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South Korea should formally apologize for the massacre of thousands of civilians at the beginning of the Korean War, a commission said Thursday.
The country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which conducted an official inquiry, also called on the government to compensate the families of 4,934 civilians identified as summarily killed by the South Korean military and police in the war's opening months out of fear the civilians were Communist sympathizers.
The commission said it could identify only the 4,934 victims, but commissioner Kim Dong-choon told a news conference he believed "at least tens of thousands" had been killed between June and September 1950, when South Korean and U.S. forces retreated as the North Korean army surged down the peninsula.
Historians estimate the true number killed is at least 100,000 and could be twice that much, The Times of London reported.
The commission said it couldn't confirm who had ordered the systematic, nationwide killings, but said it appeared to have come from the highest levels of government.
The panel's announcement marked the first time a state investigative agency had confirmed the nature and scale of the massacre, The New York Times said.
The victims were members of the National Guidance League, which the government ostensibly set up to "re-educate" people suspected of Communist leanings.
"Given the number of victims and unlawfulness, this is the worst tragedy of 20th-century South Korea," Kim said.
Seoul had no immediate response to the commission's findings.
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