보는 눈이눈이 많다많다

Eyes that watch are many.

Prisoner Detention Complex No. 3, Pyongyang, November 11th, 1951

The Great Air Offensive of November had breathed huge amounts of life into the Korean War Effort. The country had gone to war with an Air Force superior to that of its southern neighbour in every metric, yet the immediate intervention of the United States Air Force had swept the Korean People's Army Air Force from the sky. While they had given as good as they had gotten, and the air force of the pretender regime in the South had been destroyed during the offensives against Busan, nevertheless little was left to defend the crucial supply lines of the north from the US Bombers.

Thus when the International Volunteer Air Brigade had soared over Pyongyang and Seoul, knocking dozens of enemy aircraft out of the sky, including many of the Silver Devils themselves, Minister of Culture and Propaganda Ho Jong-Suk could not have asked for a better opportunity for propaganda success. Publication of the printing of anti-bombing posters, leaflets and broadsheets soared all over the country.

Then, when it became known that bomber crews were beginning to be taken into custody - the next step of the Propaganda Offensive began. Three USAF crews, captured near Kok-ch'on, Songnim, and Sing'gye were brought on trucks to central Pyongyang, towards the sprawling complex of former hotels that had been transformed into Prisoner Detention Complex No. 3 - the complex reserved for the highest-value prisoners of war, particularly Americans.

The B-29 normally had a crew of eleven, but due to enemy fire and the chaos of bailing out, only 29 airmen arrived in Pyongyang. Of these, 5 were so injured they were immediately confined to sickbay, leaving 24 airmen awaiting an uncertain fate. Among them were two pilots - Captain Norm Thomas, pilot of the Gal Back Home and 1st Lt Chuck Rausch of the Cocktail were the highest ranking officers, the commander of the third plane going down with his craft.

Their fate would be quickly decided, however, on the 8th of November - the 24 aircrew, already labelled "The 24 American Criminals" or, in the United States as the "Pyongyang 24" were brought into the courtyard of the hotel. There, President of the Central Court Kim Ik-son, joined by Minister of Justice Yi Jung-yop and a military adjutant from the KPAAF, sat as a three-judge panel. The men were sat as accused, provided with translator from the IVA really only half-fluent in Korean. Prosecutors and a defense lawyer were present - the prosecutors numbered five, while the defense lawyers was a single, rather nervous-looking law graduate.

As soon as the 24 aircrew were seated (and thoroughly photographed in their aircrew uniforms), Kim Ik-son began. He spoke in a loud, commanding voice, one that had already shouted down many prisoners in the years before.

"You are brought here today, as prisoners of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, to be charged with a lamentable list of crimes inflicted by you upon our people during the conduct of your duties," he began his long opening speech. He thoroughly excoriated the Americans for their roles in the bombings of October, particularly those directed against targets in Seoul, Pyongyang, Wonsan, and Songrim.

Finally, the section of the charges was read out:

"It is charged that you did knowingly, in the service of your duties, conduct warfare upon noncombatant civilians; that you did illegally and in contravention of Article 25 of the Hague Convention of 1907, and Article 6(b) of the Nuremburg Charter of 1945, attack wantonly our towns and cities, razing them opportunistically without military purpose; that, in contravention of Article 26 of the Hague Convention of 1907, no effort was made to warn the populace of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea of the war made upon them by you from the sky; and, finally, that you knowingly used unnecessarily cruel and destructive means of waging war upon the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, including the use of firebombing, to knowingly intensify the suffering of the civilian population and increase collateral damage."

How did the prisoners plead? was asked.

The translator worked through each of the charges the best they could, as the defense lawyer listened in. The first words the lawyer spoke was in a hushed tone to the translator, who then turned to the men:

"You may plead guilty, to receive amnesty from the state and exile upon the cessation of hostilities. If convicted, the sentence for war crimes is death," he explained.

Captain Thomas turned to his men, and a spirited discussion began. The arguments were intense. How was this legal? They had no training for this kind of thing. They were never told they might appear in court. They were just following orders. Finally Master Sgt. Shaffer of the Cocktail spoke up. "Look," he said in a hushed tone, "I'm not getting shot in some *Nork** prison camp. I'm pleadin' guilty, I don't care what they say. We'll be out of here soon enough."* The spirit of apathy towards the proceedings was found to be general, and Captain Thomas - rather disappointed at the spines of his men - turned to the translator. "We'll plead guilty," he said in his South Carolinian drawl.

The translator spoke with the lawyer briefly, and the lawyer stood.

Kim Ik-son waved him down. "The prisoners must plead themselves," he stated.

The lawyer was already sweating through his shirt as he turned and relayed this to the translator. Captain Thomas shook his head, standing - the lawyer whispering "Yujoe! Yujoe!"

"What does he say?" Thomas snapped at the translator.

"You must say it in Korean... Yujoe means guilty."

Thomas stood, facing his accusers for a long moment. "Yujoe," he finally said, taking his seat. The rest of the men stood, with various degrees of willingness, and repeated the word. M.Sgt. Shaffer was the last to go, stating "Absolutely Yujoe!" with a glib smile.

Ho Jong-suk, watching from behind one of the film cameras capturing the whole event, couldn't believe her luck. Cinemas that same night in Pyongyang, and the next night the rest of the country were playing the story:

American Bomber Crews Admit to Illegal Warfare!

To be continued...