Trigger Warning: Disturbing Content.

If you do not wish to learn about the dark side of KSS, then you should not read further.

Seongam Academy

For those Holt and KSS Adoptees who participated in the September 2022 DKRG (Danish Korean Rights Group) effort to submit Holt and KSS Adoptees' cases to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of S. Korea, you should know that the original purpose of the TRC was to investigate the major concentration camps of S. Korea. Among these is Seongam Academy / 선감학원 , a notorious concentration camp for boys which in the late 1940s was overseen by KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠), who was Vice President and later President of Seongam Academy.

Important Update: Please note that we do not know the exact nature of what Seongam Academy was like in the 1940s when KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠), was Vice President and later President of Seongam Academy. We have recently learned that Seongam Academy may have been at its most notorious in the 1970s, which is decades after KSS Founder Baek Gun Chil was in charge of Seongam Academy. At this time we do not have any documentation to support this claim. When that becomes available, we will include it here.

Below is an article about Korea’s TRC investigation into Seongam Academy:

September 2022:

https://v.daum.net/v/20220926151202736?fbclid=IwAR1qa6pFSLHsoveLNPox5pJruauJ-iCy6KvhHYeaXopIuF-gd4xL87Ph53E

Via Google Translate:

"The first step towards the truth" 'Victims of Seongam Academy' trampled by the state...

Reporter Park Chang-ju of CBS No Cut News

Input 2022. 9. 26. 15:12

key summary

On the 26th, Ansan Seongam Academy was launched, the first trial of a human rights violation case in the detention facility, and the full-scale expansion of the drilling was also carried out according to the results of the on- site investigation ahead of the announcement of the truth in

October. One more step to"

Photo caption:

Officials of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are probing at the presumed burial site of the remains of victims in Seongam-dong, Danwon-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, on the morning of the 26th, when the excavation of remains began to reveal the truth about the human rights violations of the 'Samcheong Educational University for boys'. Reporter Hwang Jin-hwan

The 2nd Reconciliation Committee for Truth and Reconciliation (hereinafter referred to as the Truth and Reconciliation Committee) conducted a first-of-a-kind investigation into the human rights violations of the mass detention facilities.

On the 26th, the Truth and Reconciliation Committee held a five-day schedule from this day to the 30th to find the remains of victims of human rights abuses by the state authorities at Seongam Academy (37-1 Seongam-dong) in Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, a child accommodation facility from 1946 to 1982. He said that he had started drilling.

Prospecting investigations are conducted according to the archaeological investigation method, focusing on the eastern corner with a high probability of burial of remains. The drilling area is 900 square meters, and if remains and relics are found, it is planned to confirm gender, age, and time of death through anthropological forensics.

If the remains of the Seongam Academy incident that were buried in the dark are confirmed, the truth and reconciliation committee's plan is to recommend the excavation of the remains to the state and local governments, so that a full-scale trial can be carried out. Although the commission's trial period is scheduled for five days, there is a possibility that this period will be slightly extended depending on the results of the investigation.

Photo caption:

On the morning of the 26th, when the excavation of the remains to investigate the truth about the human rights violations of the ‘Samcheong Education School’, which has been called ‘Samcheong Education for Boys’, the remains of the remains were excavated at the presumed burial site of the victims in Seongam-dong, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do. Talking to the victims of the academy. Reporter Hwang Jin-hwan

Prospecting work was carried out after the opening ceremony to commemorate the souls of the victims at the presumed burial site of Seongam Academy. The gaeto ceremony consisted of an explanation of the purpose of the excavation of the remains, a memorial service, offerings and worship, and the prospecting. Kim Young-bae, chairman of the Children's Victims Countermeasures Council at Seongam Academy, Jeong Geun-sik, chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, and Kim Hoon, a famous historical novelist, delivered the eulogy.

