The punishment matters concerning to the perpetrators for the killing of civilians during Korean War is one of controversial legal issues. Studies have been focused on the illegality over summary execution of civilians without fair trials and due lega...
The punishment matters concerning to the perpetrators for the killing of civilians during Korean War is one of controversial legal issues. Studies have been focused on the illegality over summary execution of civilians without fair trials and due legal procedures in the light of the victims and their families.
This study concerning to what is the nature of the law as it was considered the unarmed massacres perpetrated by the military, police and other state’s actors during Korean War time. This study finds two facts. One is that then state’s legal system in the legal texts including the constitution and the law of other related people’s rights existed and there was no any legal authority and powers to do political killings for the military and members of then ruling power, and the legal system did not work well in reality. The other is that, although the perpetrators including its commanders should be punished, immunities have be continued under any current
laws.
So under the circumstances of the reality, I urge that Korean society had better prepare the state’s preventive measures including state’s official declaration for the civilians killings without the due process during war time as a crime, than punishment over perpetrators in the process of transitional justice.