Survivors say U.S. regrets over No Gun Ri killings fall short

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton's deep regrets are not enough for the survivors of a mass shooting of South Korean refugees by U.S. soldiers near the village of No Gun Ri in the early weeks of the Korean War.

After Thursday's release of results of a Pentagon investigation that concluded U.S. troops were responsible for the killings, Clinton said in a statement: "I deeply regret that Korean civilians lost their lives at No Gun Ri in late July, 1950." His statement stopped short of an explicit apology.

Although the Pentagon report reversed the long-held position that U.S. soldiers did not participate in the incident, it added that it had found no evidence that the soldiers had orders to kill.

Survivors and families of the victims have been pushing for a strong apology from the United States as well as compensation for their suffering, but got neither.

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Chung Eun-yong, the 80-year-old head of the No Gun Ri victims group, told reporters that the Pentagon report was "a whitewash ... and we cannot accept it."

Clinton's statement of regret, Chung said, "is only natural but lacking in substance and very late."

Clinton told reporters in Washington on Friday that he did not want the report to be a whitewash, and that the U.S. governmnet had "done our best to do the right thing." And he dismissed the complaints that he had issued regrets but no apology.

"I think on a personal basis, there is no difference in the two words," he said. "Both mean we are profoundly sorry."

Group says no to monument

The incident came to light in a 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press report. The South Koreans say that 400 refugees were killed by U.S. artillery and mortar fire and strafing from a jet, while the Pentagon report said the number of deaths could not be determined.

Chung said that the victims group intended to take the case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, to demand compensation from Washington.

Chung's group also rejected a U.S. offer to set up a monument in memory of victims of all innocent Korean civilians killed during the 1950-1953 war and to establish a scholarship to honor the victims of No Gun Ri.

"We cannot accept their efforts to dilute America's war crimes by setting up these things and not limiting them to No Gun Ri," said Chung's son, Chung Koo-do, also a member of the group.

But South Korean President Kim Dae-jung telephoned Clinton to express satisfaction with the probe into the incident and to thank him for his expression of regret, his spokeswoman said.

CNN Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-ae and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Army probe substantiates AP report that U.S. troops shot Korean civilians
December 6, 2001

U.S. Army
Korean Historical Documents
DefenseLINK: U.S. Department of Defense
Korean War 50th Anniversary
Remembering the Korean War
2000 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting
Bridge at No Gun Ri: Special Report from the Associated Press
U.S. Army Inspector General - Korean War Allegations

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