◀ anchor ▶
The Pusan Brothers Welfare Center Incident, which is also called Korea’s Auschwitz because of its brutality, and from 1975 to 12 years, vagrants, public security officers, ordinary citizens and young children were taken at random and imprisoned in a private facility reminiscent of a concentration camp. It was a case of murder and even burial, resulting in numerous victims.
Police and civil servants were mobilized in the process of admitting citizens to the Brotherhood Welfare Center, and the government provided billions of won annually.
In 1987, when dozens of inmates escaped, the reality of the Brothers Welfare Center began to be known. Surprisingly, there has not been a single fact-finding investigation by the state agency in the past 35 years. ‘, and the results came out only today.
The number of victims was much higher than previously known, and circumstances at the national level were also confirmed.
First, let’s take a look at the report of reporter Yoon Su-han.
◀ Report ▶
A large-scale crackdown that began in the mid-1970s with the intention of ‘making safe streets’.
Not only vagrants and public security officers, but also citizens on their way home from work and children who lost their way were indiscriminately dragged to the Brotherhood Welfare Center.
For more than 10 years, they were subjected to harsh acts such as beatings and sexual violence, and were mobilized for forced labor.
[이동진/형제복지원 피해자]
“They brought people like frozen cars and top cars, and they just took them away. Living there for 7 years…”
A total of 38,000 prisoners were illegally detained.
If they resisted, they had to be beaten or given psychiatric drugs, and they were often deprived of their wages for forced labor.
At least 657 deaths were confirmed during this period, more than 100 more than previously known.
It is up to 13.5 times higher than the national mortality rate at that time.
[이재승/진실화해위원회 상임위원]
“It’s a case of missing and enforced disappearance. And now, in many cases, death certificates have been falsified.”
Evidence of government involvement in the illegal detention process has also surfaced for the first time.
In 1986, the police forcibly detained juvenile offenders who stole 500 won to 3,000 won to the Brothers Welfare Center, not the Juvenile Department.
In the same year, a citizen who was sentenced to detention for possessing a handout on fire was also handed over to the Brothers Welfare Center instead of the detention center.
[이재승/진실화해위 상임위원]
“There is a saying that most (the police) decided arbitrarily and handed it over to the Brothers Welfare Center.”
The Security Command also evaluated the Brothers Welfare Center, saying, “Most inmates are terrified as it is a stronger control institution than a prison,” but took no action.
Chun Doo-hwan, who was president, specifically ordered the forced incarceration of vagrants in 1981, saying, “All-in-one crackdown on beggars.” Six years later, when the investigation into the Brothers Welfare Center began, he said, “It’s not just the operator’s problem.” In fact, I was even discouraged.
The Truth and Reconciliation Committee defined it as a ‘serious human rights violation by the state’ and recommended an official apology from the state and a plan to support damage recovery.
This is Yoon Su-han from MBC News.
Video coverage: Dongwon Wi/Video editing: Yeeun Jang
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