Truth and Reconciliation Commission Begins Investigation into 398 Cases Including Samcheong Education Camp Incident

The 2nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Past Affairs (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) announced on the 15th that at the 54th committee meeting held on the 10th at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Jung-gu, Seoul, it decided to commence investigations into 398 cases, including the 'Samcheong Education Victim Incident.'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Samcheong Education Victim Incident is a large-scale human rights violation case in which over 60,000 individuals were illegally detained from August 1980, and about 40,000 of them were forcibly confined at the Samcheong Education Center, where re-education, labor service, and protective custody measures were implemented. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission confirmed that the Supreme Court's December 2018 ruling declaring Martial Law Proclamation No. 13, the legal basis for the Samcheong Education Center, unconstitutional and invalid means that the very fact of admission to the Samcheong Education Center was a serious human rights violation caused by unlawful exercise of public authority.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission made truth verification decisions for 152 victims of the Samcheong Education Incident in June last year and February this year, in two rounds. This time, it decided to conduct additional investigations into 92 cases.

It will also investigate the 'Forced Conscription of University Students and Coercion to Become Informants Incident,' which began during the Park Chung-hee regime and continued into the 1990s. This case involves requests for truth verification regarding ongoing illegal conscription and illegal operations by the Defense Security Command and the Defense Security Command Headquarters. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission decided to commence investigations, judging that there is a likelihood of human rights violations, as the claims made by the applicants align with the content of the first truth verification decision on this case made in June last year.

Additionally, investigations will be conducted into the 'Mass Civilian Casualty Incidents Before and After the Korean War and Casualties Caused by Hostile Forces,' the 'Civilian Casualty Incident by Military and Police in Jangseong, Jeonnam,' the 'Casualty Incidents Caused by Hostile Forces in Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam Regions,' and the 'Casualty Incident Caused by Hostile Forces in Taean, Chungnam.'

This decision to commence investigations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is the 45th such decision, with the first investigation commencement decision made on May 27, 2021.

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