed by a stamp found in his pants, allowing us to recover his body, but the rest of the bodies remained there.

Families of the victims attempted to recover the bodies but were prevented by police surveillance for months. Even after a formal complaint was filed, the police dismissed it as a matter of police morale during wartime. The officer in charge was eventually transferred, and the case was buried. It wasn't until 1998 that efforts began to investigate the massacre, leading to its official recognition as a mass killing by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008. The recent ceremony marked the first memorial event for the victims, aiming to restore their honor and bring closure to their families.

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The Molmongjae incident is called a history forcibly erased by power. It is distinct from other civilian massacres in that the victims were individuals who were cooperative with the government and engaged in right-wing activities.