Harry S. Truman's dirty little secret

Education and 4.3
Nearly six decades later, many Koreans are still in the dark
Monday, April 09, 2012, 15:03:57 Lauren Flenniken contributor@jejuweekly.com
http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=2541
Until about a decade ago, Korean Law prohibited people from talking about the Jeju Massacre or anything related to April 3rd or communism. This has resulted in a historical void in regard to the seven years of armed conflict on the island between 1948 and 1954. In 1948, shortly after South Korea was established, the South Korean National Assembly passed the National Traitors Act which outlawed the Workers Party of South Korea and vilified any act or persons deemed socialist. For nearly 50 years after the Jeju Massacre, Korean citizens could be arrested, beaten, and jailed for merely mentioning it. For nearly four decades, the Jeju Massacre was ignored by the government. And it was only in 1992, with the discovery of the remains of massacre victims in Darangshi cave, that the massacre began to receive national attention. In response, the government ordered the cave sealed as an act to further suppress this horrible scar in Korean history. It wasn’t until April 2006 that the survivors and the families of massacre victims received any apology, recognition or compensation when then President Roh Moo Hyun, made the first public apology to the citizens of Jeju and the remaining survivors. However, six years after President Roh’s apology, Korean citizens still do not know the events surrounding what is known by Korean as 4.3. In 1987 democracy was brought to Korea which resulted in social and political movements lead by students, journalists, and activists motivated by their desire to uncover the truth surrounding the events of 4.3. In 2000, the South Korean government created the South Korean Truth Commission which was established to investigate these “lost” historical events. Still, many of the facts surrounding the event’s of the Jeju Massacre are little known, if at all, to South Korean citizens. In a previous article by The Jeju Weekly dated Jan. 15, 2010 (Issue 17), a history teacher from the mainland stated that the general public does not know about the massacre and choose not to bother themselves with this tragic imagery. However, a younger generation of Koreans seem to disagree. Seoul resident Nam Hyuna, 32, stated that she had not been taught anything about the Jeju Massacre before she entered college and even then, she was taught very little. When asked what she knew about the event Nam responded that she “can’t say anything [about 4.3] because there is not enough info about that event. Media and people say different things.” Like many other young Koreans, Nam would love to learn more about this important part of Korean history. “It would be great to know [about this] part of Korean history,” she said, adding that she hopes the Korean government will investigate and reveal the truth about 4.3. For Jeju residents, knowledge regarding the 4.3 events is more commonplace even though it is not officially taught in school. When asked about 4.3 a local high school student said, “It is very basic knowledge for [a] Jeju person!” but admitted that “it is not regulation curricular” and that when it does come up in school, it is only given a small amount of time in the classroom. In researching this story, The Jeju Weekly approached the Ministry of Education for comment about the Jeju Massacre and the national school curriculum, but as of publication The Weekly had not received a reply. — Ed.

The Statement of Citizens in the Globe for Stopping the Naval Base Construction in Jeju Island and Keeping East-Asian Peace

Please give this as much attention as possible. This is a very important issue:Below is a petition that the National Association of Professors for Democracy in Korea have circulated regarding the Naval Base construction in Jeju Island. This is a contentious issue at the moment, and the struggle against the base (which I believe will how nuclear submarines or vessels) has garnered support from a variety of international scholars and celebrities.

best regards,

Jamie Doucette

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Please sign up for Stopping the Naval Base Construction in Jeju Island
and Keeping East-Asian Peace

The South Korean government and the Navy is constructing a naval base
at Gangjeong village in The Jeju island, which was designated as a
Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO and whose landscape is well-known as one
of the most beautiful ones in the world. For the past several years,
the grassroots people’s movement and the hundreds of civil society
organizations have been fighting against such a destructive and
anti-environmental effort. Against this, the National Association of
Professors for Democracy in Korea is collecting solidarity signatures
from citizens around the world. The NAPD is a representative
organization of professors, which was founded during the
anti-dictatorship movement in the late 1980s and has
more than 1,000 professors in S. Korea among its membership.
Please look at the attached draft of the statement, and sign in solidarity.
Please send your information to
mingyo87@hanmail.net with your information such as name, position,
nationality, and email address. We will be waiting for our your
signature until the 2nd of April 2012.

