163-587: The No Gun Ri massacre ( Korean : 노근리 양민 학살 사건 ) was a mass killing of South Korean refugees by U.S. military air and ground fire near the village of Nogeun-ri ( 노근리 ) in central South Korea between July 26 and 29, 1950, early in the Korean War . In 2005, a South Korean government inquest certified the names of 163 dead or missing and 55 wounded, and added that many other victims' names were not reported. The No Gun Ri Peace Foundation estimates 250–300 were killed, mostly women and children. The incident
326-512: A New York Times article from Korea, which reported, without further detail, that an unnamed high-ranking U.S. officer told the reporter of the "panicky" shooting of "many civilians" by a U.S. Army regiment that July. No evidence has emerged, however, that the U.S. military investigated the incident at the time. During the U.S.-supported postwar autocracy of President Syngman Rhee , survivors of No Gun Ri were too fearful of official retaliation to file public complaints. Survivor Yang Hae-chan said he
489-464: A green belt aimed at preventing the city from sprawling out into neighboring Gyeonggi Province. These areas are frequently sought after by people looking to escape from urban life on weekends and during vacations. Air pollution is a major issue in Seoul. According to the 2016 World Health Organization Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database, the annual average PM2.5 concentration in 2014
652-479: A spoken language . Since the turn of the 21st century, aspects of Korean culture have spread to other countries through globalization and cultural exports . As such, interest in Korean language acquisition (as a foreign language ) is also generated by longstanding alliances, military involvement, and diplomacy, such as between South Korea–United States and China–North Korea since the end of World War II and
815-455: A 12.85% increase from June 2010. The next largest group was Chinese citizens who were not of Korean ethnicity; 29,901 of them resided in Seoul. The next highest group consisted of the 9,999 United States citizens who were not of Korean ancestry. The next highest group were Taiwanese citizens, at 8,717. The two major religions in Seoul are Christianity and Buddhism . Other religions include Muism (indigenous religion) and Confucianism . Seoul
978-484: A Korean influence on Khitan. The hypothesis that Korean could be related to Japanese has had some supporters due to some overlap in vocabulary and similar grammatical features that have been elaborated upon by such researchers as Samuel E. Martin and Roy Andrew Miller . Sergei Starostin (1991) found about 25% of potential cognates in the Japanese–Korean 100-word Swadesh list . Some linguists concerned with
1141-546: A No Gun Ri feature film, A Little Pond , written and directed by Lee Saang-woo and featuring Song Kang-ho , Moon So-ri and other Korean stars who donated their work. Besides commercial release in South Korea, the movie was screened at international film festivals, including in New York and London. In 2006–2010, artist Park Kun-woong and Chung Eun-yong published Nogunri Story , a two-volume graphic narrative that told
1304-458: A book Chung published about the events of 1950, raising awareness of the allegations inside South Korea. In that same year, the U.S. Armed Forces Claims Service in Korea dismissed one No Gun Ri petition by asserting that any killings took place during combat. The survivors' committee retorted that there was no battle at No Gun Ri, but U.S. officials refused to reconsider. In 1997, the survivors filed
1467-477: A claim with a South Korean compensation committee under the binational Status of Forces Agreement. This time, the U.S. claims service responded by again citing what it claimed was a combat situation, and by asserting that there was no evidence the 1st Cavalry Division was in the No Gun Ri area, as the survivors' research indicated (and as the 1961 official U.S. Army history of the war confirms). On April 28, 1998,
1630-513: A clear legal framework of responsibility, publicly checkable results and a major focus on reduction of transport pollutants. In July 2020, South Korea, then the 11th largest world economy, announced a US$ 35 billion position on ending investment in coal. In November 2020, South Korea committed to a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. Between 2005 and 2021 annual concentration levels of small particulate matter (PM10) fell by 30-40 % in Seoul, whilst concentrations of larger particulate matter (PM 2.5) in
1793-480: A core vowel. The IPA symbol ⟨ ◌͈ ⟩ ( U+0348 ◌͈ COMBINING DOUBLE VERTICAL LINE BELOW ) is used to denote the tensed consonants /p͈/, /t͈/, /k͈/, /t͡ɕ͈/, /s͈/ . Its official use in the extensions to the IPA is for "strong" articulation, but is used in the literature for faucalized voice . The Korean consonants also have elements of stiff voice , but it is not yet known how typical this
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#17328009226381956-473: A crime against humanity. In one such study, legal scholar Tae-Ung Baik noted that the 1907 Hague Convention, the relevant international treaty in 1950, seemed to exclude civilians victimized by an allied nation's military, as with the South Koreans at No Gun Ri, from treaty “protected” status, leaving prosecution to local or military law. But Baik also contended any mass killing of noncombatants remained
2119-513: A crime under “customary international law.” American soldiers sent to Korea in 1950 were issued a booklet telling them the Hague treaty forbade targeting civilians. "Hostilities are restricted to the armed forces of belligerents," it said. American experts in military law said prosecuting ex-soldiers a half-century after No Gun Ri, under the relevant U.S. military law from 1950, the Articles of War,
2282-780: A declassified document at the National Archives in which the United States Ambassador to Korea in 1950, John J. Muccio , notified the State Department on the day the No Gun Ri killings began that the U.S. military, fearing infiltrators, had adopted a policy of shooting South Korean refugee groups that approached U.S. lines despite warning shots. Pressed by the South Korean government, the Pentagon eventually acknowledged it deliberately omitted
2445-570: A dozen 7th Cavalry Regiment veterans. "We just annihilated them," it quoted former 7th Cavalry machine gunner Norman Tinkler as saying. The journalists' research into declassified military documents at the U.S. National Archives uncovered recorded instructions in late July 1950 that front-line units shoot South Korean refugees approaching their positions. A liaison officer of the sister 8th Cavalry Regiment had relayed word to his unit from 1st Cavalry Division headquarters to fire on refugees trying to cross U.S. front lines. Major General William B. Kean of
2608-470: A native Korean (as opposed to Sino-Korean ) common noun simply meaning 'capital city.' The word seoul is believed to have descended from Seorabeol (서라벌; historically transliterated into the Hanja form 徐羅伐 ), which originally referred to Gyeongju , the capital of Silla . Wiryeseong ( 위례성 ; 慰禮城 ), the capital settlement of Baekje , was located within the boundaries of modern-day Seoul. Seoul
2771-439: A nearby cemetery, to which some victims' remains were moved from family plots. A publicly financed No Gun Ri International Peace Foundation also sponsored an annual peace conference, a No Gun Ri Peace Prize, and a summer peace camp at the park for international university students. In South Korea, the No Gun Ri story inspired works of nonfiction, fiction, theater, and other arts. In 2010, a major Korean studio, Myung Films, released
2934-526: A new capital. After several governmental debates, Yi Seong-gye chose Hanyang (Sindo) instead of Muak in September 1394. As Joseon's new capital, Hanyang was planned as a geographic embodiment of Korean Confucianism . Construction of the city began in October 1394. During its early construction stages, some major palaces, including Gyeongbokgung , were finished in 1395. The Fortress Wall surrounding Hanyang
3097-521: A possible relationship.) Hudson & Robbeets (2020) suggested that there are traces of a pre- Nivkh substratum in Korean. According to the hypothesis, ancestral varieties of Nivkh (also known as Amuric ) were once distributed on the Korean Peninsula before the arrival of Koreanic speakers. Korean syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), consisting of an optional onset consonant, glide /j, w, ɰ/ and final coda /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, l/ surrounding
3260-469: A skeptical U.S. News & World Report magazine article, the AP team did additional archival research and reported that one of nine ex-soldiers quoted in the original No Gun Ri article, Edward L. Daily, had incorrectly identified himself as an eyewitness, and instead had been passing on second-hand information. A Pentagon spokesman said this would not affect an ongoing Army investigation of No Gun Ri, noting Daily
