Almost 50 years later, survivors of No Gun Ri pay emotional visit

WASHINGTON -- Chung Koo-hak never could take his three children to school. He was too ashamed of a face disfigured by a bullet fired during an alleged 1950 mass killing of Korean civilian refugees by U.S. troops.

Still, the 57-year-old Chung said he had not cried once an adult -- until Saturday, when he sobbed in a hotel room far from home, tears streaming down his mangled cheeks.

He was emotionally drained after publicly revealing his harrowing story during a visit to the United States with other No Gun Ri survivors.

"It was so difficult to face all those cameras and have to explain what I had gone through in my torturous life," he told a reporter.

Chung, then 8, was the last survivor pulled out of piles of bodies at No Gun Ri, site of the killing in which witnesses say U.S. troops mowed down hundreds of civilian refugees cowering under a railroad bridge early in the Korean War.

For Chung and three other survivors, traveling to the United States was a daunting prospect. But they said recounting their experiences to Pentagon officials for the first time on Friday was the reward.

"I feel so good after talking," said Yang Hae-sook, 61, who had her left eye blown out in the U.S. bombing. She also lost her grandmother and two brothers at No Gun Ri.

The incident ravaged the lives of the survivors.

Yang and another survivor, Keum Cho-ja, 61, said their marriages were never happy because of their infirmities. With half of his nose and upper lip blown away, Chung said he always avoided speaking in public gatherings for fear people might jeer at his face. Chung also lost his mother and baby sister at No Gun Ri.

The Associated Press reported in September that a dozen 7th U.S. Cavalry veterans, corroborating the accounts of Korean villagers, said the regiment's 2nd Battalion killed a large number of civilians at No Gun Ri. Survivors say 400 were killed by American soldiers.

Until then, the survivors' accounts had been dismissed by both Washington and Seoul officials, who cited lack of evidence. After the AP report, however, both the U.S. and South Korean governments launched investigations.

Senior Pentagon officials have told the South Koreans that the Army vigorously will pursue the investigation ordered by President Clinton as "a tribute to the shared sacrifices of the Korean and American people during the Korean War."

The four survivors were visiting the United States for the first time on a 10-day trip sponsored by the U.S. National Council of Churches and its South Korean counterpart.

Two people traveling with the group visited the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and on Friday, the survivors met with Pentagon officials to get an update on the progress of the Army investigation.

The trip was both energizing and draining. The nervous survivors said they could hardly sleep. They sustained themselves on herb pills they brought from home to help them through the hectic schedule.

"Standing in front of so many cameras and having to show my wounds to make the people believe, I felt like a monkey in the zoo," said Keum, 61, who still bears a bowling ball-sized bluish scar where a bullet ripped through her right waist.

"Sometimes I wish I were not on this trip. Why should I come here after 50 years? ... Nothing is going to repair my life. Nobody is going to restore my face," Chung wrote in his small note pad, which he kept in his breast pocket to show to his family once he gets back home.

Chung's group leaves for Los Angles on Monday at the invitation of Korean community leaders.

His best moment came when he met with veteran Edward L. Daily of Clarksville, Tenn., in Cleveland on Wednesday. They prayed together for reconciliation during a church service.

Daily, then a 7th Cavalry machine gunner, said he fired at the people at No Gun Ri -- mostly children and women -- under orders from officers who feared North Korean troops were mixed with the refugees. But Daily, 68, said that on summer nights, he still hears "the little kids screaming," and apologized to the victims.

Daily and Chung had a tearful encounter in early November when the American veteran traveled to South Korea on a trip paid for by a U.S. television network.

"We are like good friends now. I thanked him for telling me the truth," Chung said of Daily. "What better thing can a man do?"