South Korea opens probe into wartime killings of civilians by troops
The commission will check a list covering tens of thousands of people killed around the war and their surviving relatives.
South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission decided on Monday to investigate civilian killings by military and police during the Korean War, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.
The commission said the work will draw on a roster of people executed before, during and after the conflict.
The roster holds personal details of 26,330 people killed by military and police forces around the war, along with information on 38,135 surviving family members.
The list first surfaced in a 2007 investigation by the Korean National Police Agency, the commission said.
The commission obtained a copy of the list in June.
It will use the list to determine how many civilians were killed nationwide and how badly individual regions were affected.
The commission also plans to examine the historical and structural causes of the killings and how state institutions dealt with their aftermath, it said.
Its stated aim is to uncover the truth and restore the honor of the victims and their bereaved families.
The commission held its plenary meeting in Seoul on Monday, the same day it made the decision.
The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, and ended with an armistice on July 27, 1953.
No peace treaty was signed, so the two Koreas remain technically at war.
Civilian killings during the conflict have long been a sensitive subject in South Korea, and calls for the state to address them have persisted for decades.