3423-656: Is an agglutinative language . The Korean language is traditionally considered to have nine parts of speech . Modifiers generally precede the modified words, and in the case of verb modifiers, can be serially appended. The sentence structure or basic form of a Korean sentence is subject–object–verb (SOV), but the verb is the only required and immovable element and word order is highly flexible, as in many other agglutinative languages. Question 가게에 gage-e store- LOC 가셨어요? ga-syeo-sseo-yo go- HON . PAST - CONJ - POL 가게에 가셨어요? gage-e ga-syeo-sseo-yo store-LOC go-HON.PAST-CONJ-POL 'Did [you] go to
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#17328009226383586-511: Is closer to a near-open central vowel ( [ɐ] ), though ⟨a⟩ is still used for tradition. Grammatical morphemes may change shape depending on the preceding sounds. Examples include -eun/-neun ( -은/-는 ) and -i/-ga ( -이/-가 ). Sometimes sounds may be inserted instead. Examples include -eul/-reul ( -을/-를 ), -euro/-ro ( -으로/-로 ), -eseo/-seo ( -에서/-서 ), -ideunji/-deunji ( -이든지/-든지 ) and -iya/-ya ( -이야/-야 ). Some verbs may also change shape morphophonemically. Korean
3749-492: Is evidence of the consumption of cooked grain and fish by 3,000 B.C. Around 1,500 B.C., communities began transitioning into the Bronze Age and farming at scale. Due to modern Seoul's significant urbanization, Amsa-dong Neolithic Site [ ko ] is the only known major archaeological site in Seoul where Stone Age materials have been found, although such materials have also been found in minor sites throughout
3912-441: Is headed by a mayor and three vice mayors, and is divided into 25 autonomous districts and 522 administrative neighborhoods. Seoul is divided into 25 " gu " ( 구 ; 區 ) (district). The gu vary greatly in area (from 10 to 47 km or 3.9 to 18.1 sq mi) and population (from fewer than 140,000 to 630,000). Songpa has the most people, while Seocho has the largest area. The government of each gu handles many of
4075-453: Is hereby constituted a municipal corporation to be known as SEOUL. The boundaries of the municipal corporation are the present limits of the City of Seoul consisting of the following eight districts: Chong Koo , Chong No Koo , Sur Tai Moon Koo , Tong Tai Moon Koo , Sung Tong Koo , Ma Po Koo , Yong San Koo , and Yang Doung Po Koo , and as such may be extended as provided by law. Seoul under
4238-708: Is home to one of the world's largest Christian congregations, Yoido Full Gospel Church , which has around 830,000 members. According to the 2015 census, 10.8% of the population follows Buddhism and 35% follows Christianity (24.3% Protestantism and 10.7% Catholicism). 53.6% of the population is irreligious. Seoul is home to the world's largest modern university founded by a Buddhist Order, Dongguk University . Compulsory education lasts from grade 1–9 (six years of elementary school and three years of middle school). Students spend six years in elementary school, three years in middle school, and three years in high school. Secondary schools generally require students to wear uniforms. There
4401-581: Is in the northwest of South Korea. Seoul proper comprises 605.25 km (233.69 sq mi), with a radius of approximately 15 km (9 mi), roughly bisected into northern and southern halves by the Han River . The river is no longer actively used for navigation, because its estuary is located at the borders of the two Koreas, with civilian entry barred. There are four main mountains in central Seoul: Bugaksan , Inwangsan , Naksan and Namsan . The Seoul Fortress Wall , which historically bounded
4564-399: Is mainly reserved for specific circumstances such as newspapers, scholarly papers and disambiguation. Today Hanja is largely unused in everyday life but is still important for historical and linguistic studies. The Korean names for the language are based on the names for Korea used in both South Korea and North Korea. The English word "Korean" is derived from Goryeo , which is thought to be
4727-611: Is not a Sino-Korean word, 'Seoul' has no inherently corresponding Hanja ( Chinese characters used in the Korean language). Instead of phonetically transcribing 'Seoul' to Chinese, in the Chinese-speaking world, Seoul was called Hànchéng ( 汉城 ; 漢城 ), which is the Chinese pronunciation of Hanseong . On 18 January 2005, the Seoul Metropolitan Government changed Seoul's official Chinese name from
4890-399: Is of faucalized consonants. They are produced with a partially constricted glottis and additional subglottal pressure in addition to tense vocal tract walls, laryngeal lowering, or other expansion of the larynx. /s/ is aspirated [sʰ] and becomes an alveolo-palatal [ɕʰ] before [j] or [i] for most speakers (but see North–South differences in the Korean language ). This occurs with
5053-861: Is the seat of the South Korean government . Seoul's history traces back to 18 BC when it was founded by the people of Baekje , one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. During the Joseon dynasty, Seoul was officially designated as the capital, surrounded by the Fortress Wall of Seoul. In the early 20th century, Seoul was occupied by the Japanese Empire , temporarily renamed " Keijō " ("Gyeongseong" in Korean). The Korean War brought fierce battles, with Seoul changing hands four times and leaving
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5216-747: Is well attested in Western Old Japanese and Northern Ryukyuan languages , in Eastern Old Japanese it only occurs in compounds, and it is only present in three dialects of the Southern Ryukyuan language group . Also, the doublet wo meaning "hemp" is attested in Western Old Japanese and Southern Ryukyuan languages. It is thus plausible to assume a borrowed term. (See Classification of the Japonic languages or Comparison of Japanese and Korean for further details on
5379-512: Is written in the Korean script ( 한글 ; Hangeul in South Korea, 조선글 ; Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea), a system developed during the 15th century for that purpose, although it did not become the primary script until the 20th century. The script uses 24 basic letters ( jamo ) and 27 complex letters formed from the basic ones. When first recorded in historical texts, Korean was only
5542-614: The 2002 FIFA World Cup . Seoul is geographically set in a mountainous and hilly terrain, with Bukhansan positioned on its northern edge. Within the Seoul Capital Area lie five UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung , Hwaseong Fortress , Jongmyo , Namhansanseong , and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon dynasty . Furthermore, Seoul has witnessed a surge in modern architectural development, with iconic landmarks including
5705-655: The Hanja ' 漢 ' (a transliteration of a native Korean word 한 ; han ; lit. great), which may also refer to the Han people or the Han dynasty in Chinese and is associated with 'China' in Japanese context. After World War II and the liberation of Korea , Seoul became the official name for the Korean capital. The Standard Korean Language Dictionary still acknowledges both common and proper noun definitions of seoul . Unlike most place names in Korea, as it
5868-645: The Korean War . Along with other languages such as Chinese and Arabic , Korean is ranked at the top difficulty level for English speakers by the United States Department of Defense . Modern Korean descends from Middle Korean , which in turn descends from Old Korean , which descends from the Proto-Koreanic language , which is generally suggested to have its linguistic homeland somewhere in Manchuria . Whitman (2012) suggests that
6031-524: The Korean dialects , which are still largely mutually intelligible . The Chinese language , written with Chinese characters and read with Sino-Xenic pronunciations , was first introduced to Korea in the 1st century BC, and remained the medium of formal writing and government until the late 19th century. Korean scholars adapted Chinese characters (known in Korean as Hanja ) to write their own language, creating scripts known as idu , hyangchal , gugyeol , and gakpil. These systems were cumbersome, due to
6194-755: The N Seoul Tower , the 63 Building , the Lotte World Tower , the Dongdaemun Design Plaza , Lotte World , the Trade Tower , COEX , IFC Seoul , and Parc1 . Seoul was named the World Design Capital in 2010 and has served as the national hub for the music, entertainment, and cultural industries that have propelled K-pop and the Korean Wave to international prominence. Traditionally, seoul ( 서울 ) has been
6357-633: The Second Sino-Japanese War , Yeongdeungpo District was annexed into Seoul on April 1, 1936, to function as an industrial complex for steel and other metalworking factories. The city was liberated by U.S. forces at the end of World War II . In 1945, following the liberation from Japanese colonial rule, the American military assumed control of Korea, including its capital city, then referred to as Kyeongseongbu in line with Japanese nomenclature. The U.S. military government published
6520-568: The Three Kingdoms of Korea (not the ancient confederacies in the southern Korean Peninsula), while " -eo " and " -mal " mean "language" and "speech", respectively. Korean is also simply referred to as guk-eo , literally "national language". This name is based on the same Han characters ( 國語 "nation" + "language") that are also used in Taiwan and Japan to refer to their respective national languages. In North Korea and China ,
