U.S. military commanders repeatedly ordered the indiscriminate killing of Korean refugees in Nogeun-ri and other parts of the nation during the early days of the 1950-53 Korean War, a team of BBC documentary producers said yesterday.
Senior U.S. army commanders sanctioned killings of Korean refugees, including women and children, by using phrases such as "shoot all refugees," "all refugees are fair game," and "refugees will be dispersed by all available fire, including artillery," according to a press release by the British broadcaster.
BBC will broadcast a documentary film, titled "Kill 'em All," on Feb. 1.
"Such deliberate targeting of noncombatants violates the laws of war," Tom Roberts, director of the film, said in the press release.
The vast majority of these incriminating orders and communications, underpinned by newly unearthed military documents, are omitted from the Pentagon's investigative report, he said.
In January last year, the U.S. government admitted U.S. soldiers killed or injured an unconfirmed number of refugees near Nogeun-ri, a hamlet about 200 kilometers south of Seoul, in July in 1950. But it denied U.S. commanders ordered troops to shoot civilians.
Korean survivors claim 121 civilians were killed and 21 were injured in the strafing from aircraft and the shootings in the railroad tunnels near the village.
The BBC documentary details previously unreported incidents of deliberate large-scale killings of Korean refugees by U.S. troops and features new American witnesses and participants in the refugee massacre.
In the documentary, American ex-soldiers who were at Nogeun-ri said the shootings were ordered, and a new witness recalls officers shouting to the infantrymen, "Kill 'em all," according to the filmmakers.
The film also traces alleged killings by U.S. soldiers beyond Nogeun-ri.
South Korean survivors, interviewed by the filmmakers, described the 25th U.S. Infantry Division's massacre of 82 villagers cowering in a small shrine. Among the victims, 25 were children under the age of 10. The division's commander had ordered that civilians near the warfront be treated as enemies.
In the film, survivors also tell of another slaughter of as many as 400 civilians when U.S. warships, without provocation, furiously shelled a concentration of refugees on an exposed southern beach.
"By picking up where American news reporting left off, we have been able to shed a broader light on a dark underside, a hidden chapter, of a major 20th century war," director Roberts said.
The Nogeun-ri incident was first unveiled by a Pulitzer Prize-winning report by the Associated Press.
After wrapping up a 14-month investigation in 2001, the U.S. government issued a statement of regret but ruled out any compensation for the victims because commanders did not order the shootings.
Last week, South Korea's ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) and survivors urged the U.S. government to reinvestigate the incident, following new evidence that U.S. troops might have been ordered to kill.
George Early, a U.S. veteran of the Korean War, said in a letter his commanding officer threatened to execute him for refusing to shoot at the refugees near Nogeun-ri. The BBC documentary includes Early's testimony.
The U.S. government said it would erect a monument and establish a $750,000 scholarship fund dedicated to all Korean civilians killed during the war. The survivors' group has rejected the offers, saying that they want a monument specifically for the Nogeun-ri victims.