The AP investigation documents other incidents in 1950-51 when US jets repeatedly attacked groups of Koreans in civilian clothes on the suspicion that they harboured enemy infiltrators. In one strike, US firebombs are said to have killed 300 civilians trapped in a cave. Some pilots expressed concern that they were machinegunning innocent people. Korean newspapers have called for a full investigation of all allegations. The defence ministry in Seoul is reported to have heard of nearly 40 similar cases of alleged civilian killings by US forces.
Korean commentators say that the incidents have long been known.
But while South Korea was under military dictatorship the victims and their family members had to keep silent, fearing punishment if they spoke out. Allegations occasionally surfaced in the US but the Pentagon always denied that there were grounds for inquiry. The situation only changed when an AP reporter, Charles Hanley began to investigate the No Gun Ri story in 1997. US veterans who had lived with their secret for nearly half a century started to come forward. He described how his unit surrounded several hundred civilians and penned them under a railway arch.