6683-915: The 16th century for all Korean classes, including uneducated peasants and slaves. By the 17th century, the yangban had exchanged Hangul letters with slaves, which suggests a high literacy rate of Hangul during the Joseon era. In the context of growing Korean nationalism in the 19th century, the Gabo Reform of 1894 abolished the Confucian examinations and decreed that government documents would be issued in Hangul instead of literary Chinese. Some newspapers were published entirely in Hangul, but other publications used Korean mixed script , with Hanja for Sino-Korean vocabulary and Hangul for other elements. North Korea abolished Hanja in writing in 1949, but continues to teach them in schools. Their usage in South Korea
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6846-491: The 17th century. Thus, the Joseon capital of Hanseong was widely referred to as the seoul. Due to its common usage, French missionaries called the Joseon capital Séoul (/se.ul/) in their writings, hence the common romanization Seoul in various languages today. Under subsequent Japanese colonization , Hanseong was renamed as Keijō (京城, literally 'capital city') by the Imperial authorities to prevent confusion with
7009-403: The 1960s, urbanization also accelerated and workers began to move to Seoul and other larger cities. In 1963, Seoul went through two major expansions that established the shape and size of the present-day Seoul—barring minor adjustments to the borders later in 1973 and 2000. In August 1963, Seoul annexed parts of Yangju-gun , Gwangju-gun , Siheung-gun , Gimpo-gun , and Bucheon-gun , expanding
7172-554: The 1988 Summer Olympics, is the largest park. The areas near the stream Tancheon are popular for exercise. Cheonggyecheon also has spaces for recreation. In 2017 the Seoullo 7017 Skypark opened, spanning diagonally overtop Seoul Station. There are also many parks along the Han River , such as Ichon Hangang Park, Yeouido Hangang Park, Mangwon Hangang Park, Nanji Hangang Park, Banpo Hangang Park, Ttukseom Hangang Park and Jamsil Hangang Park. The Seoul National Capital Area also contains
7335-437: The 20th century. The commission's docket eventually held more than 200 cases of what it described as "civilian massacre committed by U.S. soldiers". Korean language Korean ( South Korean : 한국어 , Hanguk-eo ; North Korean : 조선어 , Chosŏnŏ ) is the native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It is the national language of both North Korea and South Korea . Beyond Korea,
7498-406: The 5th century. However, according to Samguk sagi , both Baekje and Silla described the land as frontier border of Baekje, not as the capital region. Moreover, Jinheung Taewang Stele found at current day Bukhansan tells that the place was underdeveloped as of 6th century AD, suggesting that the first capital Wiryeseong was not located in or nearby Seoul. In July or August 553, Silla took
7661-497: The 7th Cavalry's first enemy killed-in-action in Korea. The No Gun Ri survivors denied it emphatically, and only three of 52 battalion veterans interviewed by the U.S. team spoke of hostile fire, and then inconsistently. Regarding the aerial imagery that the U.S. report said suggested a lower death toll, the South Korean investigators, drawing on accounts from survivors and area residents, said at least 62 bodies had been taken away by relatives or buried in soldiers' abandoned foxholes in
7824-493: The AP in a lengthy, detailed refutation and by others. The Pulitzer committee reaffirmed its award and the credibility of the AP reporting. On September 30, 1999, within hours of publication of the AP report, Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered Army Secretary Louis Caldera to initiate an investigation. The Seoul government also ordered an investigation, proposing that the two inquiries conduct joint document searches and joint witness interviews. The Americans refused. In
7987-512: The AP's work, in June 2000, CBS News reported the existence of a U.S. Air Force memo from July 1950, in which the operations chief in Korea said the Air Force was strafing refugee columns approaching U.S. positions. The memo, dated July 25, the day before the No Gun Ri killings began with such a strafing, said the U.S. Army had requested the attacks on civilians, and "to date, we have complied with
8150-521: The Charter of the City of Seoul in the official gazette on October 10 of the following year. The charter declared Seoul as the name of the city and established it as a municipal corporation . Seoul's status as a municipal corporation mirrored the independent cities in the United States that do not belong to any county, and Seoul was established as an independent administrative unit, separate from
8313-592: The Improvement of Air Quality in the Seoul Metropolitan Area" was passed in December 2003. Its 1st Seoul Metropolitan Air Quality Improvement Plan (2005–2014) focused on improving the concentrations of PM10 and nitrogen dioxide by reducing emissions. As a result, the annual average PM10 concentrations decreased from 70.0 μg/m in 2001 to 44.4 μg/m in 2011 and 46 μg/m in 2014. As of 2014,
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#17328009226388476-747: The James Bond thriller Trigger Mortis of 2015, by British author Anthony Horowitz . The 1999 No Gun Ri articles prompted hundreds of South Koreans to come forward to report other alleged incidents of large-scale civilian killings by the U.S. military in 1950–1951, mostly in the form of air attacks. In 2005, the National Assembly created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the Republic of Korea to investigate these allegations, as well as other human rights violations in southern Korea during
8639-543: The Koreans, saying, "I thought the Army report was a whitewash." In a letter to Defense Secretary Cohen, another U.S. adviser, retired Marine general Bernard E. Trainor , expressed sympathy with the hard-pressed U.S. troops of 1950, but said the killings were unjustified, and that "the American command was responsible for the loss of innocent civilian life in or around No-Gun-Ri." Journalists and scholars subsequently noted that
8802-604: The Muccio letter from its 2001 report. In disclaiming U.S. culpability in January 2001, then-President Clinton told reporters, "The evidence was not clear that there was responsibility for wrongdoing high enough in the chain of command in the Army to say that, in effect, the government was responsible". American lawyers for the No Gun Ri survivors rejected that rationale, asserting that whether 7th Cavalry troops acted under formal orders or not, "the massacre of civilian refugees, mainly
8965-451: The Muccio letter from their final report, along with other incriminating documents and testimony, prompted more calls for action. Two leaders of the National Assembly appealed to U.S. Senator (and future president) Joseph R. Biden , chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee , for a joint investigation, but no U.S. congressional body ever took up the No Gun Ri issue. In a 2015 book, David Straub, U.S. Embassy political chief during
9128-400: The No Gun Ri allegations, and "found no information to substantiate the claim" in the operational records of the 1st Cavalry Division and other frontline units. Months before the Army's private correspondence with the church group, Associated Press reporters, researching those same 1950 operational records, found orders to shoot South Korean civilians. The U.S.-based news agency, which reported
9291-443: The No Gun Ri area, including 200 seen in one tunnel. The survivors generally put the death toll at 400, including 100 in the initial air attack, with scores more wounded. In Pentagon interviews in 2000, 7th Cavalry veterans' estimates of No Gun Ri dead ranged from dozens to 300. One who had a close look, career soldier Homer Garza, who led a patrol through one No Gun Ri tunnel, said that he saw 200 to 300 bodies piled up there. In 2005,
9454-477: The No Gun Ri investigation, wrote that meeting the survivors' demands would have set an undesirable precedent for similar cases from 1950 Korea. After a delegation's visit to No Gun Ri, the annual General Assembly of the US Presbyterian Church adopted a resolution in June 2016 calling on church leadership to urge the U.S. president and Congress to issue an apology and appropriate compensation for
9617-400: The No Gun Ri killings. No Gun Ri villagers said that in later decades two mass graves holding some victims' remains were disturbed, that bones were removed during a reforestation project and by farming activity. In 2007, excavations at several places near the bridge turned up little. The forensics team said it hadn't found more because so much time had passed and any remains had been exposed to
9780-693: The North Korean advance, and continued to retreat throughout July. In the two weeks following the first significant U.S. ground troop engagement on July 5, the U.S. Army estimated that 380,000 South Korean civilians fled south, passing through the retreating U.S. and South Korean lines. With gaps in their lines, U.S. forces were attacked from the rear, and reports spread that disguised North Korean soldiers were infiltrating refugee columns. Because of these concerns, orders were issued to fire on Korean civilians in front-line areas, orders discovered decades later in declassified military archives. Among those issuing
