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US, South Korea Reach "Understanding" on No Gun Ri Killings
Negotiators from the United States and South Korea have reached a "mutual understanding" that American soldiers killed South Korean civilian refugees in the early weeks of the Korean War, the Associated Press reported Friday.
But the two sides, which ended talks in Seoul on Thursday, left unresolved the question of how many South Korean civilians were actually killed, the wire service quoted a Clinton administration official as saying.
Both sides agreed that US soldiers shot at the refugees near the hamlet of No Gun Ri in July 1950, and that there is insufficient evidence to conclude whether the soldiers acted on direct orders from superiors, the official said on condition of anonymity.
As for casualties, he said, the South Korean side stuck to their figure of 248 killed, wounded or missing, and the Americans insisted that the number is much lower but cannot be determined exactly.
The agreement, which has yet to be approved by US Army Secretary Louis Caldera or top-level South Korean government officials, also does not address the question of whether the United States will compensate the survivors and families of the dead, issue an official apology or build a memorial to the victims.
The results are based on the findings of separate US and South Korean investigations, which were conducted after the killings were first disclosed in September last year. Enditem
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