2nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission Closes Truth Verification Applications... Surpasses 20,000 Cases

Kim Kwang-dong, Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The 2nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) has closed the application period for truth verification. The number of applications surpassed 20,000, nearly doubling compared to the 1st Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

On the 28th, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced that from December 10, 2020, to the 9th of this month, it received a total of 20,092 applications for truth verification. The total number of subjects for truth verification was 26,791. This is nearly 10,000 more than the 1st Truth and Reconciliation Commission's received applications (10,860).

In the 2nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the proportion of human rights violation cases increased significantly. The number of human rights violation cases received by the 2nd Commission was 3,352, which is 5.5 times higher than the 1st Commission's 612 cases. Additionally, cases of victimization by hostile forces such as the People's Army increased to 3,885 in the 2nd Commission, 2.3 times more than the 1,687 cases in the 1st Commission. On the other hand, cases of mass civilian victimization were 7,922 in the 1st Commission and increased by only 2,035 to 9,957 in the 2nd Commission.

In particular, applications related to human rights violations at group detention facilities such as Hyeongjebokjiwon, Seongam Hakwon, and Seosan Pioneer Corps increased. The Hyeongjebokjiwon human rights violation case was the first application case of the 2nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and on August 23, the Commission made the first truth verification decision on 41 cases submitted by 191 applicants. The Commission stated that it is currently investigating 228 cases. Seongam Hakwon and Seosan Pioneer Corps also received first truth verification decisions and are either under investigation or reviewing whether to begin investigations.

Human rights violation cases related to overseas adoption were also received for the first time. The Commission received truth verification applications from 372 people across six countries. On the 6th, the Commission decided to begin the first investigation on 34 applicants. These applicants are infants and children adopted to six countries including the Netherlands from 1960 to 1990. They had biological parents but applied for truth verification claiming crimes such as kidnapping during the adoption process, adoption without biological parents' consent, or that documents were falsified to show them as orphans.

The region with the highest number of applications was Jeonnam with 2,479 cases, followed by Jeonbuk (972 cases), Gyeongnam (829 cases), and Gyeongbuk (773 cases). Looking at the monthly application numbers, 1,512 cases were concentrated from the 1st to the 9th of this month, which includes the last day of the application period. During this period, an average of 168 cases were received per day. From January to August this year, except for April, more than 1,000 cases were received each month.

Kim Kwang-dong, Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said, "Thanks to the high interest from 17 cities and provinces, bereaved families' associations, civil society organizations, and the public, we received over 20,000 applications for truth verification. We will do our best in the investigation work to ensure that not a single injustice remains."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.