9943-537: The North Koreans in the June 1950 First Battle of Seoul , recaptured by UN forces in the September 1950 Second Battle of Seoul , falling to a combined Chinese-North Korean force in the January 1951 Third Battle of Seoul , and finally being recaptured once more by UN forces in Operation Ripper during the spring of 1951. The extensive fighting left the city heavily damaged after the war. The capital
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#173280092263810106-408: The North Koreans, who advanced cautiously from Yongdong. Declassified Army intelligence reports showed that the enemy front line was two miles or more from No Gun Ri late on July 28, the third day of the massacre. That night, the 7th Cavalry messaged division headquarters, "No important contact has been reported by our 2nd Battalion." The refugee killings were not reported in surviving unit documents. In
10269-579: The Seoul Capital Area, which has major technology hubs, such as Gangnam and Digital Media City. Seoul is ranked seventh in the Global Power City Index and the Global Financial Centres Index , and is one of the five leading hosts of global conferences. The city has also hosted major events such as the 1986 Asian Games , the 1988 Summer Olympics , and the 2010 G20 Seoul summit , in addition to three matches at
10432-424: The Seoul government committee made a final ruling against the No Gun Ri survivors, citing the long-ago expiration of a five-year statute of limitations. In June 1998, South Korea's National Council of Churches, on behalf of the No Gun Ri survivors, sought help from the U.S. National Council of Churches, which quietly asked the Pentagon to investigate. In March 1999, the Army told the U.S. council that it had looked into
10595-438: The Seoul government's inquest committee certified the identities of a minimum of 218 casualties. In their report, South Korean investigators acknowledged that no documents showed specific orders at No Gun Ri to shoot refugees. However, they pointed to gaps in the U.S.-supplied documents dealing with 7th Cavalry and U.S. Air Force operations. Missing documents included the 7th Cavalry's journal, or communications log, for July 1950,
10758-531: The South Korean government's Committee for the Review and Restoration of Honor for the No Gun Ri Victims, after a yearlong process of verifying claims through family registers, medical reports and other documents and testimony, certified the names of 150 No Gun Ri dead, 13 missing, and 55 wounded, including some who later died of their wounds. It said reports were not filed on many other victims because of
10921-424: The South Koreans. The first troops landed on July 1, and by July 22, three U.S. Army divisions were in Korea, including the 1st Cavalry Division . These American troops were insufficiently trained, poorly equipped, and often led by inexperienced officers. Of particular relevance was that they lacked training in dealing with war-displaced civilians. The combined U.S. and South Korean forces were initially unable to stop
11084-469: The U.S. military blew up two Naktong River bridges packed with refugees on August 4, 1950, and when other refugee columns were strafed by U.S. aircraft in the war's first months. The AP team ( Sang-hun Choe , Charles J. Hanley , Martha Mendoza and Randy Herschaft) was awarded the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for their reporting on No Gun Ri, along with receiving 10 other major national and international journalism awards. Expanding on
11247-677: The U.S. military government between 1945 and 1948 was much smaller than it is today. It only covered the Fortress Wall , marked by the Eight Gates , and the districts incorporated during Japanese rule to prosecute imperial Japan's war efforts. During the Korean War , Seoul changed hands between the Soviet- and Chinese-backed North Korean forces and the American-backed South Korean forces four times: falling to
11410-512: The U.S. military had adopted a theater-wide policy of firing on approaching refugee groups. Despite demands, the U.S. investigation was not reopened. Prompted by the exposure of No Gun Ri, survivors of similar alleged incidents from 1950 to 1951 filed reports with the Seoul government. In 2008, an investigative commission said more than 200 cases of alleged large-scale killings by the U.S. military had been registered, mostly air attacks. The division of Japan's former Korean colony into two zones at
11573-530: The U.S. offered a $ 4 million plan for a memorial at No Gun Ri, and a scholarship fund. The survivors later rejected the plan, because the memorial would be dedicated to all the war's South Korean civilian dead, rather than just the No Gun Ri victims. The No Gun Ri survivors' committee called the U.S. Army report a "whitewash" of command responsibility. "This is not enough for the massacre of over 60 hours, of 400 innocent people who were hunted like animals," said committee head Chung Eun-yong. The survivors rejected
11736-508: The U.S. report either did not address or presented incomplete versions of key declassified documents, some previously reported in the news media. News reports pointed out that the U.S. review, in describing the July 1950 Air Force memo, did not acknowledge that it said refugees were being strafed at the Army's request. Researchers found that the U.S. review had not disclosed the existence of U.S. Air Force mission reports during this period documenting
11899-509: The annual average PM10 concentration was still at least twice than that recommended by the WHO Air Quality Guidelines. The 2nd Seoul Metropolitan Air Quality Improvement Plan (2015–2024) added PM2.5 and ozone to its list of managed pollutants. Investment in air quality improvement between 2007 and 2020 in the order of US$ 9 billion on the part of three key local authorities, namely Gyeonggi, Incheon and Seoul, delivered
12062-517: The area of approximately 4 km (2.5 miles) radius surrounding the Fortress Wall (i.e., Outer old Seoul ; 성저십리 ; 城底十里 ). On October 1, 1910, Imperial Japan demoted Seoul as no different than any other city within the Gyeonggi Province . After Imperial Japan's redistricting, Seoul only included the area inside the Fortress Wall and present-day Yongsan District . In the 1930s, as part of Imperial Japan's war efforts leading up to
12225-447: The army's request". A U.S. Navy document later emerged in which pilots from the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge reported that the Army had told them to attack any groups of more than eight people in South Korea. "Most fighter-bomber pilots regarded Korean civilians in white clothes as enemy troops," South Korean scholar Taewoo Kim would later conclude after reviewing Air Force mission reports from 1950. In May 2000, challenged by
12388-455: The beginnings of words. /l/ becomes alveolar flap [ɾ] between vowels, and [l] or [ɭ] at the end of a syllable or next to another /l/ . A written syllable-final ' ㄹ ', when followed by a vowel or a glide ( i.e. , when the next character starts with ' ㅇ '), migrates to the next syllable and thus becomes [ɾ] . Traditionally, /l/ was disallowed at the beginning of a word. It disappeared before [j] , and otherwise became /n/ . However,
12551-482: The bridge. "The American soldiers played with our lives like boys playing with flies," said Chun Choon-ja, a 12-year-old girl at the time. "Children were screaming in fear and adults were praying for their lives, and the whole time they never stopped shooting," said survivor Park Sun-yong, whose 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter were killed, while she was badly wounded. Two communications specialists, Larry Levine and James Crume, said they remembered orders to fire on
12714-477: The city Gyeongseong ("Kyongsong" in Korean and " Keijō " in Japanese). The city saw significant transformation under Japanese colonial rule. Imperial Japan removed the city walls, paved roads, and built Western-style buildings. Seoul was deprived of its special status as the capital city and downsized under imperial Japan, compared to the traditional notion among people of the Joseon dynasty that Seoul included
12877-458: The city as the provincial capital. Based on the naming system, the actual name of Han River during this time was likely Namcheon (Nam River) itself or should have the word ending with "cheon" ( 천 ; 川 ) not "gang" ( 강 ; 江 ) nor "su" ( 수 ; 水 ). In addition, "Bukhansan" Jinheung Stele clearly states that Silla had possession of Hanseong (modern day Pyongyang ), thus Bukhansan has to be located north of Hanseong. Modern day Pyongyang
13040-423: The city mostly in ruins. Nevertheless, the city has since undergone significant reconstruction and rapid urbanization. Seoul was rated Asia's most livable city, with the second-highest quality of life globally according to Arcadis in 2015 and a GDP per capita (PPP) of approximately $ 40,000. 15 Fortune Global 500 companies, including industry giants such as Samsung , LG , and Hyundai , are headquartered in
