Robert Koehler has a posting about Korean claimants wanting compensation for US bombings of Seoul and Incheon during the Korean War via these Hankyoreh articles.  Here is an excerpt from the first article:

The residents of Wolmi Island, who were forced from their home with just the clothes on their back, have been demanding to be allowed to return home since 1952, but have only been told by the government that Wolmi Island was being used as a military facility. Recently, the Defense Ministry and Incheon City government have been trying to pass off responsibility, saying the land was not theirs, and that they were not responsible for the residents being forced out.

The only result that has been won was a decision by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea (TRCK). In 2008, TRCK ruled that it could not confirm that the United States made efforts to reduce civilian casualties despite the possibility that it was aware of the existence of civilian homes on Wolmi Island, and this violated the principles in international humanitarian law and the laws of war of distinguishing civilians and proportionality. The commission advised the U.S. and South Korean governments to undertake a joint investigation, accept joint responsibility, undertake a commemorative project and assist residents of the island in returning.  [Hankyoreh]

My first question reading this was if these families received any compensation money before for being relocated off the island?  I bet they have and whatever they received was far less than what the property value for that piece of land is now on Wolmi-do.  Pertinent information like this is something the Hankyoreh could care less about.  I also find it ridiculous that the Korean Truth & Reconciliation Commission could not confirm that the US military made efforts to reduce civilian casualties so they naturally assume that the US military must have intentionally planned to kill civilians.

By the way you can see pictures I took of Wolmi-do here.  I have been there a few of times and have never seen these protesters.

Here is an excerpt from the 2nd article:

“U.S. military records from the beginning of the war include pilot testimony that pilots bombed buildings based merely on hunches or buildings that seemed large,” said Kim Tae-woo, research professor of Seoul National University’s Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies. “As a result, it appears structures that were not direct military facilities such as public offices and schools were also greatly damaged.”

How bad was the damage from the Yongsan bombing? According to statistics on Seoul resident casualties during the first three months of the war, drawn up by the government statistics office in 1950, one fourth of the 17,127 deaths were caused by air raids. In particular, of the 2,709 total deaths suffered in the Yongsan district, the direct target of the Yongsan bombing 1,587, or 58.6 percent, were due to bombings.

“Unlike the provinces, where village communities still remained, Seoul had a large transient population, so it has never been known how many people were killed or injured in bombings,” said Kim Dong-chun, a former standing committee member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea (TRCK). “This is one of the major tragedies we have already forgotten.”  [Hankyoreh]

The first thing to point out is never trust statistics from the Hankyoreh or the Korean Truth & Reconciliation Commission.  I have pointed out their sloppy work before.  Something else that is important to remember is that during the Korean War pilots had poor maps, poor on the ground intelligence, especially during the opening months of the war, as well as no smart bombs like the US military has today.  So even if they knew exactly where a target was there was still a high likelihood that some of the bombs would miss it.  Even today with precision smart bombs even they sometimes miss their target.  So should that mean that the US military should not have bombed the North Koreans during the Korean War and risked losing the entire country?  If you are in the Korean Truth & Reconciliation Commission you have to wonder if some of those people are disappointed that the North Koreans didn’t win the war.

For those that don’t know, the Korean Truth & Reconciliation Commission is of course a leftist organization that was established to attack the Korean right and by extension the United States.  You can read my prior postings on this organization beginning here.  The current conservative Lee Myung-bak government has fortunately ended this sham of a commission.

Robert Koehler does make a couple of interesting questions in his posting such as have any Europeans held protests demanding compensation for the D-Day Landings?  This I don not know, does anyone else have an answer?  He also asks why Incheon needs another memorial to the Incheon Landing Operation because the one they got now is quite impressive.  My guess would be that the Incheon government wants to build this new memorial on Wolmi-do so it would be more accessible to tourists compared to the one currently in Songdo.  I always wondered why they didn’t build the memorial on Wolmi-do to begin with and I guess the Incheon government has finally realized this as well.