Never had my stomach turned while researching a video as it did during this one.
When I chose to name my YouTube channel “Things I Care About,” I meant it. Every topic I pick is one I am personally passionate about, which allows me to dive deep into it and read as many books about it as I can.
It is always a thrilling journey, and while preparing each video, I’ve learned things that have changed my worldview in some way. I knew that the Korean War was called “The Forgotten War” For a reason, but my oh my, I did not expect this.
Additional Evidence that I Did Not Mention In The Video
Summarizing the claims down to 6 minutes was incredibly hard, to say the least. I always try to balance a fun, simple dynamic with interchanging narrations and dialogues, while staying truth to the facts. When discussing facts that we all agree on, it is simple enough, as I don’t have to worry about backing up every claim I make.
But since the Bacteriological Warfare is so hotly disputed, I felt compelled to read directly from sources, so that you could go ahead and check anything you wanted to. That meant that the section went well over the duration I was hoping to get (I honestly thought it would take 2 or 3 minutes at maximum), which caused me to drop a lot of additional information, hoping that I had given you enough to become interested in the topic and want to learn more on your own.
Well, what else is there?
First of all, I think it’s worth to dive a bit deeper into the international scientific committee that traveled to North Korea to investigate these claims. The 60 page report documents many instances, such as this:
Bubonic Plague in Kan-Nan: One morning, a large population of rodents appeared close to the town of Kan-Nan. The villagers reported having heard a plane low the night before, and the Chinese army confirmed this claim, reporting that an American F-82 double-fuselage plane had flown as described by the villagers. The rodents were reported to be scattered in a large area in unnatural ways: many were simply dead on the floor, and many others were somehow on rooftops. Their number was estimated to be around 717. Chinese scientists investigated the rodents and claimed they were of the kind Microtus gregalis gregalis, which was not indigenous to Korea and had been spotted in Manchuria in 1941 during the Japanese BW attacks.
Countless Villagers became suddenly sick with plague, a disease that has no history anywhere around North Korea, making the event highly suspicious.
Physical evidence: North Korea holds, to this day, a special museum in which they preserve what they claim is evidence from Biological Weapons used by the Americans.
A museum display in North Korea shows some Alleged insects dropped by the Americans. Source: Al-Jazeera: Dirty Little Secrets
To deliver the insects, the Americans allegedly used special bomb casings such as the one presented in the image below. However, while empty bomb casings were found next to many villages where unexpected outbreaks occurred, in other villages, there was no such physical evidence. However, the scientific committee reported remains of burnt parachutes, which led them to believe that some insects were dropped on cardboard containers that were rigged to burn and thus destroy the evidence.
A museum display in North Korea showing alleged bomb casings used to drop infected insects. Source: Al-Jazeera: Dirty Little Secrets.
The Al-Jazeera investigation also poked holes in the retraction of the pilots who had confessed. A pilot who had originally claimed to have confessed due to physical and psychological pressure from the communists was interviewed in 2010. However, when asked about the way in which he was treated, he noted that he was well taken care of, and not mishandled. Could he be misremembering due to his old age? Perhaps.
Truth or Propaganda? The American Counter-claims
It can be very hard to prove a negative.
If the Americans really did not engage in BW, as claimed by China and North Korea, how could they prove it? The pilot’s retractions can be a very powerful first step, although, the looming threat of treason charges would certainly be a strong motivator to retract their confession, even if true.
There is a piece of evidence presented by the communists, however, which has been proven to be misleading: Video footage of masses of insects on the snow.
However, the likelihood of a camera crew being around just as a bomb filled with insects fell, is astronomically low. It is most likely that this piece of footage was a recreation of what the communists claimed to have happened.
Should We Believe These Claims?
Believe the North Koreans? Believe the Americans?
There is plenty of anecdotal evidence, journalist reports, and even an international scientific committee that back up the communist claim. Could they all be communist sympathizers who are lying to make the Americans look bad?
Perhaps.
But, personally, I struggle to believe that everything presented is fake. It might be exaggerated to an extent, but given that the CIA did purchase BW information from Shiro, and that the leader of Unit 731 was in Korea at the time of the alleged attacks, I can’t help but feel that there is something to these claims.
And, let’s be honest here, it’s not like the American government is the most honest and reliable of institutions, especially when it comes to biological experiments (Look up the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment).
Besides, the Americans had already shown that they were winning and able to use the Atomic Bomb (which at the end of the Korean War, they had begun seriously considering once again), is it really that much of a stretch to believe that they could engage in BW?
As I mentioned in the video, the matter could be clarified if the American Government relased the flight logs of the pilots who confessed. It would be easy to check to see if the stories match or not. However, most of those logs were conveniently erased, making this investigation impossible.
When Al-Jazeera reached out to several US Agencies, looking for official statements, they all refused to answer.
Why Bacteriological Warfare Failed
Still, there is one more aspect that I feel deserves attention. In Burchett’s Book “A Monstrous War”, he takes a good amount of time to talk about how the North Koreans dealt with this kind of warfare, and I found it to be an incredible read. When talking about BW, it seems like there is an implicit assumption that there is one part that is “dishing it out”, and one that is “just taking it”. But the North Korean (alleged) response to the (alleged) BW incidents, was nothing short of amazing.
Given that the Chinese had experience with BW, and given the US proximity to Japan after WW2, it was not beyond the realm of possiblities that the American may eventually engage in BW. As part of the North Korean National Healthcare Program, they inoculated virtually their entire population against most of the diseases that the Americans would later attempt to spread.
And since the North Korean Government, unlike Rhee’s administration, involved a strong popular participation, it was easy for them to organize “extermination parties”. A well-trained and informed group of villagers existed in basically every town, whose task it was to run towards any reported group of insects and burn down the area. Citizens were informed to kill every bug or insect on sight, and leaflets and posters were distributed en-masse about the latest developments.
I found these reports to be nothing short of amazing, as I, personally, had never really thought about it. This would be an explanation as to why the BW attacks did not have the destructive effect it could have had.
Either way, I think that this is enough information to hopefully inspire you to look deeper into this matter.
If you found this to be interesting, let me know, and I will continue to post more accompanying articles for my upcoming videos!
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