13203-533: The city, often through rescue archaeology . Seoul is first recorded as Wiryeseong, the capital of Baekje (founded in 18 BC) in the northeastern area of modern Seoul. There are several city walls remaining in the area that date from this time. Pungnaptoseong , an earthen wall located southeast Seoul, is widely believed to have been at the main Wiryeseong site. As the Three Kingdoms competed for this strategic region, control passed from Baekje to Goguryeo in
13366-539: The city, goes over these mountains. The city is bordered by eight mountains, as well as the more level lands of the Han River plain and western areas. Seoul has a large quantity of parks. One of the most famous parks is Namsan Park , which offers recreational hiking and views of the downtown Seoul skyline, especially via its N Seoul Tower . Seoul Olympic Park , located in Songpa District and built to host
13529-414: The compact Koreanic language family . Even so, Jejuan and Korean are not mutually intelligible . The linguistic homeland of Korean is suggested to be somewhere in contemporary Manchuria . The hierarchy of the society from which the language originates deeply influences the language, leading to a system of speech levels and honorifics indicative of the formality of any given situation. Modern Korean
13692-541: The control of the region from Baekje, and the city became a part of newly established Sin Province ( 신주 ; 新州 ). Sin (新) has both meaning of "New" and "Silla", thus literally means New Silla Province. In November 555, Jinheung Taewang made a royal visit to Bukhansan, and inspected the frontier. In 557, Silla abolished Sin Province, and established Bukhansan Province ( 북한산주 ; 北漢山州 ). The word Hanseong ( 한성 ; 漢城 ; lit. Han Fortress) appears on
13855-417: The country and according to satellite data, the persistent carbon dioxide anomaly over the city is one of the strongest in the world. Air quality is monitored by geo-stationary satellite measurements centred on Korea and its immediate neighbours. In January 2024 Seoul Metro , whose passengers at the time numbered approximately 7 million a day, announced plans for extensive pollution reduction measures across
14018-523: The current Ichon-dong , the Banpo apartment complex , Apgujeong-dong and Jamsil-dong . Until 1972, Seoul was claimed by North Korea as its de jure capital, being specified as such in Article 103 of the 1948 North Korean constitution . Seoul was the host city of the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Summer Olympics as well as one of the venues of the 2002 FIFA World Cup . South Korea's 2019 population
14181-399: The early 1990s, the reasons being the high costs of living, urban sprawling to Gyeonggi region's satellite bed cities and an aging population. As of 2016, the number of foreigners living in Seoul was 404,037, 22.9% of the total foreign population in South Korea. As of June 2011, 186,631 foreigners were Chinese citizens of Korean ancestry. This was an 8.84% increase from the end of 2010 and
14344-502: The elderly, women and children, was in and of itself a clear violation of international law for which the United States is liable under the doctrine of command responsibility and must pay compensation". Writing to the Army inspector general's office in May 2001, the lawyers also pointed out that numerous orders were issued at the war front to shoot civilians, and said the U.S. military's self-investigation – "allowing enforcement to be subject to
14507-414: The elements and soil erosion, railway work, cultivation, and highly acidic soil. After the United States refused to offer compensation and the survivors rejected the plan for a war memorial and scholarship fund, South Korea's National Assembly on February 9, 2004, adopted a "Special Act on the Review and Restoration of Honor for the No Gun Ri Victims". It established the committee that examined and certified
14670-546: The end of World War II led to years of border skirmishing between U.S.-allied South Korea and Soviet-allied North Korea. On June 25, 1950, the North Korean Army invaded the south to try to reunify the peninsula, beginning the Korean War. The invasion caught South Korea and its American ally by surprise, and sent the defending South Korean forces into retreat. The U.S. moved troops from Japan to fight alongside
14833-414: The ensuing 15-month probes, conducted by the U.S. Army inspector general's office and Seoul's defense ministry, interrogators interviewed or obtained statements from some 200 U.S. veterans and 75 Koreans. The Army researchers reviewed 1 million pages of U.S. archival documents. The final weeks were marked by press reports from Seoul of sharp disputes between the U.S. and Korean teams. On January 11, 2001,
14996-484: The existing provinces. The Korean version of the Charter translated " municipal corporation " as " special free city " ( 특별자유시 ; 特別自由市 ), which later became special metropolitan city (or special metropolitan city; 특별시 ) in the Local Autonomy Act of 1949 [ ko ] . Seoul has retained its status as the only special metropolitan city in South Korea (i.e., 서울특별시 ). The City of Seoul
15159-399: The first Korean dynasty known to Western nations. Korean people in the former USSR refer to themselves as Koryo-saram or Koryo-in (literally, " Koryo/Goryeo persons"), and call the language Koryo-mal' . Some older English sources also use the spelling "Corea" to refer to the nation, and its inflected form for the language, culture and people, "Korea" becoming more popular in
15322-478: The first days after the killings, and others remained inside one underpass tunnel, under thin layers of dirt, out of sight of airborne cameras and awaiting later burial in mass graves. In addition, South Korean military specialists questioned the U.S. reconnaissance photos, pointing out irregularities, including the fact that the No Gun Ri frames had been spliced into the roll of film, raising the possibility they were not, as claimed, from August 6, 1950, eight days after
15485-399: The form of a captured and translated North Korean military document, which reported the discovery of the massacre. A South Korean agent for the U.S. counterintelligence command confirmed that account with local villagers weeks later, when U.S. troops moved back through the area, the ex-agent told U.S. investigators in 2000. Evidence of high-level knowledge also appeared in late September 1950 in
15648-515: The fortress), and areas 10 Ri (Korean mile) around the Fortress Wall, which were named as Seongjeosimni ( Korean : 성저십리 ; Hanja : 城底十里 ; lit. 10 Ris around the fortress). The Doseong-an area later gained the informal but popular name Sadaemun-an ( 사대문 안 ), which literally means 'areas inside of the Four Great Gates ', and became the one and only downtown (city center) of Hanyang city . In
15811-418: The front line "fair game" and to "shoot all refugees coming across river". In addition, interview transcripts obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests showed that the Army had not reported repeated testimony from ex-soldiers that, as one put it, "the word I heard was 'Kill everybody from 6 to 60'" during their early days in Korea. In 2005, American historian Sahr Conway-Lanz reported his discovery of
15974-479: The functions that are handled by city governments in other jurisdictions. Each gu is divided into " dong " ( 동 ; 洞 ), or neighborhoods. Some gu have only a few dong s while others like Jongno District have a very large number of distinct neighborhoods. Seoul has 423 administrative dongs ( 행정동 ) in total. Seoul proper is noted for its population density , which is almost twice that of New York City and eight times greater than Rome . Its metropolitan area
16137-456: The fundamental disparities between the Korean and Chinese languages, and accessible only to those educated in classical Chinese. Most of the population was illiterate. In the 15th century King Sejong the Great personally developed an alphabetic featural writing system , known today as Hangul , to promote literacy among the common people. Introduced in the document Hunminjeongeum , it
16300-405: The historic Hànchéng to Shǒu'ěr ( 首尔 ; 首爾 ). Shǒu'ěr is a phono-semantic match incorporating both sound and meaning (through 首 meaning 'head', 'chief', 'first'). There is evidence of human habitation in the area now corresponding to Seoul from 30,000 to 40,000 years before the present. Around 4,000 B.C., people of the area lived in huts with lowered floors called umjip ( 움집 ). There
16463-585: The hottest month, has average high and low temperatures of 30.0 and 22.9 °C (86 and 73 °F) with higher temperatures possible. Heat index values can surpass 40 °C (104.0 °F) at the height of summer. Winters are usually cold to freezing with average January high and low temperatures of 2.1 and −5.5 °C (35.8 and 22.1 °F), and are generally much drier than summers, with an average of 24.9 days of snow annually. Sometimes, temperatures drop dramatically to below −10 °C (14 °F), and on some occasions as low as −15 °C (5 °F) in
16626-443: The identities of the dead and wounded, and it provided medical subsidies for surviving wounded. The act also envisioned a memorial park at the No Gun Ri site, which had begun attracting 20,000 to 30,000 visitors a year. The 33-acre (13-ha.) No Gun Ri Memorial Peace Park, built with $ 17 million in government funds and featuring a memorial, museum, and peace education center, opened in October 2011. In 2009, Yongdong County established
