USA: KOREAN WAR DOCUMENT

(7 Jun 2000) English/natsot

U-S officials have confirmed the authenticity of an Air Force document from the Korean War, stating that U-S fighter planes were ordered to attack columns of civilian refugees.
They say it was discovered by investigators looking into allegations that U-S forces deliberately fired on Korean civilians during the Korean War.

So far, Pentagon officials say they've found no other documents showing that U-S planes carried out such attacks.

Word of the document follows similar claims of U-S veterans and Koreans.

They told APTN last year of attacks on Korean refugees by American planes and soldiers during the war 50 years ago.

At the Pentagon on Tuesday, U-S officials confirmed that investigators had uncovered a document appearing to show that U-S forces were ordered to fire on Korean civilians in the early days of the war.

While officials believe the document is authentic, a spokesman says they have yet to verify that orders to go ahead with attacks were actually carried out.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I think the wording in the memo speaks for itself, and it's pretty clear in the assertions that the writer, then Colonel Rogers, says that this is exactly...they have asked and we have complied to date. So it's pretty clear in my mind. But we're just looking for that next thing. You always try to find some thing, some indication, that there was received or responded to, or reacted to in some way shape or form. And that we have not yet found."
SUPER CAPTION: Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, Pentagon spokesman

U-S fighter jets like these launching from bases in Japan swarmed across the Korean Peninsula in the early days of the Korean War 50 years ago.

Some were assigned to low-level strafing attacks on enemy targets.

The uncovered document, featured in a C-B-S News report on Monday, is a memo from then-Air Force Colonel Turner Rogers.

In it he says the U-S Army "requested that we strafe all civilian refugee parties...approaching our positions."

The memo goes on to say that "To date, we have complied."

The Rogers memo also notes the concerns of U-S commanders who feared that enemy soldiers were possibly mixing in with refugees fleeing the combat.

In an APTN report last December, U-S veterans told of strafing attacks in which the targets appeared to be refugees.

Once-secret U-S Air Force misson reports from the Korean War describe attacks on people who "appeared to be evacuees" or "could have been refugees."

Pentagon officials say the search continues for evidence of other documents to verify the Rogers memo, and for documents to verify other claims of orders to fire on civilians.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"So it is in the documents that have been uncovered so far by the inspector general. It's in the collection that may or may not have a bearing on the direct fidings of the investigation. And we're still looking for something that would either tell us for sure, yes or no, that there is a tie."
SUPER CAPTION: Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, Pentagon spokesman

Officials say the Rogers memo was written on July 25, 1950.

That date coincides with earlier A-P reports that an attack on refugees near the South Korean village of No Gun Ri began with aerial strafing.

Korean survivors and U-S veterans told APTN last year that refugees were fired on by U-S soldiers for three days in 1950, from July 26 to July 28, following a strafing attack at No Gun Ri.

That incident is now under investigation by U-S officials.

But Pentagon officials say the uncovered Air Force document makes no mention of specific places.

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