<p class="title">A South Korean court on Monday posthumously exonerated a man executed more than 70 years ago for assisting rebel forces, saying he had been wrongly convicted.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chang Hwan-bong, then 29, was among hundreds of people who were accused of helping left-leaning soldiers in an armed uprising against the government in the southwestern cities of Yeosu and Suncheon in 1948.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They were sentenced to death just 22 days after their arrest for rebellion and were executed immediately.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But in 2009, a government truth panel found that around 438 civilians -- including Chang -- had been unjustly convicted and killed for collaborating with the rebel troops.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Historical issues often remain contentious in South Korea, which emerged from the turmoil of the Korean War and where politics are deeply divided between left and right.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chang's daughter filed for a retrial in 2013, which was approved by the Supreme Court in March last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Suncheon branch of the Gwangju District Court acquitted Chang on Monday, saying that the facts of his crimes cited in 1948 had not been proven.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"As a member of the judiciary, I want to make it clear that the execution of the ruling was by illegal power of the government and I make a deep apology," said Judge Kim Jung-ah.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The dead man's daughter Chang Kyung-ja said afterward: "I am happy that my father's undeserved death has been proven." Monday's decision was the first acquittal for civilians convicted in the 1948 incident, according to local reports.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Committee for the Retrial of the Yeosu-Suncheon Incident -- an activist group campaigning for the victims -- welcomed the "historic ruling", saying it was "only the beginning" and as many as 5,000 civilians had been wrongly convicted. (AFP) RS RS</p>
<p class="title">A South Korean court on Monday posthumously exonerated a man executed more than 70 years ago for assisting rebel forces, saying he had been wrongly convicted.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chang Hwan-bong, then 29, was among hundreds of people who were accused of helping left-leaning soldiers in an armed uprising against the government in the southwestern cities of Yeosu and Suncheon in 1948.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They were sentenced to death just 22 days after their arrest for rebellion and were executed immediately.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But in 2009, a government truth panel found that around 438 civilians -- including Chang -- had been unjustly convicted and killed for collaborating with the rebel troops.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Historical issues often remain contentious in South Korea, which emerged from the turmoil of the Korean War and where politics are deeply divided between left and right.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chang's daughter filed for a retrial in 2013, which was approved by the Supreme Court in March last year.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Suncheon branch of the Gwangju District Court acquitted Chang on Monday, saying that the facts of his crimes cited in 1948 had not been proven.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"As a member of the judiciary, I want to make it clear that the execution of the ruling was by illegal power of the government and I make a deep apology," said Judge Kim Jung-ah.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The dead man's daughter Chang Kyung-ja said afterward: "I am happy that my father's undeserved death has been proven." Monday's decision was the first acquittal for civilians convicted in the 1948 incident, according to local reports.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Committee for the Retrial of the Yeosu-Suncheon Incident -- an activist group campaigning for the victims -- welcomed the "historic ruling", saying it was "only the beginning" and as many as 5,000 civilians had been wrongly convicted. (AFP) RS RS</p>