'Outside experts' to help probe Korea massacre allegations

November 3, 1999
Web posted at: 11:09 a.m. HKT (0309 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon Tuesday tapped a group of "outside experts" to "provide advice and guidance" to military investigators looking into allegations of a massacre of Korean civilians by U.S. troops during the opening weeks of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon also said there are no plans to offer immunity from prosecution to U.S. soldiers involved in the alleged incident.

"Right now there has been no decision to grant immunity. The only decision is to move forward as quickly as possible with a thorough, far-reaching investigation," he said.

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The Army has already ordered a review of the allegations by South Korean villagers that U.S. soldiers gunned down perhaps as many as 400 refugees, including women and children, at a bridge near the town of No Gun Ri, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Seoul.

The newly appointed group of outside experts is made up of former military men, politicians and a newspaper reporter who has written extensively on the Korean War.

Bacon said the group includes retired Army Gen. Robert Riscassi, a former commander-in-chief of U.S. forces in Korea; former congressman Pete McCloskey of California; Dr. Ernest May, a historian; retired Marine Lt. Gen. Bernard Trainor; Donald Gregg, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea; retired Col. Young O. Kim, commander of the first battalion, 31st infantry regiment, 7th U.S. division during the Korean War; and Don Oberdorfer, former Washington Post reporter and author of the book "The Two Koreas."

Oberdorfer also served in Korea while in the military, Bacon said.

"This is the third part of a three-part structure. The first part obviously is the actual investigation, which is being run by Army Secretary Louis Caldera," Bacon said.

A group of investigators led by Lt. Gen. Michael Ackerman, the Army's Inspector General, visited No Gun Ri last week and surveyed the twin railroad underpasses where the alleged killings took place.

"The second part is the steering group headed by Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness Rudy DeLeon ... to coordinate with the rest of the government and make sure that all resources of the department and the government are made available to the (army) task force," Bacon said.

He said the investigation is well under way, although army investigators "haven't started interviewing anybody yet."

Bacon told reporters at the Pentagon that the objective of the investigation is, "to be as speedy as possible, but to be as thorough and as close to the truth as possible."

"We obviously have one purpose, and that's to uncover the truth wherever it is, whatever it is," Bacon said.

National Security producer Chris Plante contributed to this report.

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