16789-479: The inflow of western loanwords changed the trend, and now word-initial /l/ (mostly from English loanwords) are pronounced as a free variation of either [ɾ] or [l] . All obstruents (plosives, affricates, fricatives) at the end of a word are pronounced with no audible release , [p̚, t̚, k̚] . Plosive sounds /p, t, k/ become nasals [m, n, ŋ] before nasal sounds. Hangul spelling does not reflect these assimilatory pronunciation rules, but rather maintains
16952-408: The issue between Japanese and Korean, including Alexander Vovin, have argued that the indicated similarities are not due to any genetic relationship , but rather to a sprachbund effect and heavy borrowing, especially from Ancient Korean into Western Old Japanese . A good example might be Middle Korean sàm and Japanese asá , meaning " hemp ". This word seems to be a cognate, but although it
17115-442: The killings, but described the three-day event as "an unfortunate tragedy inherent to war and not a deliberate killing". Then-President Bill Clinton issued a statement of regret, adding the next day that "things happened which were wrong", but survivors’ demands for an apology and compensation were rejected. South Korean investigators disagreed with the U.S. report, saying they believed that 7th Cavalry troops were ordered to fire on
17278-410: The killings. On the day the U.S. report was issued, President Bill Clinton issued a statement declaring, "I deeply regret that Korean civilians lost their lives at No Gun Ri in late July, 1950". The next day, he told reporters that "things happened which were wrong". However, the U.S. did not offer the apology and individual compensation sought by the survivors and the South Korean government. Instead,
17441-526: The language is most often called Joseon-mal , or more formally, Joseon-o . This is taken from the North Korean name for Korea (Joseon), a name retained from the Joseon dynasty until the proclamation of the Korean Empire , which in turn was annexed by the Empire of Japan . In mainland China , following the establishment of diplomatic relations with South Korea in 1992, the term Cháoxiǎnyǔ or
17604-604: The language is recognized as a minority language in parts of China , namely Jilin , and specifically Yanbian Prefecture , and Changbai County . It is also spoken by Sakhalin Koreans in parts of Sakhalin , the Russian island just north of Japan, and by the Koryo-saram in parts of Central Asia . The language has a few extinct relatives which—along with the Jeju language (Jejuan) of Jeju Island and Korean itself—form
17767-455: The late 1800s. In South Korea the Korean language is referred to by many names including hanguk-eo ("Korean language"), hanguk-mal ("Korean speech") and uri-mal ("our language"); " hanguk " is taken from the name of the Korean Empire ( 대한제국 ; 大韓帝國 ; Daehan Jeguk ). The " han " ( 韓 ) in Hanguk and Daehan Jeguk is derived from Samhan , in reference to
17930-555: The late 19th century, after hundreds of years of isolation, Seoul opened its gates to foreigners and began modernization. Seoul became the first city in East Asia to introduce electricity in the royal palace, which was established by the Edison Illuminating Company . A decade later the city also implemented electrical street lights. After Gojong 's proclamation of Korea as the Korean Empire in 1897, Seoul
18093-443: The main road south, and the estimated 600 refugees spent the night by a riverbank near Ha Ga Ri village, 3.5 miles (5.5 km) west of No Gun Ri. Seven refugees were killed by U.S. soldiers when they strayed from the group during the night. In the morning of July 26, the villagers found that the escorting soldiers had left. They continued down the road, were stopped by American troops at a roadblock near No Gun Ri, and were ordered onto
18256-420: The mid winter period of January and February. Temperatures below −20 °C (−4 °F) have been recorded. The Seoul Metropolitan Government is the local government for Seoul, and is responsible for the administration and provision of various services to the city, including correctional institutions, education, libraries, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services. It
18419-516: The neighboring 25th Infantry Division advised that any civilians found in areas supposed to be cleared by police should be considered enemies and "treated accordingly", an order relayed by his staff as "considered as unfriendly and shot". On the day the No Gun Ri killings began, the Eighth Army ordered all units to stop refugees from crossing their lines. In subsequent articles, the AP reported that many more South Korean civilians were killed when
18582-550: The network. The target was to cut pollution to over 30% below the legal limit of 50 μg/m3. It was 32 μg/m3 by 2026. The outset actuality was 38.8 μg/m3 average concentration of pollution. Starting in 2024, ₩100 billion annually for three years was earmarked for air pollution reduction measures. These included installation of air conditioning, better ventilation systems and filters, replacement of dust-inducing gravel rail tunnel beds with concrete ones, dust-capture matting at turnstiles, and constant public readings for pollution within
18745-402: The next decades, by Chung and later by a survivors' committee. Almost all were ignored, as was a petition to the U.S. and South Korean governments by the local Yongdong County Assembly. It goes beyond comprehension why they attacked and killed them with such cruelty. The U.S. government should take responsibility. — Excerpt from Chung's 1960 petition. In 1994, Seoul newspapers reported on
18908-631: The northeastern borders of Seoul. In September, Seoul again annexed present-day Gangnam . The two consecutive expansions more than doubled the size of Seoul from approximately 268 km (103 sq mi) to 613 km (237 sq mi). After annexation, Gangnam 's development was spurred by key infrastructure projects: the construction of the Hannam Bridge (1966–1969) and Gyeongbu Expressway (1968–1970). As Seoul's population kept growing, Park 's regime focused its development plans on Gangnam. The main hurdle for Gangnam's development
19071-462: The northern border. The city lost its provincial capital position and was put under Bukhansan Province once again. This further proves that Bukhansan was located in the North of modern-day Pyongyang as changing the provincial name and objective would not be required if Bukhansan was located within Seoul. In the 11th century Goryeo , which succeeded Unified Silla , built a summer palace in Seoul, which
19234-419: The notion that the killings were "not deliberate", pointing to accounts from veterans and to documents attesting to front-line orders to shoot civilians. Lawmakers of both the ruling and opposition party in South Korea criticized the U.S. position. Former U.S. congressman Pete McCloskey of California, the only one of eight outside advisers to the U.S. inquiry to write a detailed analysis afterward, agreed with
19397-428: The orders was 1st Cavalry Division commander Maj. Gen. Hobart R. Gay , who deemed Koreans left in the war zone to be "enemy agents", according to U.S. war correspondent O.H.P. King and U.S. diplomat Harold Joyce Noble. On the night of July 25, that division's 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, hearing of an enemy breakthrough, fled rearward from its forward positions, to be reorganized the next morning, digging in near
19560-524: The parallel railroad tracks, where U.S. soldiers searched them and their belongings, confiscating knives and other items. The refugees were resting, spread out along the railroad embankment around midday, when military aircraft strafed and bombed them. Recalling the air strike, Yang Hae-chan, a 10-year-old boy in 1950, said the attacking planes returned repeatedly, and "chaos broke out among the refugees. We ran around wildly trying to get away." He and another survivor said that soldiers reappeared and began shooting
19723-433: The passage of time and other factors. Of the certified victims, 41 percent were children under 15, and 70 percent were women, children or men over age 61. The South Korean government-funded No Gun Ri Peace Foundation, which operates a memorial park and museum at the site, estimated in 2011 that 250–300 were killed. Information about the refugee killings reached the U.S. command in Korea and the Pentagon by late August 1950, in
19886-421: The people screaming," recalled Thomas H. Hacha of the sister 1st Battalion, observing nearby. Others said some soldiers held their fire. Trapped refugees began piling up bodies as barricades and tried to dig into the ground to hide. Some managed to escape that first night, while U.S. troops turned searchlights on the tunnels and continued firing, said Chung Koo-ho, whose mother died shielding him and his sister. By
