The Invention of Anti-American Sentiment －Why North Korea Shifted the Blame for the Sinchon Massacre to the United States－

Abstract

From October to December 1950, a large-scale massacre took place in Sinchon, Hwanghae Province. North Korea dubbed this incident “Sinchon Massacre” and claims that 35,383 people were slaughtered by the US military. In times of external and internal crises, North Korea has recalled the memory of the Sinchon Massacre to stir up anti- American sentiment among its people and achieve regime integration. However, the atrocious crimes of murder, arson, rape, and torture that North Korea attributes to the US military had actually been committed by members of the right-wing peace preservation corps in retaliation for the North Korean regime’s preventive custody measure. Nevertheless, North Korea shifted the blame for the Sinchon Massacre to the US military because there was a need to embrace the members of the base class who had betrayed the regime during the UN occupation of North Korea. To this end, North Korea included the air raids that indiscriminately killed civilians in the scope of “massacre” and named Harrison as the individual ultimately responsible for driving the North Korean people out to the site where they were eventually massacred. Moreover, former members of the peace preservation corps were classified into “active instigators” and “passive participants”－the scope of the former group was minimized, and the latter group was reeducated through home confinement and other forms of social punishment. Yet, the “counterrevolutionary” ideology prevalent in post-war North Korea proved to be an obstacle in achieving regime integration. In particular, it led to animosities and jealousies among members of production facilities, such as cooperative farms and factories, negatively impacting economic reconstruction and productivity growth. In an effort to resolve this issue, North Korea aimed to achieve societal integration and productivity growth by historicizing the Sinchon Massacre and fostering anti-American sentiment. Accordingly, the site of the massacre was transformed into the museum, and the move also served as a subtle warning to the former “hostile elements.”