Critical Assessments of the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Korea (hereinafter “TRCK”) was established in 2005 on the Framework Act on Clearing up Past Incidents for Truth and Reconciliation (hereinafter “Framework Act”) passed by the South Korean National Assembly as an governmental body to investigate state violence occurred in Korea from 1910 until 1987, including massacres, suspicious deaths, injury or disappearance, politically fabricated trials, and the killings of unarmed civilians and political prisoners before and during the Korean War. ¹ The TRCK was a product of South Korea's decades-long democratization movement and the liberal government it produced (Kim, Dong-Choon 2010). ²