20049-512: The predawn hours of July 29, the 7th Cavalry Regiment withdrew from No Gun Ri. That afternoon, North Korean soldiers arrived outside the tunnels and helped those still alive, about two dozen, mostly children, feeding them and sending them back toward their villages. In the earliest published accounts of the killings, in August and September 1950, two North Korean journalists with the advancing northern troops reported finding an estimated 400 bodies in
20212-638: The proto-Koreans, already present in northern Korea, expanded into the southern part of the Korean Peninsula at around 300 BC and coexisted with the descendants of the Japonic Mumun cultivators (or assimilated them). Both had influence on each other and a later founder effect diminished the internal variety of both language families. Since the establishment of two independent governments, North–South differences have developed in standard Korean, including variations in pronunciation and vocabulary chosen. However, these minor differences can be found in any of
20375-421: The record that would have carried No Gun Ri orders. It was missing without explanation from its place at the National Archives. The South Korean report said five former Air Force pilots told U.S. interrogators that they were directed to strafe civilians during this period, and 17 veterans of the 7th Cavalry testified that they believed there were orders to shoot the No Gun Ri refugees. The Koreans noted that two of
20538-485: The refugees coming to the 2nd Battalion command post from a higher level, probably from 1st Cavalry Division. They recalled the ground fire beginning with a mortar round landing among the refugee families, followed by what Levine called a "frenzy" of small-arms fire. Some battalion veterans recalled front-line company officers ordering them to open fire. "It was assumed there were enemy in these people," said ex-rifleman Herman Patterson. "They were dying down there. I could hear
20701-494: The refugees, or was firing meant to control them. At another point, it suggested that soldiers may have "misunderstood" the Eighth Army's stop-refugees order to mean they could be shot. At the same time, it described the deaths as "an unfortunate tragedy inherent to war and not a deliberate killing". The Army report dismissed the testimony of soldiers who spoke of orders to shoot at No Gun Ri because, it said, none could remember
20864-433: The refugees. The survivors' group called the U.S. report a "whitewash". The AP later discovered additional archival documents showing that U.S. commanders ordered troops to "shoot" and "fire on" civilians at the war front during this period; these declassified documents had been found but not disclosed by the Pentagon investigators. Among the undisclosed documents was a letter from the U.S. ambassador in South Korea stating that
21027-468: The rejection of the survivors' claim in April 1998, had begun investigating the No Gun Ri allegations earlier that year, trying to identify Army units possibly involved, and to track down their ex-soldiers. On September 29, 1999, after a year of internal struggle over releasing the article, the AP published its investigative report on the massacre, based on the accounts of 24 No Gun Ri survivors, corroborated by
21190-446: The same period fell by 19% across the country and more in Seoul and Gyeonggi. Asian dust , emissions from Seoul and in general from the rest of South Korea, as well as emissions from China, all contribute to Seoul's air quality. Besides air quality, greenhouse gas emissions represent hot issues in South Korea since the country is among top-10 strongest emitters in the world. Seoul is the strongest hotspot of greenhouse gas emissions in
21353-415: The second day, the gunfire was reduced to potshots and occasional fusillades when a trapped refugee moved or tried to escape. Some also recall planes returning that second day to fire rockets or drop bombs. Racked with thirst, survivors resorted to drinking blood-filled water from a small stream running under the bridge. During the killings, the 2nd Battalion came under sporadic artillery and mortar fire from
21516-669: The short form Cháoyǔ has normally been used to refer to the standard language of North Korea and Yanbian , whereas Hánguóyǔ or the short form Hányǔ is used to refer to the standard language of South Korea. Korean is a member of the Koreanic family along with the Jeju language . Some linguists have included it in the Altaic family, but the core Altaic proposal itself has lost most of its prior support. The Khitan language has several vocabulary items similar to Korean that are not found in other Mongolian or Tungusic languages, suggesting
21679-673: The stone wall of "Pyongyang Fortress", which was presumably built in the mid to late 6th century AD over period of 42 years, located in Pyongyang, while there is no evidence that Seoul had name Hanseong dating the three kingdoms and earlier period. In 568, Jinheung Taewang made another royal visit to the northern border, visited Hanseong, and stayed in Namcheon on his way back to the capital. During his stay, he set Jinheung Taewang Stele, abolished Bukhansan Province, and established Namcheon Province (남천주; 南川州; South River Province), appointing
21842-616: The store?' Response 예/네. ye/ne AFF Seoul Seoul , officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City , is the capital and largest city of South Korea . The broader Seoul Capital Area , encompassing Gyeonggi Province and Incheon , emerged as the world's sixth largest metropolitan economy in 2022, trailing behind Paris , San Francisco , Los Angeles , Tokyo , and New York , and hosts more than half of South Korea's population. Although Seoul's population peaked at over 10 million, it has gradually decreased since 2014, standing at about 9.6 million residents as of 2024. Seoul
22005-469: The story of the massacre and the half-century struggle for the truth through thousands of drawings, based on Chung's 1994 book. The Korean-language work was also published in translation in Europe. In the United States and Britain, No Gun Ri was a central or secondary theme in five English-language novels, including the U.S. National Book Award finalist Lark & Termite of 2009, by Jayne Anne Phillips , and
22168-403: The strafing of apparent refugee groups and air strikes in the No Gun Ri vicinity. The report did not address the commanders' July 26–27, 1950, instructions in the 25th Infantry Division saying that civilians in the war zone would be considered unfriendly and shot. In saying no such orders were issued at No Gun Ri, the Army did not disclose that the 7th Cavalry log, which would have held such orders,
22331-649: The survivors asked that their government seek action at the International Court of Justice at The Hague , and in U.N. human rights forums, but were rebuffed. In 2002, a spokesman for South Korea's then-governing party called for a new U.S. inquiry, but the Defense Ministry later warned the National Assembly that a reopened probe might damage U.S.–South Korean relations. The disclosure in 2006 that Pentagon investigators had omitted
22494-529: The system. Seoul has a humid continental ( Köppen : Dwa ) or humid subtropical climate ( Cwa , by −3 °C or 26.6 °F isotherm), influenced by the monsoons ; there is great variation in temperature and precipitation throughout the year. The suburbs of Seoul are generally cooler than the center of Seoul because of the urban heat island effect. Summers are hot and humid, with the East Asian monsoon taking place from June until September. August,
22657-441: The tense fricative and all the affricates as well. At the end of a syllable, /s/ changes to /t/ (example: beoseot ( 버섯 ) 'mushroom'). /h/ may become a bilabial [ɸ] before [o] or [u] , a palatal [ç] before [j] or [i] , a velar [x] before [ɯ] , a voiced [ɦ] between voiced sounds, and a [h] elsewhere. /p, t, t͡ɕ, k/ become voiced [b, d, d͡ʑ, ɡ] between voiced sounds. /m, n/ frequently denasalize at
22820-424: The two governments issued their separate reports. After years of dismissing the allegations, the Army acknowledged in its report that the U.S. military had killed "an unknown number" of South Korean refugees at No Gun Ri with "small-arms fire, artillery and mortar fire, and strafing". However, it held that no orders were issued to fire on the civilians, and that the shootings were the result of hostile fire from among
22983-476: The unbridled discretion of the alleged perpetrator" – was an ultimate violation of victims' rights. The South Korean government's inquest panel, the Committee for the Review and Restoration of Honor for the No Gun Ri Victims, concluded in its 2005 report, "The United States of America should take responsibility for the No Gun Ri incident", citing six South Korean legal studies as saying that No Gun Ri constituted
23146-464: The underlying, partly historical morphology . Given this, it is sometimes hard to tell which actual phonemes are present in a certain word. The traditional prohibition of word-initial /ɾ/ became a morphological rule called "initial law" ( 두음법칙 ) in the pronunciation standards of South Korea, which pertains to Sino-Korean vocabulary. Such words retain their word-initial /ɾ/ in the pronunciation standards of North Korea. For example, ^NOTE ㅏ
