AP News, April 13th, 2007
Declassified documents and eyewitness testimony have begun lifting a shroud of secrecy from the half-century-old story of South Korean refugee killings by the U.S. military. A look back:
July 25, 1950 _ In Korean War's fifth week, U.S.-South Korean meeting sets policy of shooting refugees approaching U.S. lines, to guard against infiltrators, according to classified letter sent to Washington by U.S. ambassador in Korea.
July 26-29, 1950 _ U.S. warplanes and ground troops kill refugees at No Gun Ri, South Korea. Survivors estimate 400 dead.
August 1950-April 1951 _ Succession of secret orders from colonels and generals instruct U.S. units to fire on refugees approaching U.S. lines.
1953 _ Armistice ends Korean War.
1953-1980s _ In South Korean police state, survivors of No Gun Ri and other killings are intimidated into silence. Killings are hidden from history.
1994 _ As South Korea democratizes, No Gun Ri survivors file first of many petitions to U.S. officials for investigation, apology, compensation. All are ignored.
1997-98 _ Survivors file claim with U.S.-South Korean compensation commission. U.S. military counters that its troops were not in No Gun Ri area. Claim is dismissed on technicality.
1999 _ Associated Press report confirms No Gun Ri killings, citing more than dozen ex-soldiers who support survivors' accounts.
1999-present _ South Koreans file complaints with their government about more than 60 alleged episodes of mass refugee killings by U.S. military.
2001 _ After investigation, U.S. Army reverses self and affirms No Gun Ri killings occurred, but calls it "not a deliberate killing." Its report doesn't disclose existence of declassified documents and veterans' testimony showing pattern of orders to shoot refugees, evidence later uncovered by AP.
2006 _ Historian Sahr Conway-Lanz publishes book telling of U.S. ambassador's 1950 letter to State Department reporting policy decision to shoot approaching refugees.
2007 _ Army acknowledges investigators in 1999-2001 reviewed ambassador's letter, but decided not to mention it in final report.
