The Unknown Korean War: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission
of Korea and Excavation of the Remains of Mass-murdered Victims
Translation by Nobuko Adachi This is the sixtieth anniversary of
the start of the Korean War. We are now just starting to learn
about the mass murder of civilians by both Korean armies and the
United States, and the policies that made this possible. In
South Korea, little by little the remains of some of these
victims are being uncovered through the work of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission and Korean citizens. One of the most
popular books in South Korea in the 1980s was T’aebaek Mountain
Range,1 by one of the country’s most famous authors, Cho Chong-
rae (b.1943). Despite political pressure from the Chun Doo-hwan
military regime, it sold over five million copies. It was also
translated into Japanese and published by Shūei-sha Press in
Tokyo. The novel is about the suffering of the people of
Pŏlgyo—a seaport town in the Ch’ŏllanam-do area of South
Korea—during the Korean War. I