koreanhistory1-9, Exercise 2: The Jeju death toll (a sample; yours will differ)

Model answer:

Claims with owners: the infobox gives 14,373 civilians (86% by security forces, 14% by insurgents) and 1,091 security and militia deaths, about 30,000 including combatants; the lead gives 14,000 to 30,000 (Chalmers Johnson); a footnote cites a governor's report of 60,000 (Cumings); other estimates reach 80,000, and the final section says some reach 100,000; the Korean War article gives 30,000 violent deaths including 14,373 civilians, with 2,000 attributed to rebels and 12,000 to ROK forces (adding to 14,000, not 14,373).

No single figure is safe because the sources use different bases (civilians only, all deaths, deaths through 1954), the article's "commission" is not clearly dated, and the infobox end date (13 May 1949) differs from the commission's counting period.

Disputed on responsibility: Cumings says the US bears responsibility and Heo Ho-jun claims US liaison aircraft helped locate and kill villagers, while a 1949 US investigation (Colonel Casteel) called the strike "communist inspired", and Kim Dae-jung called it "a communist rebellion" while also saying innocent people died under false accusations. Some liberal scholars and victims' families also dispute that the local committee followed WPSK direction.