This trial drilling is an on-site investigation ahead of the announcement of the decision to determine the truth about the children's human rights violations at Seongam School next month. It is a follow-up action to As a result of the service, the Seongam Academy case was selected as a possible site for excavation of remains based on whether the burial site was specified and the ease of excavation work.


Photo caption:

A victim is weeping at the presumed burial site of the remains of the victims in Seongam-dong, Danwon-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, on the morning of the 26th, when the excavation of the remains was started to uncover the truth about the human rights violations of the 'Samcheong Educational University for boys'. Reporter Hwang Jin-hwan

Its main purpose is to determine the exact size of the sacrifice. In the meantime, the need for probing the presumed burial site has been constantly raised because the number of deaths recorded in Seongam Academy's orphanage register differs from the number of deaths investigated.

In 2018, it was estimated that about 150 remains were buried in the area where Seongam Academy was located. In 2016, the remains of a child entangled with tree roots and a pair of rubber shoes were also excavated in Seongam-dong.

Photo caption:

A victim is weeping at the presumed burial site of the remains of the victims in Seongam-dong, Danwon-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, on the morning of the 26th, when the excavation of the remains was started to uncover the truth about the human rights violations of the 'Samcheong Educational University for boys'. Reporter Hwang Jin-hwan

The Truth and Reconciliation Committee investigated 190 victims of Seongam Academy since May 27 last year, and reported that the students died from beatings and malnutrition, or drowned in the sea while escaping from the island, and were buried in six places including Seongam-dong Mountain 37-1. has been secured.

In this regard, the Seongam Academy Child Damage Countermeasures Council submitted a petition to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee and the Provincial Government on July 5, this year, requesting the excavation of the remains of the graves of the victims.

Seongam Academy was established as a prison facility that violated human rights through state violence and forced labor by forcibly enlisting children and youth. did. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee is investigating the specific cause and scale of the damage. According to the results of the Gyeonggi Research Institute, 85.3% of the 4,691 children under the age of 13 and those under the age of 10 were 44.9%.

A total of 37 sites were selected as possible excavation sites among 381 sites nationwide in the Pukyong National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation service, including Seongam Academy. It is estimated that there are more than 1800 remains at these burial sites.

Most of these incidents are civilian mass casualties and victims of hostile forces during the Korean War. By region, there are 5 places in the metropolitan area and Gangwon area, 15 places in the Chungcheong area, 6 places in the Gyeongsang area, and 10 places in the Jeolla area. The Seongam Academy case is the only case of human rights violation classified as a possible site for excavation of remains.

From 2007 to 2010, the 1st Truth and Reconciliation Committee excavated the remains of 1617 wards from 10 locations across the country, including the cobalt mine in Gyeongsan, Gyeongsangbuk-do.

Photo caption:

On the morning of the 26th, when the excavation of the remains began to uncover the truth about the human rights violations of the 'Samcheong Education School', which has been called the 'Samcheong Education College for boys', victims are meditating in silence at the presumed burial site of the victims in Seongam-dong, Danwon-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do. Reporter Hwang Jin-hwan

Jeong Geun-sik, chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, said, "After 40 years of closure of Seongam Academy, we are able to take a step closer to the truth by probing the presumed burial site." will be recommended to the relevant authorities,” he said.

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CBS No Cut News reporter Park Chang-joo pcj@cbs.co.kr

From KSS History:

1949: Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) was a public official at the Kyung-gi (Gyeonggi) provincial government and his position in 1949 was the head of the notorious (Trigger Warning: Very Upsetting Content) Seongam Academy (선감학원 ).

  • Source: Various

1940s: KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) is high ranking amongst the Japanese under occupation. Kun Chil Paik is appointed by the Korean government as Vice President and later President of (Trigger Warning: Very Upsetting Content) Seongam Academy (선감학원 ), a notorious concentration camp originally founded by the Japanese in 1942 on an island in Gyeonggi Province near Seoul. Seongam Academy was a place for “vagrant” boys from the streets which was a part of the Korean government’s “social purification” efforts.