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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
Scholars and journalists in Korea and the United States have worked hard over the past 15 years to bring to light the mass killings of civilians that occurred during the Korean War. These stories, including that of the strafing of civilians at No Gun Ri, have challenged the hegemonic narrative of the ‘good war’ that has dominated south Korean and US accounts of this tragic past. In the following revised excerpt of a chapter from his new book, Orienting Canada: Race, Empire and the Transpacific (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011), Canadian historian John Price documents the story of Mr. Shin Hyun-Chan, a survivor of a Canadian war crime committed during the Korean war. In investigating the Shin case the author uncovered numerous other war crimes committed by Canadian forces in Korea, including rape and murder. In almost all cases where the perpetrators faced court-martials, they were found guilty but then exonerated upon return to Canada. Reporters in Korea at the time pointed to racism as endemic and a contributing factor. But the Canadian military, supported by religious leaders, refuted the accusations and buried the stories. The case reveals much about the politics of impunity as practiced by both the American and Canadian military during and after the war. And of the politics of impunity wherever Status of Forces Agreements protect foreign military forces from prosecution on the ground. As in the US, the Canadian military continues to refuse to accept responsibility for this and other war crimes. Sixty years later, however, the truth is finally coming out. Mr. Shin has recently retained legal counsel to press his case with the Canadian government. The case illustrates the importance of expanding research on war crimes committed during the Korea War beyond the US and South Korean archives. It also raises important dimensions of law and justice in an era in which Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA) insulate US and other foreign military forces from domestic courts where soldiers are stationed on foreign soil, whether in war or peace.
1 Interview with Shin Hyun-can and Park Chong-Soon, Hwangbang-Ri village, Yangjun County, Gyonggi Province, Korea, 6 April 2004. My deepest appreciation to Kim Gwi-Ok and Yu Chong-Ae for their assistance in locating Shin's family, in travelling to the village, and in interpreting during the interview.
2 Interview with Kim Dong-choon, Seoul, Korea, October 2003. Kim would go on to become a standing commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Korea from 2005 to 2010. Kim Dong-choon, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Korea: Uncovering the Hidden Korean War; Kim Dong-choon and Mark Selden, South Korea's Embattled Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
3 . For recent developments related to the massacres during the war see the compendium of articles in Critical Asian Studies, 4, 2 (December 2010).
4 The Pulitzer Prize-winning book about this war crime is Sang-hun Choe, Martha Mendoza, and Charles J. Hanley, The Bridge at No Gun Ri: A Hidden Nightmare from the Korean War (New York: Henry Holt, 2001).
5 Bill Boss, wire copy, Canadian Press Archives (hereafter CPA), Korea War File 155 [3]-85.
6 Bill Boss, “Local Soldier on Trial for Murder of Korean Civilian,” Moncton Transcript, 15 December 1951 (CPA, Korea War File, 155 [3]-84).
7 Bill Boss, Saint John Telegraph Journal, 18 December 1951 (CPA, Korean War File, 155 [3]-85).
8 Bill Boss, “Contradictory Evidence Heard at Court Martial,” St. John Telegraph, 17 December 1951 (CPA, Korea War File 155 [3]-84)
9 “Convicted Soldier Freed by Ottawa,” Canadian Press, 14 June 1952.
10 CP Files, 155 (3)-17, “Court Martials Planned under Canadian Board.”
11 “The Censorship That Helps the Enemy,” Maclean's, 15 October 1951.
12 See Chris Madsen, Another Kind of Justice: Canadian Military Law from Confederation to Somalia (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1999), 109-10.
13 Canadian Press files, 155 ⑷ 84.
14 Brent Watson, Far Eastern Tour: The Canadian Infantry in Korea, 1950-1953 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's
University Press, 2002), 171-74.
15 On Canada's early and controversial involvement see “The Caťs Paw: Canada and the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea,” Canadian Historical Review 85, 2 (2004), 297-324. Pearson's later views can be found in Lester Pearson, Mike: The Memoirs of the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson. Vol. 2: 1948-1957, 188.
16 The Canadian forces usually had over 6,000 members in the field at any one time; a total of 26,000 Canadians would participate in the Korean War of whom 516 lost their lives.
17 See George Barrett, Globe and Mail, 21 August 1951, Canadian Press file, 155 (3)-18.
18 Pierre Berton, “The Real War in Korea,” Maclean's, 1 August 1951, 2. Berton recounts his experiences in more detail in his autobiography My Times: Living with History, 1947-1995 (Toronto: Seal Edition, 1996), 78-103.
