What’s the point of feeling angry about what happened? You just have to make sure we never see that kind of world again-that this [Jeju 4.3 tragedy and the hardships that befell three generations of family members] never happens again. “For my grandchildren, [please help ensure] that there is no record stating that their grandmother has a criminal history and spent time in prison.” “The path we have traveled to this point has been a tremendously perilous and difficult [one]. What the 18 of us want is to be acquitted [and to receive an official apology].”

The seed of the grand tragedy, the Cheju Massacres (1947-1954) were crawling about to pop. Is it the path of unification and peace? Is it the road to division or war? Koreans were wandering in front of a forked road. The date of April 5, 1948, after the very day of Cheju April 3rd, 1948 Popular Uprising, the Commander of the United States Army Command in Korea, General Hodge issued a decree on human rights.” However, the U.S. military did not abide by any decree on human rights in the three years of US occupation in South Korea. The U.S. Army military officers who had been sent to Cheju from the main land, South Korea in the date of March 1st, 1947, to order, command, control and communicate the uncompromising hard-line anticommunist operation continued until the Cheju people were considered enemies and were destroyed in accordance with the Field Manual of US Army. So they did not distinguish civilians from guerrillas, and did not distinguish the armed forces of the guerillas from the unarmed refugees, innocent ordinary people. It was only a plan and implementation of a super hard-line suppression operation. It is the biggest reason that the U.S. military should be responsible for the Cheju massacres.

This paper is based on the author’s book, <The Jamnyo (Jeju women divers) of Korea, Neo-Confucianism and Dual Mythology> (2018). It was published in English and French verion by the Cultural Foundation Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, Switzland. The particularity of the book is that it is the first of its kind that introduces in foreign language Jeju academic discourses (published since 1950’s, but not known outside of Korea)) on various topics, such as Jeju women divers, mythology, kinship system, shamanism and the influence of the Neo-confucianism on Jeju, imported from the mainland, combined with data collected among a divers' community in the small island of Udo, Jeju in 2016. This article presents two stances of the author regarding Jeju: (1) a feminist point of view on Jeju women divers and their contribution to Jeju society by presenting the island as a <women centred society>; (2) an activist point of view by presenting the history of Jeju and its people as a struggle against the centre by the periphery and dominated by different colonial powers over 1000 years. The article proposes jamnyo’s fireplace (bulteok) as a social model for healing.

There have long been debated whether Jeju king cherry in Korea and Punus x yedoensis (Yoshino cherry) in Japan are the same or not and its originality. Recent genomic approach among P. yedoensis and closed related varieties from Korea, Japan and USA confirms that P. yedoensis is F1 hybrid. The results also show that there are two types of Jeju king cherry in Mt. Halla, Jeju, Korea and one type is clearly different and the other type is the same grouping to Yoshino cherry in Japan and USA and the maternal texa of the two types in Jeju is the same of P. pendula. The search of paternal texa of the same type and further molecular genetic analysis and classification among newly found hundreds of Jeju King Trees in natural habitats of Mt. Halla including a 265 year-old tree along with previous findings would reveal the hypothesis that two independent F1 hybrid of P. yedoensis are evolved in Mt. Halla where is the only natural birth place of P. yedoensis in the world. Furthermore, policy agenda of king cherry tree eco-exploration among six countries including two divided Korea proposed. In terms of bio-diplomacy, it was amazing fact that Jeju King Cherry trees were sent USA under Japanese colony in 1912. In 1943, USA Congressman John Rankin of Mississippi confirms that they were Korean Cherry Trees. The first four of these trees were presented to the American University in 1943 by the Korean Women’s Relief Society of Honolulu according to notice of AU’s School authority. As Jeju NAtional University students and teachers confirmed the fact in April 2018, they suggest Jeju King Cherry Trees Eco- Exploration between the two universities at university level, hoping to extend a warming program of planting Jeju King Cherry trees at the Dalma tourism complex in Wonsan city of North Korea in April of 2020.