Jeju 4.3 was a historic incident symbolizing national integration

An event was prepared for Koreans to remember Jeju 4.3 as historic event and as symbol of national integration.

The Association for the Bereaved Families of the Victims of Jeju 4‧3 (Chairperson Song Seung-moon) and the Korean National Police Veterans Association in Jeju (Chairperson Kim Young-joong) gathered at the Loyal Dead Cemetery and at the memorial altar in the Jeju 4‧3 Peace Memorial Park on Aug. 2, holding the 6^th Joint Worship for Commemorating the Announcement for Reconciliation and Coexistence.

The event was joined by the staff of various organizations, institutions and political parties, including Ahn Dong-woo, Vice-governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, Jeong Min-goo, Chairperson of the Special Committee on Jeju 4.3 in Jeju Special Self-governing Provincial Council, Kang Cheol-nam and Kang Seong-ui, members of the Provincial Council, Boo Du-heun, Vice-chairperson of the Korean National Police Veterans Association, Yang Jo-hoon, Chairperson of the Jeju 4‧3 Peace Foundation, Goo Ja-heon, Chairperson of the Liberty Korea Party in Jeju, Ko Byeong-soo, Chairperson of the Justice Party in Jeju, and Cheon Jang-ok, Executive Advisor of the Party for Democracy and Peace.

The joint worship first started on Aug. 2, 2013, in the Room of the People of Jeju at the Provincial Council where the Association for the Bereaved Families of the Victims of Jeju 4‧3 and the Korean National Police Veterans Association in Jeju gathered for a joint press conference to announce reconciliation and coexistence. The event is drawing attention as a model for reconciliation, and more groups in Jeju are taking part every year.

All the participants offered flowers and burned incense to appease the victims of Jeju 4·3 and the police who died 70 years ago.

Notably, there were numerous visits from prosecution and police staff. As the Ministry of National Defense and the police expressed regret regarding Jeju 4‧3, admitting fault, the climate for reconciliation and peace is at its peak.

On Aug. 8, 2019, high officials from the Jeju District Public Prosecutors’ Office paid visits to the joint worship, including Jo Jae-yeon, Director of the Office, and Park So-young, Deputy Chief Prosecutor, both new on Jeju, as well as Kim Jae-ha, Jeong Tae-won, and Park Dae-beom, Chief Prosecutors.

The prosecutors met Yang Jo-hoon, Chairperson of the Jeju 4‧3 Peace Foundation, and Song Seung-moon, Chairperson of the Association for the Bereaved Families of the Victims of Jeju 4‧3, who offered to guide them to the altar. After worship, they went into the exhibition hall of the memorial building and were reminded of the meaning of the tragic incident of 71 years ago.

Newly-appointed Director Jo, after the worship, wrote in the guest book, “We pay our respects to the lost souls of Jeju 4‧3, and we truly hope for the incident to be rightfully evaluated both historically and legally to heal the wounds of the bereaved families of the victims, as it marks our way to reconciliation and harmony.”

Kim Byeong-goo, Chief of the Jeju Provincial Police Agency, visited the memorial altar in the Jeju 4‧3 Peace Memorial Park on Oct. 18 along with 14 members of the provincial police agency staff  including Byeon Min-seon, Chief of the Investigation Division, Seo Sang-tae, Chief of the Criminal Investigation Division, and Kim Hak-cheol, Chief of the Security Division.

Also, at the exhibit “Righteous People,” featured in the exhibition hall, visitors raised their hands in salute to upright people such as Police Superintendent Moon Hyeon-soon and Regiment Commander Kim Ik-ryeol, who made the right choice the incident.

More groups followed to remember Jeju 4‧3. On Oct. 11, 2019, the Jejudo Association from Kansai, Japan, visited the joint worship, and on Oct. 14, 100 people who belong to the Global Jejuin Hub Network came to respect and keep the memory of the lost souls at the Jeju 4‧3 Peace Memorial Park.

Full-scale articles in UPI, The New York Times, and U.N. Web TV broadcast reflect the growing global attention to the Incident

Before and after the opening of the U.N. Symposium on Human Rights and Jeju 4·3 held in New York on June 20, media in the United States produced lengthy articles on what really happened during Jeju 4·3, which reflects that the incident is becoming a global issue.

United Press International (UPI), one of the authoritative press agencies in the United States, made a detailed report on the symposium the day of the event under the headline South Korea Jeju Massacre haunts the memories of survivors.

UPI introduced the testimony of Ko Wan-soon, a bereaved family member who suffered during the Bukchon Village Massacre, and added that Ko’s story was only one example of the experiences of countless victims, many of them women, children, or the elderly, targeted for the actions of armed guerrillas, who were active on Jeju Island following liberation on Aug. 15, 1945.

UPI also reported that Ko is a witness and survivor of one of the most brutal massacres in South Korean history and that she called for awareness of the Jeju Massacre, or Jeju Uprising, when tens of thousands of victims may have been killed.

In the article, Bruce Cumings, a renowned historian and a distinguished service professor of history at the University of Chicago, is paraphrased as having said that during the event the U.S. military, which had operational control of the South’s security forces following Japan’s surrender, play a role in the massacre.

