# MacArthur's 20 August 1950 letter on the killing of prisoners

On 20 August 1950 General Douglas MacArthur, writing for the United Nations Command, addressed a typed letter to the commander-in-chief of North Korea's armed forces. It charges that bound and disarmed UN prisoners had been murdered and says that, if the killings are not promptly stopped, he will hold the commander and his commanders criminally accountable.

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      MacArthur to the Commander-in-Chief, North Korean forces: atrocities against prisoners

      MacArthur's 20 August 1950 letter on the killing of prisoners
      General MacArthur's 20 August 1950 United Nations Command letter to North Korea's commander-in-chief on the murder of prisoners of war.

## Techniques named on the archive record

Fear appeal
      DateAugust 20, 1950Made byGeneral Headquarters, United Nations Command (General Douglas MacArthur)MediumDocumentCountryUnited StatesRegimeTruman AdministrationSourceIdentified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they areSourceWikimedia Commons , retrieved October 2, 2026SourcePublic domain (U.S. military work, 1950; Commons PD-USGov-Military tag) General Headquarters, United Nations Command (U.S. Army); via Wikimedia Commons (File:Korean War US Propaganda Leaflet (letter from Douglas MacArthur).jpg).
      Object, image, and catalog record from the FRAME archive. Text on this page is CC BY 4.0. Image rights are as the archive records.

      Full record at propagandaarchive.org

  On 20 August 1950 General Douglas MacArthur, writing for the United Nations Command, addressed a typed letter to the commander-in-chief of North Korea's armed forces. It charges that bound and disarmed UN prisoners had been murdered and says that, if the killings are not promptly stopped, he will hold the commander and his commanders criminally accountable.

## What the letter says

The document is a typed letter headed General Headquarters, United Nations Command, Office of the Commander-in-Chief, and it closes with MacArthur's name. Its argument runs in three steps: the UN side promised prisoners the protections of war; the North Korean side has murdered prisoners in its custody; a commander who does not stop it will answer for it.

There is documented proof of many instances in which such prisoners, disarmed and bound, have been brutally murdered by your officers and men holding custodial responsibility for their safety.

Inertia on your part and on the part of your senior field commanders in the discharge of this grave and universally recognized command responsibility may only be construed as a condonation and encouragement of such outrages, for which if not promptly corrected I shall hold you and your commanders criminally accountable under the rules and precedents of war.

Excerpt, FRAME transcription of the letter dated 20 August 1950, signed DOUGLAS MacARTHUR, addressed "TO: THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ARMED FORCES OF NORTH KOREA." Spelling as typed. Full record and full text at propagandaarchive.org.

The opening paragraph refers back to a 4 July proclamation in which, the letter says, MacArthur pledged that captured North Korean soldiers would receive "the full measure of protection provided by the rules of civilized warfare."

## Why a letter is in a propaganda collection

The archive reproduces it from a Commons file whose title calls it a Korean War propaganda leaflet. Read on its own, it is a formal warning from one commander to another. Its audience is wider than its addressee. A letter like this, once printed and circulated, tells enemy officers that they personally are on notice, and tells everyone else that the UN side is keeping the record. The archive tags it as a fear appeal: the fear on offer is legal liability, aimed at named ranks.

## How to weigh it

The charge in the letter is serious and the letter says the evidence is documented. This page does not have that evidence, and does not add to or subtract from it. What the reader can weigh is the principle. Holding commanders responsible for the treatment of prisoners in their charge is one of the better ideas in the law of war, and the letter states it clearly. The same principle binds the side that states it, which is why the letter leads with the UN Command's own pledge.

Related Korean War items in this collection: the Pyongyang air-raid warning and the Air Force ARCS leaflet montage with a Ridgway safe-conduct pass.

## Sources

- FRAME object record, "MacArthur to the Commander-in-Chief, North Korean forces: atrocities against prisoners," 20 August 1950. General Headquarters, United Nations Command (General Douglas MacArthur).

- Wikimedia Commons, File:Korean War US Propaganda Leaflet (letter from Douglas MacArthur).jpg, retrieved by the archive 2 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. military work; PD-USGov-Military).

Canonical: https://americanpropaganda.org/collection/unc-macarthur-letter-to-kpa-commander-1950/