Bodo League massacre

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The Bodo League massacre (Korean: 보도연맹 사건) was a massacre that occurred in the summer of 1950 during the Korean War. More than 200,000 members of the Bodo League (National Rehabilitation and Guidance League, gukmin bodo rungmaeng, 國民輔導聯盟) were killed for the suspicion of supporting communism.

Discoveries in 2008 in Daejon, South Korea (among other sites) of trenches of executed leftist civilians and Communist sympathizers have opened a long silent chapter of South Korean history unknown to most South Korean civilians. South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation commission documented testimony of those still living who took part in the executions, including former Daejon prison guard Lee Joon-young, as the country addressed a long surpressed part of its history which took place between 1950-51, which General Douglas MacArthur called "An internal South Korean matter" at that time.

Besides images now revealed of the unopened execution trench sites, the National Archives in Washington D.C. released declassified photographs of U.S. soldiers at execution sites including Daejon, confirming American military knowledge and involvement.

References

Massacres http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080519/ap_on_re_as/korea_mass_executions;_ylt=AgquZsCI52y_FZ8rdmnY3HIUewgF

Lee Joon-young's Testimony http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/1950-Korea-Mass-Killings/ss/events/wl/051808koreakillings/s:/ap/20080519/ap_on_re_as/korea_mass_executions;_ylt=As/im:/080518/481/39bed18462bb4d21aa04194357f59275/#photoViewer=/080518/481/94d89d7aef7b4f50b5237320131b9064

Slide show http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/1950-Korea-Mass-Killings/ss/events/wl/051808koreakillings/s:/ap/20080519/ap_on_re_as/korea_mass_executions;_ylt=As