The article continues: U.S. officials instead praised first South Korean President Syngman Rhee’s ‘vigorous’ anti-communism in the documents, favoring his hard-line policies over those of Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Republic of China.

UPI quotes the historian as having said: It made me ashamed.

UPI also cited Yang Jo-hoon, president of Jeju 4·3 Peace Foundation who co-hosted the symposium, as having said both past United States’ and former dictatorial regimes of South Korea are responsible for 4·3.

He said, we seek truth and justice, for a true reconciliation, UPI reported.

Medium, a news platform, published on July 2 a lengthy article titled Jeju 4·3, A Dark Chapter in Korean History Revealed at UN by The International Center for Transitional Justice.

The article scrutinizes the event, from its background and development, which took place under the U.S. Military Government in Korea, historical facts that approximately 30,000 civilians were massacred, taken into custody, tortured, and went missing, to the enactment of The Special Act on Discovering the Truth of the Jeju 4·3 Incident and Restoring the Victims’ Honor followed by the official apology from President Moon Jae-in in 2018.

Also, the article cited Professor Baik Tae-ung from the University of Hawaii Law School and a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, emphasizing the need for domestic and international efforts to present substantial compensation for victims, gain access to the U.S. National Archives, continue with the exhumations of bodies, and to pay respects to the souls lost.

Impact News Service, a news agency based in France, covered the progress and character of the symposium on July 2 under the title of Jeju 4·3 Movement Holds Historic Event at UN.

Meanwhile, U.N. Web TV, an online medium run by the United Nations, broadcast the entire 3-hour-long symposium live, which became available by search from all over the world.

Korea Broadcasting TV (KBTV), a Korean broadcast channel in New York, provided two news pieces: Lifting the veil over Jeju 4·3 Incident involving 30,000 residents as victims at UN, and The U.S. should admit its responsibility on Jeju 4·3 Incident where 30,000 innocents were massacred. The Korea Broadcasting Network (KBN) News in New York made an in-depth report with an interview with Yang Jeong-sim from the Jeju 4·3 Peace Foundation in its show Power Interview, examining the truth of Jeju 4·3 Incident and the results of the U.N. symposium in detail.

Moreover, Korean newspapers in the United States, such as The Korea Jungang Daily and The Korea Times, covered the U.N. symposium. A blog article in US Minjoo Forum, subscribed by more than 200,000 people, made real-time reports on the event.

Beforehand, The New York Times, a renowned daily newspaper, released an on-site documentary article on May 28, with the headline Memories of Massacre Were Long Suppressed Here. Tourists Now Retrace the Atrocities.

The U.N. Symposium on Human Rights and Jeju 4·3: Jeju 4·3, Truth, Responsibility, and Reconciliation

Special Article I

On June 20 at 3 p.m. (EST) in Conference Room 11 at the U.N. Headquarters in New York City, United States of America, the U.N. Symposium on Human Rights and Jeju 4·3 was hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations (Representative Cho Tae-yul). The symposium was organized by the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province (Governor Won Heeryong), the office of Korean National Assemblyman Kang Chang-il, and the Jeju 4·3 Peace Foundation (President Yang Jo Hoon).

Arranged by Kwon Heon-gyu, Jeju 4·3 Peace Foundation Research Department

Photography by Kang Jeong-hyo

The U.N. symposium under the theme Jeju 4·3, Truth, Responsibility, and Reconciliation was successfully held with human rights and peace-related groups from South Korea and the United States in attendance. On the day of the event, the air in New York City was charged with humidity due to the wet weather that lasted nearly a week. It was a sultry late summer afternoon. Nevertheless, reflecting the heat of the 200 people who had applied to enter the conference room that accommodated only 130 people, many participants visited two hours earlier than the event at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations to receive the access pass to the U.N. Headquarters.

The space in front of Conference Room 11 on the basement floor of the U.N. Headquarters was literally packed with members of the organizing entities (the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, the office of Korean National Assemblyman Kang Chang-il, the Jeju 4·3 Peace Foundation, the Jeju Special Self-governing Provincial Council, the Provincial Office of Education, and the Association for the Jeju 4·3 Bereaved Families) who had arrived in New York late in the evening of June 18 (local time), along with those from the U.S.-based cooperating groups that had previously met with the delegation from Jeju in April. The 3-hour symposium started 30 minutes late since a prior event held in the same conference room ran long. In the welcoming speech after a silent tribute was paid to the lost souls of Jeju 4·3 and an introductory video feed, Cho Tae-yul, the permanent representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, mentioned his visit to a village in Columbia scarred by civil war.

“We were too vulnerable to keep peace, and wounds to our spirits are too deep to overcome. This is why the process of healing and reconciliation taking place in Jeju will lead to the entire world,” Representative Cho said, adding that this symposium shall become “an opportunity to prevent the recurrence of tragedy, heal our past wounds, and show our will to promote peace and human rights all across the world.”

