It is an undeniable fact that there had been civilian massacres perpetrated in unbelievable magnitudes, not only in the Southern areas of the Korean peninsula, but in the Northern areas as well, during the Korean War. But the question of what really happened, and what was the scope of those tragedies, are still not answered. We can no more run away from our own responsibilities. We should excavate the facts out of memories and pay proper attention to the issue. It will be a painful process to be sure, but for the reconciliation between the people of South and North, and the establishment of a productive relationship between North Korea and U.S., it is necessary, more than ever. In this article, the overall scope of civilian massacres that happened in the Northern region of the peninsula is examined, and the Shincheon massacre was studied in particular as a notable incident. Results of researches show us that the number of civilian casualties which we had known earlier was a significantly exaggerated one, and the arguments of the North Korean personnel were in most cases based upon the truth. Also, the loss of civilians seems to have been heavily caused by the U.S. army's merciless and indiscriminate air-raids, just as much as other civilian massacres perpetrdted by ground troops. The North Koreans' argument that U.S. military personnel were involved in the Shincheon massacre is not yet confirmed or verified. Yet it seems almost sure that ultra-rightest youths were indeed involved.
In this article, the overall scale, and types of incidents are the only things dealt with. There are still a lot of remaining tasks, and such tasks would include evaluating the efforts to find out the truth behind all those tragedies, and the efforts invested by the governments of U.S., Republic of Korea, and also North Korea. And most importantly, the entities that were responsible for all these inhuman and criminal deeds, should actually be held responsible.