23309-428: The veterans were battalion communications specialists (Levine and Crume) and, as such, were in an especially good position to know which orders had been relayed. Citing the Eighth Army order of July 26 to stop refugees, the Korean report concluded that the 7th Cavalry was "likely to have used all possible means to stop the approaching refugees". Said South Korea's national security director, Oh Young-ho, "We believe there
23472-499: The village of Nogeun-ri (also romanized as No Gun Ri), 100 miles southeast of Seoul . Later that day, on July 26, 1950, these troops saw hundreds of refugees approaching, many from the nearby villages of Chu Gok Ri and Im Ke Ri. On July 25, as North Korean forces seized the town of Yongdong, 7 miles (11 km) west of No Gun Ri, U.S. troops were evacuating nearby villages, including hundreds of residents of Chu Gok Ri and Im Ke Ri. These villagers were joined by others as they walked down
23635-440: The wording, the originating officer's name, or having received the order directly himself. The report questioned an early, unverified South Korean government estimate of 248 killed, missing, and wounded at No Gun Ri, citing an aerial reconnaissance photograph of the area, said to have been taken eight days after the killings ended, that it said showed "no indication of human remains or mass graves". Four years after this 2001 report,
23798-404: The wounded on the tracks. Survivors first sought shelter in a small culvert beneath the tracks, but soldiers and U.S. ground fire drove them from there into a double tunnel beneath a concrete railroad bridge. Inside the bridge underpasses, each 80 feet (24 m) long, 22 feet (6.5 m) wide and 40 feet (12 m) high, they came under heavy machine gun and rifle fire from 7th Cavalry troops from both sides of
23961-474: Was "just one guy of many we've been talking to". Army officer Robert Bateman, a 7th Cavalry veteran who collaborated on the U.S. News & World Report article with a fellow 7th Cavalry association member, later published a book, No Gun Ri: A Military History of the Korean War Incident , repeating his contentions that the AP reporting was flawed. The AP's methods and conclusions were defended by
24124-596: Was 24 micrograms per cubic meter (1.0 × 10 gr/cu ft), which is 2.4 times higher than that recommended by the WHO Air Quality Guidelines for the annual mean PM2.5. The Seoul Metropolitan Government monitors and publicly shares real-time air quality data. Since the early 1960s, the Ministry of Environment has implemented a range of policies and air pollutant standards to improve and manage air quality for its people. The "Special Act on
24287-479: Was a practical impossibility. Nevertheless, Army Secretary Caldera said early in the investigation that he couldn't rule out prosecutions, a statement that survivors later complained may have deterred some 7th Cavalry veterans from testifying. Although often supported by South Korean politicians and newspaper editorials, the No Gun Ri survivors' repeated demands for a reopened U.S. investigation and compensation went unheeded. Meeting with South Korean officials in 2001,
24450-636: Was also known by other various historical names, such as Bukhansan-gun (북한산군; 北漢山郡, during the Goguryeo era), Namcheon ( 남천 ; 南川 , during the Silla era), Hanyang ( 한양 ; 漢陽 , during the Northern and Southern States period ), Namgyeong (남경; 南京, during the Goryeo era), and Hanseong ( 한성 ; 漢城 , during the Joseon era). The word seoul was used colloquially to refer to the capital as early as
24613-416: Was an order to fire." A joint U.S.-Korean "Statement of Mutual Understandings" issued with the reports did not repeat the U.S. report's flat assertion that no orders to shoot were issued at No Gun Ri. The Korean investigators cast doubt on the U.S. report's suggestion of possible gunfire from among the refugees. Surviving documents said nothing about infiltrators at No Gun Ri, even though they would have been
24776-533: Was called eonmun ('colloquial script') and quickly spread nationwide to increase literacy in Korea. The Korean alphabet was denounced by the yangban aristocracy, who looked down upon it too easy to learn. However, it gained widespread use among the common class and was widely used to print popular novels which were enjoyed by the common class. Since few people could understand official documents written in classical Chinese, Korean kings sometimes released public notices entirely written in Hangul as early as
24939-497: Was estimated at 51.71 million, and according to the 2018 Population and Housing Census, 49.8% of the population resided in the Seoul metropolitan area. This was up by 0.7% from 49.1% in 2010, showing a distinct trend toward the concentration of the population in the capital. Seoul has become the economic, political and cultural hub of the country, with several Fortune Global 500 companies, including Samsung , SK Holdings , Hyundai , POSCO and LG Group headquartered there. Seoul
25102-460: Was floods because the area is low-lying and prone to flooding. Then Seoul mayor Kim Hyun-ok ordered construction of an expressway that doubled as embankment , which became the present-day Gangbyeon Expressway . The construction started in March 1967 and completed in September of the same year. Similar projects transformed previously flood-prone areas into usable land for development. Such areas include
25265-551: Was little-known outside Korea until publication of an Associated Press (AP) story in 1999 in which veterans of the U.S. Army unit involved, the 7th Cavalry Regiment , corroborated survivors' accounts. The AP also uncovered declassified U.S. Army orders to fire on approaching civilians because of reports of North Korean infiltration of refugee groups. In 2001, the United States Army conducted an investigation and, after previously rejecting survivors' claims, acknowledged
25428-432: Was missing from the National Archives. After the Army issued its report, it was learned that it also had not disclosed its researchers' discovery of at least 14 additional declassified documents showing high-ranking commanders ordering or authorizing the shooting of refugees in the Korean War's early months, such as communications from 1st Cavalry Division commander Gay and a top division officer to consider refugees north of
25591-510: Was not Pyongyang, Taedong River was likely Han River, and Bukhansan was not Bukhansan during the three kingdoms period. Moreover, Pyongyang was a common noun meaning capital used by Goguryeo and Goryeo dynasties, similar to Seoul. In 603, Goguryeo attacked Bukhansanseong (북한산성; 北漢山城; Bukhan Mountain Fortress), which Silla ended up winning. In 604, Silla abolished Namcheon Province, and reestablished Bukhansan Province in order to strengthen
25754-483: Was partially finished around 1396. The city of Hanyang was governed by the Hanseongbu [ ko ] ( 한성부 ), an agency of the national government dedicated to affairs on the administration of the capital city. The Hanseongbu divided Hanyang into two major categories: areas inside the Fortress Wall, which were typically named Seong-jung ( 성중 ; 城中 ) or Doseong-an ( 도성 안 ; lit. Inside
25917-408: Was referred to as the "Southern Capital". It was only from this period that Seoul became a larger settlement. Seoul became the planned capital of Korea by Yi Seong-gye , the founding father of the Joseon dynasty. After enthroning himself as King at the capital of old Goryeo in 1392, Yi Seong-gye changed the name of his Kingdom from Goryeo to Joseon in 1393 and began his search for a place for
26080-524: Was temporarily called Hwangseong ( 황성 ; 皇城 ; lit. the imperial city). Much of modern development around this era was propelled by trade with foreign countries like France and the United States. For example, the Seoul Electric Company , Seoul Electric Trolley Company, and Seoul Fresh Spring Water Company were all joint Korean–U.S. owned enterprises. After the annexation treaty in 1910, Japan annexed Korea and renamed
26243-486: Was temporarily relocated to Busan . One estimate of the extensive damage states that after the war, at least 191,000 buildings, 55,000 houses, and 1,000 factories lay in ruins. In addition, a flood of refugees had entered Seoul during the war, swelling the population of the city and its metropolitan area to an estimated 1.5 million by 1955. Following the war, Seoul began to focus on reconstruction and modernization. As South Korea's economy started to grow rapidly from
26406-485: Was the most densely populated among OECD countries in Asia in 2012, and second worldwide after that of Paris . As of the end of June 2011, 10.29 million Republic of Korea citizens lived in the city. This was a 0.24% decrease from the end of 2010. The population was 10.44 million in 2012, and 9.86 million in 2015. As of 2021, Seoul's population is 9.59 million. The population of Seoul has been dropping since
26569-525: Was warned by South Korean police to stop telling others about the massacre. Following the April Revolution in 1960, which briefly established democracy in South Korea, former policeman Chung Eun-yong filed the first petition to the South Korean and U.S. governments. His two small children had been killed and his wife, Park Sun-yong, badly wounded at No Gun Ri. Over 30 petitions, calling for an investigation, apology, and compensation, were filed over
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