National Association of Professors for Democracy in Korea
Co-represendative: Do-Heum Lee, Hee-Yeon Cho, Chang-won Seol,
Seung-seok Kim, Yong-tae Choi
Emai: Mingyo87@hanmail.net
Telephone: 82-2-2610-4232
Homepage: http://www.professornet.org/
DeclarationAgainstJejuMarineBase(English).doc
14K View Download

The Statement of Citizens in the Globe
for Stopping the Naval Base Construction in Jeju Island
and Keeping East-Asian Peace

In 2012, the South Korean government and the Navy force a naval base to be constructed in Jeju Isalnd, while many Koreans, including the majority of island residents, repeatedly request it to be stopped.

Each time explosions go off at Gureombi, Jeju, whose landscape is well-known as one of the most beautiful in the world, the islanders and Korean people rage at the ruthlessness, fraud, and inhumanity of the South Korean government and the Navy.

The Lee Myung-Bak Administration has committed illegitimate and illegal actions like removing the Absolute Preservation Zone of its anti-development regulations without due procedures. Problems with the naval base design were exposed in the technical assessment, which betrayed the lie of the government that it would develop a beautiful military-civilian tourist port. However, the Lee Administration continues to cheat the people, proclaiming that the project has no problem. The Ministry of National Defense also tried to persuade Jeju residents to believe it would construct the beautiful military-civilian tourist port in which two cruises could harbor simultaneously. But the simultaneous harboring of the two cruises in the port was proved to be impossible in the simulation assessment. But the Ministry of National Defense lied again, saying, “According to the statistics of last year, only 5 of 345 cruises traveling in the world have more than 150,000 tons of weight. The possibility that two 150,000 ton ships come into the Jeju port is almost zero.”
Wherever weapons are, there happen killing and war. If a military port is constructed in the peaceful island of Jeju and bombs and missiles are brought, military balance of East Asia will be broken and tension will rise up. If a war were to break out, the whole of East Asia would be involved in the war, and the whole of the Jeju Island would be a gunpowder magazine.

Gureombi and its seashore and coast display the extraordinary beauty of natural landscape and are celebrated tourist areas and ecological preservation zones. In Jeju Island live animals and plants which are in danger of extinction, and UNESCO designated it as a Biosphere Reserve in 2002. The Korean government also declared Jeju as a Natural Heritage Protection Zone, which is authorized by Cultural Heritage Adminstration. In October, 2004, the Jeju Island was also designated as Absolute Preservation Zone in which any form-changing activities are prohibited. The Gureombi seashore is special to the islanders because it has about 20 Yongcheonsu springs, which is very valuable to their life.

Recognizing the value of preserved nature in the island very well, the residents and Korean people have been united to demand the naval base construction to be stopped, resisting it. But the Lee Administration arrested more than 329 people for the last 2 years. By making dispatched special military forces even do violence to the resistants, the government committed cruelties like organized criminal gangs. The government also abused its rights by threatening the Seogwipo mayor to abolish the farming road construction plan in the city and by pressing the Technical Assessment Committee to positively estimate cruise arrival and departure in the port.

The Korean people gave president Lee Myung-Bak only 5 year governance, not the transcendental privileged right to do anything as he like. The naval base construction will not only destroy the beautiful nature of Jeju irrecoverably but break the peace of East Asia.

In these respects, the citizens in the globe who cherish the lives and nature of Jeju Island and love the peace of East Asia and the world urgently demand the followings:

1. The Lee Myung-Bak Administration must instantly stop the illegitimate and illegal construction of the naval base in Jeju Island.

2. The political forces of South Korea must immediately launch Congressional and Special Prosecutor investigations to probe the frauds and human rights violations of the Lee Myung-Bak Administration.

3. The head of Jeju Island, Governor Woo Geunmin, must take all useful administrative actions to impede the naval base construction such as the cancelation of landfill permit.


4. The U. S. government and Army must tell the truth about their involvement with the Jeju naval base construction and must instantaneously withdraw their military imperialism to endanger the peace of East Asia and the world.

5. The Japanese government must not collaborate in constructing the Jeju naval base, which threatens peace in its own country, and must abandon its imperialist orientation.


6. Conscientious citizens of Germany and Canada must actively join the peace movement to demand the stoppage of the Jeju naval base construction, which threatens the peace of the world.

March, 2012

Citizens of South Korea, Japan, the U. S., Canada, and Germany
who love peace and nature.