Greetings from Jeju Governor Won and National Assemblyman Kang, who were unable to attend, were followed by the words of Jeju 4·3 Peace Foundation President Yang. President Yang stated that numerous activists made concerted efforts to build solidarity and keep memories of Jeju 4·3 for 71 years, which finally brought the issue to the conference in New York.

Yang also said: “The tragedy we endured during 4·3 is the fault of both the governments of the United State and South Korea. While the presidents of the Korean government apologized three times for the country’s misuse of authority, the United States keeps silent without any comment at all. We appeal to American intellectuals and media.”

In his keynote speech, Bishop Peter Kang Woo-il spoke of the historical and social background of Jeju 4·3 and argued the responsibility of the U.S. Military Government in Korea.

“The wrongful acts committed by the U.S. military government and the South Korean government are to be clarified among the international community, which will contribute to achieving the ultimate goal of justice, responsibility and reconciliation,” Bishop Peter said.

Presenters from different fields also shed light on the truth of the tragedy and the responsibility of the United States from their own areas of expertise, offering visions toward a peaceful future.

Bruce Cumings, a distinguished professor at the University of Chicago, discussed the responsibility of the United States in the mass killings from the perspective of history, while John Merrill, former chief of the Northeast Asia Division in the U.S. Department of State, mentioned the misunderstandings of the U.S. government about Korea that were reflected in its foreign policy toward Korea and its resulting tragedy of Jeju 4·3.

Charles Hanley, former deputy managing editor of the Associated Press who won the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage on No Gun Ri massacre, revealed the fact that the U.S. authority had concealed Jeju 4·3 and contemporaneous English-language media had remained indifferent about the incident. Professor Baik Tae-ung, member and vice-chair of the U.N. Human Rights Council Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, provided an analysis on Jeju 4·3 from an international law perspective.

What drew attention from the U.N. officials, co-op groups and participants from outside Korea was the testimonial speech of Ko Wan-soon, a survivor of the Bukchon Village Massacre and a bereaved family member of Jeju 4·3. Many participants’ eyes reddened as Ko spoke of the arson of her village and the massacre of her villagers that took everything from her as a little girl who was once curious and full of dreams, and the hardships that has persisted her entire life.

“As is the purpose of the United Nations, I request the United States of America to actively partake in settling the truth of 4·3,” Ko said, concluding her testimony to a round of applause.

Discussions that followed were also insightful. Remarkable suggestions included that the United States should conduct a fact-finding mission with respect to its responsibility and that an additional symposium should be held in Washington, D.C., to push ahead with further investigations.

Meanwhile, Jeju high school students Jeong Hyeon-seo (Daejeong High School) and Kang Hye-min (Shinseong Girls’ High School) received a big hand as they said, “many citizens can be as mature as Moon Hyeong-soon, chief of Seongsanpo Police Station, who chose justice in a moment of crisis, and our society can be more just if we are properly educated to sympathize with the spirit of 4·3.”

Professor Park Myung-lim, moderator of the symposium and executive director of the Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library at Yonsei University, made a surprise proposal for the people of Jeju Island to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, saying the movement of peace and reconciliation involving Jeju 4·3 surpasses the barriers between perpetrators and victims, civilians and government, liberals and conservatives, and is being renewed as a symbol for reconciliation, coexistence, tolerance and mercy.

Though the event was 3 hours long without a break, the air in the crowded hall with all the 130 seats taken was as just as hot as the weather outside. Meanwhile, outside of the conference room, copies of The JEJU 4·3 Mass Killing: Atrocity, Justice, and Reconciliation, a collection of papers written in English, were distributed along with sourcebooks for the symposium. U.N. officials and representatives who failed to attend the symposium showed keen interest in the book and kept copies for themselves.

Also, during the reception held at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations after the symposium, more than 200 influential figures attended, including Charles Rangel, the second-longest serving incumbent member of the House of Representatives at the time of his retirement in 2017, and Thomas Byrne, president of the Korea Society, who bridged South Korea and the United States in diplomacy. The reception was a venue where the hope that Jeju 4·3 can act as an opportunity to spread the spirit of reconciliation across the world and that the KOR-U.S. can maintain strong relations on a foundation of justice were fostered.

The U.N. Symposium on Human Rights and Jeju 4·3 was meaningful in that it alerted the world to the truth of Jeju 4·3 at the U.N. Headquarters and pushed for the United States to take responsibility. Also, since the beginning of its preparation in the second half of 2018, 38 cooperating groups have been secured, 14 of which are in the United States. This will have a profound impact on propelling the claim that the United States should take responsible actions regarding the incident. The symposium also publicized the idea to establish a Korean-American 4·3 Commemoration Agency by the Korean-American societies, including the Jejudo Association of America (New York), which was an unexpected outcome.

The symposium, which gravely handled the issue of the U.S. Military Government in Korea’s responsibility, built a solidarity for cooperating groups, and offered Koreans in America to sympathize with their Jeju compatriots. These various results indicate that this first symposium was a success. Follow-up tasks include maintaining openings for similar symposiums in Washington, D.C., to bring up the issue of U.S. responsibility while securing more evidence through future investigations. More proactive international efforts are required to reach the ultimate resolution to Jeju 4·3.