It should be remembered that there was a considerable underground communist movement in the ROK prewar, which at times tied down good parts of the ROK army hunting real or suspected guerillas.

Also, during the first part of the war — from the invasion, through the fall of Seoul to the solidifying of the front around the Pusan perimeter, the NKs mixed recon units and inflitration troops in among refugee columns. Even if the military peril from known and unknown communist sympathizers had not been real (which it was), extreme concern about “Fifth Columns”; saboteurs; alleged traitors; phantom parachutists, etc., is a common feature of chaotic retreats, military disasters and surprise offensives, usually out of all proportion to the actual threat. Anybody remember Operation Grief?

I don’t doubt that paranoia, settling of scores,and plain panic caused a lot of unjustified killing. But it’s easy to say that 50 plus years on, from the air-conditioned comfort of libraries and the well-appointed offices of Truth Commissions. July 1950 was a little different.