Korean War Death Toll Lower, Story Says
Reuters
WASHINGTON —
The Pentagon has revised downward the number of U.S. troops who died in the 1950-53 Korean War and said the “primary culprit” for the error was an unnamed clerk, Time magazine reported Sunday.
The Pentagon cut the death toll from 54,246 to 36,940, Time said.
The higher toll was given after a bureaucrat mistakenly added all noncombat deaths worldwide to the toll of combat deaths in Korea, Time reported.
That meant that the death toll was inflated by more than 17,000 for about half a century.
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