PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA

The United Nations should establish a tribunal to investigate "massacres" committed by United States troops during the Korean War, the Permanent Representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Li Hyong Chol, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

Also, the United States should punish those responsible for "organizing and commanding mass killings" committed during the Korean War, and formally apologize to the Government and people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Mr. Li told correspondents. The United States should also "fully compensate" the people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for crimes committed during that war.

On 21 March, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had issued a memorandum detailing records of "criminal acts against humanity" committed by United States troops under the name of "United Nations forces", Mr. Li said. The recently disclosed information on "massacres" which had occurred in South Korea during the Korean War represented only a fragment of a larger picture of violence, he added.

"In recent years, the United States is making much ado, as if it is concerned about genocide occurring in other parts of the world under the signboard of 'protection of human rights', posing itself as the 'defender of the world peace'. This is nothing more than an attempt for a criminal to cover up its true color and camouflage as an angel", he said.

Disclosing the "true color" of the United States before the international community would enhance the United Nations role in maintaining international peace and security, Mr. Li continued. "The massacres committed by United States troops during the Korean War were hideous crimes against humanity and were a wanton violation of publicly recognized international law, war law and regulations."

Reading excerpts from a list of "recorded massacres" by United States troops during the three-year Korean War (1950-1953), he said that the United States killed peaceful citizens by indiscriminate bombing and naval bombardment against urban and rural areas in the North.

He said that from 11 July to 20 August 1951, more than 10,000 United States planes had conducted over 250 air raids on Pyongyang, the capital city of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, dropping as many as 4,000 bombs, killing 4,000 civilians and wounding 2,500 more. From 11 to 12 July 1952, 400 United States planes dropped more than 6,000 napalm bombs and time-bombs, killing 8,000 civilians, including women and children, Mr. Li continued.

"Town and country were reduced to ashes and several million peaceable inhabitants killed", he said. Napalm and other bombs dropped by United States war planes totaled more than 600,000 tons, which was 3.7 times the 161,425 tons dropped over Japan during the Pacific War, he said.

Citing specific incidents, Mr. Li said that the United States massacred civilians by the most savage methods. "According to the preliminary results of an investigation into massacres committed by United States troops during their temporary occupation of areas of the North, they killed more than a million innocent civilians", he said.

United States troops also used germ and chemical weapons in the Korean War, he said. While fleeing from areas of temporary occupation in the northern part of Korea, United States troops spread smallpox and other contagious germs in that region, he said. From January to March 1952, the United States began an "all-out germ war", dropping germ bombs in alpine, coastal and mountainous areas of the North. They also dropped "toxic poison-gas bombs" he said.

The massacres committed by United States troops were carried out under the United Nations name, Mr. Li said. "The United States provoked a war in Korea on 25 June 1950 and engineered the adoption of Security Council resolutions, in the absence of the former Soviet Union from the Security Council meetings, in order to justify its intervention in the war", he said.

The United Nations had been "abused" by the United States and became involved in the massive genocide in the Korean War in violation of its own purposes and principles, Mr. Li said. The United Nations took no measures to stop United States troops from committing "atrocities" which were in violation of both international law and the United Nations Charter.

The United States was keeping the "United Nations command" in South Korea as if it were representing the United Nations, Mr. Li added. "The United States should no longer cover its entity and aggressive nature with the signboard of the 'United Nations Command' and should withdraw from South Korea. The United Nations is not a possession of the United States", he said.

As the world's most universal organization, the United Nations had already defined massive genocide of peaceful civilians as the worst human rights violation, he said. The United Nations, moreover, had taken practical measures, such as the establishment of international tribunals, to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes, he added.

A corespondent asked, was it correct to say that the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was holding the United Nations responsible for what the United States supposedly did during the Korean War, and was it entrusting the United Nations with the creation of a tribunal or fact-finding mission to investigate the incident?

The main problem was the abuse of the United Nations by the United States for the purpose of war they had waged in Korea, Mr. Li answered. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea maintained that the United Nations was the body that should take corrective measures. The establishment of a tribunal to investigate the facts was one of the appropriate measures the United Nations should take.

Was the Government willing to invite the United Nations press corps to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to visit sites, and have access to relevant documentation, witnesses and survivors? a correspondent asked. That was a technical aspect, he said. How to proceed with that should be worked out. It was not the only action that they might take.

Asked to give the total number of civilian casualties, Mr. Li said that, according to the memorandum, more than a million civilians had been killed.

Was it the first time that he demanded such conditions from the United States in the course of a discussion of United Nations? a correspondent asked. No, it wasn't the first time, Mr. Li said. It was, however, the first time he had spoken to the press in such a way. For the past five decades, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea had been consistent in denouncing the criminal acts committed by the United States during the Korean War. The issue had been regularly put before the United Nations through the Security Council, the Secretariat and also the General Assembly. He hoped that voices raised by his Government and people could be heard in a better way through the press.

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