The K-CIV data project (with Wukki Kim and Andrea Ruggeri) maps the spatiotemporal distribution of civilian victimisation during the Korean War.

To plot the data, we refer to three government sources: 1) Reports from the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), 2) History of the Korean War by the Institute of Military History, and 3) the List of Abductees compiled by the Commission for the Investigation of Abductions during the Korean War. The dataset records the perpetrators behind each incident. Where multiple perpetrators are present, the data records all known perpetrators.

According to this novel data, we find that civilian perpetrators* are involved in a surprising number of incidents. 1 out 4 of the killings of civilians was committed by civilians; 1 out 6 abductions of civilians was committed by civilians. We also observe substantial variations across time and space.

*A “civilian perpetrator” refers to a person who is not a full-time member of any armed group or partisan guerrilla.