A massacre site of Christians in Gunsan during Korean War is seen in this undated photo provided by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Yonhap

Approximately 1,700 South Korean religious people were massacred by North Korean military and other hostile forces around the time of the 1950-53 Korean War, a state truth panel said Wednesday.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said it has identified a list of about 1,700 religious figures massacred across the country before and after the outbreak of the war, based on various historical records.

It recommended that the South Korean government ask North Korea to apologize for the massacres.

The panel said the casualties included 104 Christians murdered by local leftists, North Korean military and other hostile forces at 24 churches in eight regions of the southwestern province of North Jeolla, including Gunsan, Gimje and Jeongeup, between July and November of 1950.

More than half of them, 60 people, were killed around Sept. 28, 1950, when the North Korean army retreated soon after the Incheon Landing Operation by the U.N. forces, it noted. In particular, 20 people, including children, were killed at a church in Jeongeup that was burned down by North Korean followers.

At that time, Christians were defined as an uncooperative force by the North Korean followers because they took part in right-wing groups or defected to the South in large numbers after Korea's liberation from Japan in 1945, the panel added. (Yonhap)