19 Ibid., 96.
20 Ibid., 100.
21 “Correspondent Raps Integration of Army,” Vancouver Sun, 7 September 1951.
22 Elmore Philpott, “Bill Boss Warns West,” Vancouver Sun, 6 September 1951.
23 For individual reports on the trip, see LAC, MG 32, B5, vol.97, 25CDN Infantry Brigade.
24 Frank Lowe, “Reports Koreans Mistreated by
Canadians Declared False,” Montreal Daily Star, 22 November 1951.
25 As cited by Watson, Far Eastern Tour, 50.
26 See Margaret Mitchell, No Laughing Matter: Adventure, Activism and Politics (Vancouver: Granville Island Publishing, 2008), 22.
27 As cited in Watson, Far Eastern Tour, 49.
28 Lt.-Col. Herbert Fairlie Wood, Strange Battleground: Official History of the Canadian Army in Korea (Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1966), 101.
29 Madsen and Watson both cite over 60 courts martial held in the field in Korea yet that number seems to apply only to the army. A statistical summary by Madsen of all courts martial in the 1950-1998 period indicates over 1000 courts martial in the 1950-1953 period alone. Madsen, Another Kind of Justice, Appendix 2, 164-165; The British held 1103 courts martials in Korea during the war, see Madsen, fn 75, 187. Not all courts martial were the result of war crimes and therefore cannot be used as a proxy. On the other hand, it is also conceivable that some war crimes were never reported and that the number exceeds the number of related courts martial.
30 The veterans organized to construct a wall of remembrance in 1997. See Ted Barris, Deadlock in Korea: Canadians at War, 1950-1953 (Toronto: Macmillan, 1999), 290-97.
31 For example, Sergeant-Major Maurice Juteau of the Royal 22nd Regiment was distraught at the pitiable conditions he found in a Korean hospital and decided to take matters into his own hands. He organized what became known as the “khaki charities.” Juteau asked his comrades to donate clothes and food that had come from Canada. Not only did soldiers respond, they also began to donate part of their rations and were able to provide thousands of supplementary meals for Koreans. Donations were being picked up twice a day in the wake of the overwhelming response. Based on a Bill Boss report, Canadian Press file, 135-3-36.
32 Watson, Far Eastern Tour, 172.
33 “Ridgeway Claims US Doesn't Know What War Is,” Montreal Gazette, 14 May 1951.
34 Norman to Menzies, 18 May, 1951 and Menzies to Norman, 4 June 1951 (LAC, RG 25, 92-92/002, Vol. 7 7-1-3-1, pt. 1).
35 M. Kantor and Curtis E. Lemay, Mission with LeMay: My Story (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965), 460-464.
36 Hume Wrong to Lester Pearson, 7 March 1951, LAC, MG 26 N1, vol. 17, Wrong, HH 1948-1953, 1.
37 Bruce Cumings, Parallax Visions: Making Sense of American-East Asian Relations at the End of the Century (Durham, Duke University Press, 1999), 63.
38 John Dower, War without Mercy: Race & Power in the Pacific War (New York: Pantheon, 1986), 93.
39 Ted Barris, Deadlock in Korea: Canadians at War, 1950-53 (Toronto: Macmillan, 1999), 84.
40 Gwyn Kirk, Margo Okazawa-Rey, “Women
Opposing US Militarism in East Asia,” Peace Review, 16:1 (March 2004), 59-60.
41 See Murakami Naoko, “Solidarity in South Korean Civil Movement against the U.S. Forces: The case of the death of two schoolgirls in June 2002,” Peoples Power 21, on-line discussion paper, accessed January 10, 2012.
42 See “Korean anger as US soldiers cleared,” BBC News World Addition, 22 November, 2002, accessed January 10, 2012.
43 Catherine Lutz, “US Military Bases on Guam in Global Perspective,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, 30-3-10, July 26, 2010, 4.
44 Catherine Lutz, “US Military Bases on Guam in Global Perspective,” 11.
45 Catherine Lutz, “US Military Bases on Guam in Global Perspective,” 18.
46 Gwyn Kirk, Margo Okazawa-Rey, “Women Opposing US Militarism in East Asia,” Peace Review, 16:1 (March 2004), 62.
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