Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Truth commission confirms mass killings of Christians by communists during Korean War
This photo, released on Wednesday by South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, shows the cemetery of Christians who were massacred by North Korean soldiers at Byeongchon Holiness Church in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province.
By Jung Min-ho
Dozens of Christians were tortured and killed en masse at a church in Nonsan by communist soldiers during the Korean War, South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission said Wednesday.
After two years of investigation into the case, the commission confirmed that 54 Christians, including 29 minors, were murdered for their faith at Byeongchon Holiness Church by communists between July and September 1950.
After taking control of the city in South Chungcheong Province in July, within just one month after their invasion on June 25, 1950, North Korean soldiers initially tortured and killed three leading figures at the church.
But just before retreating from the region, following the successful U.N. Command mission at the Battle of Incheon, North Korean soldiers massacred the remaining church members and their families in late September, the investigation concluded. Thirty of the victims were women.
South Korean communists in support of North Korea's invasion were among the perpetrators of the war crimes, it noted.
Pyongyang citizens py tribute to the statues of their late leaders, Kim Il-sung, left, and Kim Jong-il, on Mansu Hill on the occasion of the 112th birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 15. North Korea remains one of the world's major persecutors of Christians and people of other religions. AP-Yonhap
The commission urged the North Korean regime to issue an apology to the victims and their relatives and compensate them for the losses.
Founded in 1933, Byeongchon Holiness Church was forced to close 10 years later as a result of the persecution of Christians under Japan’s colonial rule (1910-45). The church reopened in 1948, three years after Japan surrendered to the United States and other allied forces during World War II, only to face another tragedy two years later.
In April, the commission also found that 104 Christians were killed by North Korean soldiers at 24 churches in North Jeolla Province between July and November 1950.
The commission said at least 1,700 Christians lost their lives across South Korea as a result of religious persecution by North Korean soldiers and South Korean collaborators during the war.
North Korea remains one of the world's major persecutors of Christians and people of other religions. In January, the U.S. government designated North Korea and 11 others as “countries of particular concern” for religious freedom violations, marking the 22nd consecutive year the North has appeared on the annually updated list.
Other countries included in the list are Turkmenistan, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Myanmar, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan.