The role of the women divers (Haenyo and their unique meeting place (Buleok)of peace to solve disputes is another feature of Jeju Peace Island that recommends it as a locus for peace action. Sammu speaks of neighbourly-ness, although the concept itself refers to three elements lacking on Jeju: The Thief, the Gate and the Beggar. Going deep into the peasant past, Jeju islanders held virtues ``diligence, thrift and interdependence”. This meant that no one was moved to become a thief, there was no need for a secure Gate and, so, the Beggar was not found either. Jeju Islander society and culture was without avarice and promoted values of independence, self-reliance and honor. Entry to a traditional Jeju compound was barred by a Jeongnang or log that showed that the homeowner was away and, so, no one crossed the threshold out of respect. All of this may sound rather negative and stern were it not for Samryeo, the “Three Treasures” in the developing heritage of Jeju peace culture, taken to be Nature (folklore, native industries), Crops of special use, such as marine products and, today, tourism; finished off with Generosity of the beauty of nature, including controls on the level of industry so as to preserve the natural blessings. Whilst in keeping with the three-part philosophy of ancient Jeju, Samryeo is a development from 1960 and more recent times, as Jeju and South Korea recovered from the Jeju Tragedy. Indeed, it is only in 2003(English edition in 2013) that the final definitive report on these disturbing events has been compiled and published. Like the Mangaian war ax, the Jeju Tragedy is a constant reminder of the need for peace and the avoidance of violence and war for harmony of civilization.”.
The Jeju 4 3 Incident, which occurred on Jeju Island during the US military rule, was the second most tragic event in modern Korean history after the Korean War(Jeju 4 3 Incident Investigation Report Planning Team 2003). It is an unprecedented historical event in which even the basic human rights that everyone should have were violated under historical reasons. However, in order not to repeat this kind of history, we need the courage to think about what we must do, find the answers, and put the found solution into action. To do this, we need to know what human rights have been violated, and what kind of pain those who have been violated and their descendants have suffered. Just knowing is not enough. Knowing with your head and empathizing with your heart makes a difference in behavior. Because I react differently to what happens to me and what happens to others. I wonder why they would react differently. The thought that I could not empathize was the beginning of this article. The social healing of 4.3 cannot be completely healed without forming a consensus.
This paper is based on the presentation I made for the online conference as part of Peace Talks series in Paris, June 10, 2021 and as a follow up to the 2021 World Peace Island Forum: 6+1 Culture Forum in Jeju. A blending conference on Education, Peace, Sustainable Development and process of designation of Jeju 4.3 Victim Records as UNESCO World Program of Memory MoW. This is constructed from my perspective as Doctor in anglophone studies and gender and development studies, main IFBPW representative to UNESCO, member of the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee and the CCNGO-Education2030 coordination group, UNESCO key mechanism for reflection, dialogue and partnerships for the implementation of SDG4.
The April 3 victim records are a collective history of victims, including the background of the incident, the history of the victims in the process of investigating the truth and restoring honor, the process of establishing the April 3 Special Act and resolving civil-private cooperation. The Jeju 4.3 Incident occurred on Jeju Island, a small South Korean island ruled by U.S. Government amid the global Cold War and the division of the Korean Peninsula after World War II was the second most serious casualty in modern Korean history. Of the island's total population of 280,000, between 25,000 and 30,000 were found to have been killed. Nevertheless, 50 years after the incident, no specific and comprehensive fact-finding has been made, and the truth and justice have been concealed. Since the late 1980s, the damage has gradually begun to be revealed as a fierce campaign to reveal the truth of Jeju civil society, including bereaved families, students, civic groups, media, cultural circles, and academic circles. On January 12, 2000, the Jeju April 3 Incident Truth and Victim Honor Recovery Committee was launched with the enactment of the "Special Act on the Truth and Restoration of Victims". The findings were announced at the time Roh Moo-hyun, the Korean President to visit Jeju Island at a “In the past power of the state of sympathy and heartfelt apology to family and the Jeju for a mistake to say.” and came to a formal apology. In addition, the government has taken steps to overcome past tragedies and move toward the future, including the creation of Jeju April·3 Peace Park in 2003, the establishment of Jeju April ·3 Peace Foundation in 2008, the designation of national anniversaries by the government in 2012, and the declaration of formalization between the bereaved families. The April 3 victim records are a collective history of victims, including the background of the incident, the history of the victims in the process of investigating the truth and restoring honor, the process of establishing the April 3 Special Act and resolving civil-private cooperation.
The thought occurs that through “Korean Tolerance” Wonsan and the Jeju “Peace Port” at Gangeong village could be linked as “sister holiday places” by ferry, which sailing could include other ports to promote peace and Korean tolerance cruises featuring entertainment from all parts of the peninsula. Those Korean relatives in Japan could meet their DPRK families on Jeju and at other places on the Korean Tolerance cruise itinerary. There no doubt are many barriers to such a proposal as a peace and Korean Tolerance voyage between the DPRK and RoK, but the principle of Korean Tolerance and exchange between Wonsan and Jeju World Peace Island should be able to overcome such difficulties with good will throughout the peninsular polity.. “Korean Tolerance Peace Cruises” would serve to promote cultural exchange by using artists from all of Korea to learn from one another’s experiences, using their common language, shared culture and deep history.
Jeju 4.3 refers to a seven year and seven month long period of events; from the 1947 Gwandeokjang Square incident on March 1st, 1947 at Buk Elementary, where a horsed police officer’s mistake lead to casualties that many citizens felt was inadequately investigated to September 21st, 1954, when the Geumjok area of Hallasan was fully opened, officially ending the lock down of Jeju Island. In Jeju, 4.3 was a taboo word. Jeju 4.3 slowly began to rise to the surface of discussion after the collapse of the Syngman Rhee regime in the April Revolution of 1960. In May 1960, the "April 3 Incident Fact-finding Committee," which was led by seven students from Jeju National University, became an organization and began the work of uncovering the truth about Jeju 4.3. In the literary world, Kim Seok-beom's "Hwasando" was published in 1976, and Hyun Ki-Young’s "Aunt Suni", which deals with the massacre in Bukchon was published in 1978, talked about the pain of Jeju 4.3. Later, the political communities tried to console the bereaved families who suffered from national violence through the enactment of the Jeju 4.3 Special Law. As of 2016, discussions on the revision of the Jeju April 3 Special Law were continuously raised and five revisions were submitted to the National Assembly, drawing keen attention from political circles. In the end, Jeju politicians, academia, and civic groups are still making efforts for amendment to be passed through the 21th National Assembly.
We are proud that we are launching “Have 4,000 Students sign a Jeju 4.3 Petition to the U.S. Capitol” for enactment of “the Korea Jeju 4.3 Human Rights Act 2022” in 2022, which was result of various visits to offices of U.S. Congressman Mark Takano and Congresswoman Judy Chu on May 1, 2019. It was historic sentence for Jeju 4.3 Survivors, Mr. Dong-Soo Park of Sogil Village, Mr. Wonhue Boo of Hwabuk village, Ms. Hee-Chun Oh of Harye village dismissed all charges against the accused on January 17, 2019 by Presiding Judge Jaegal, Chang, Chung, Seung-jin and Seo, Youngwoo at the Korea Jeju Distict Court. “South Korean victims who were wrongfully charged with insurrection during an anti-communist crackdown from 1948 to 1949 and thrown in jail for defying violent paramilitary and military forces, are to receive more that $4 million in compensation for wrongful imprisonment following the Jeju 4.3 massacre, “South Korea Jeju Massacre victims awarded $ 4M in damages,” by Elizabeth Shim: UPI, August 21, 2019).
As Jeju people hopes to make an effort to find its place for 4.3 Grand Tragedy in the Sun, they will contribute to world peace beyond the Jeju 4.3 Tragedy. It will be a starting point that Jeju people propose to U.S. Congress “the Korea Jeju Human Rights and Peace Island Act 2021". It was meaningful that Jeju National University students suggested their idea about enactment of Jeju 4.3 Reconciliation Act to U.S. Congress at the meeting of both office of Congressman Mark Takano and Congresswoman Judy Chu on May 1, 2019. It may be going forward for us to do Jeju Massacre Consultation based on Jeju 4.3 Reparative Justice with cooperation of both U.N. lawyer and international law professors. It would be a historic achievement in the Human Rights and Democracy in 21st century similar to the Civil Liberty Act 1988 to Japanese Internment cases and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act 2019 to Hong Kong democratization.
The Jeju Teachers' Association and Jeju Island Office of Education also proposes a visit to Japan to learn about their lives in connection with Korean schools in Japan. In 2020, Jeju National University and Ritsumeikan University plan to have the opportunity to jointly study and research the lives of Koreans in Japan from the standpoint of peace and human rights education. Based on the opinions of these international researchers, we should cover the human rights abuses committed under the US military administration and the responsibility for the deaths under US military influence, even after the establishment of the Korean government, and to restore the honor of 4.3 victims and survivors to prevent this from happening again. This is to protect peace and human rights in Jeju and the Korean peninsula.
The purpose of this study is to propose revisions to the Jeju 4.3 Special Law for the purpose of further investigation of Jeju 4.3 so that the complete resolution and appropriate legal solutions may come. The President, Moon Jae-In, who visited Jeju on April 3, 2018, promised a complete resolution of the Jeju 4.3 incident, defining the Jeju 4.3 incident as "violence perpetrated by state power." On Jan. 17, 2019, the Jeju District Court ruled in a retrial suit filed against the military tribunal by 18 surviving inmates under the leadership of the Jeju 4.3 Truth Commission and the Citizens' Solidarity for the Restoration of Honor. This is a very important case in which the military tribunal and their rulings were ruled invalid. Jeju 4.3 is still a painful history of Jeju that has not been resolved.
We emphasize concept of “creative syncretism( Ko et al.2018:40), which is another value creator of Korean culture. By incorporating Jeju cultural legacy of being the “Blue Zone” from traditional Korean period where longevity was noticed by a Chinese Emperor who sent a mission to Jeju Island seeking an anti-ageing plant, Pullo cho. Moving from the Jeju 4.3 incident to International Peace Movement is another example of creative syncretism value of Korea. Jeju can also benefit from contributing to the world community by developing longevity enterprise and sponsoring the 2021 Korean Care Into Global Humanity through tolerance in highly ageing population society. This is the reason why we try to propose triangle collaborative relationships among Jeju, Korean American of New Haven and Korean Japanese to support Jeju Peace Industry together. We believe it will reinforce creative ways to show Jeju cultural legacy and highlights strengths of Korean and Jeju peace culture in East Asian Context. In this paper, we conclude potentially that “Korean Care and Peace Island Care into Global Humanity” would be one of social healing of the Jeju 4.3 Grand Tragedy through tolerance. Through three months’ trials and discussions from April to June, 2019, we can reach at deciding our main topic as “ the 2021 Global Ageing Bieniual Network : Korean Care Into Global Humanity,” academically which will be presented by Korean delegation on September 19, 2019 at the 2019 Global Ageing Network Biennial Conference : This Is Long Term Care. We can manage to arrange its contents as Peace Island Village Healing models in detail in a nearer future.
Plans are moving forward for the implementation of a series of international fora based on the ideas of peace education developed at the University of Jeju over the past decade, including a series of 6+1 peace exercises in the South Korea, United States, France, Taiwan, Russia, and possibly North Korea, bringing together peace activists for dialogue and sharing of knowledge with the aim of building lasting peace in the Korean peninsula.
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].”
Jeju ordinary people have a strong feeling of “Existing the Road to Resentment” from fact of the Jeju 4.3 Grand Tragedy. If we look at some kinds of phenomena or events during 2017 and 2018 during era of Moon Jaein Korean government, I would like to tell those symptoms at Korea and Jeju society. 4.3 Grassroots advocates, including victims, survivors’ families, teachers, students, lawyers, artists, filmmakers, local officials, business people, as well as Jeju, Korean, and international scholars, are fashioning next steps for Jeju 4.3 social healing. For instance, in April 2017, eighteen Jeju 4.3 victims asked the Jeju District Court to set aside unlawful 4.3 convictions based on false accusations and resulting in harsh imprisonment. In September 2018, the Jeju court agreed to reopen the survivors’ cases, granting re-trials. These Jeju survivors and their families’ lawsuit reveals the 4.3 Tragedy’s continuing damage and demonstrates the survivors’ courage in still fighting to clear their names and the names of the thousands similarly convicted during Jeju 4.3. In complementary efforts, in July 2017 a Jeju 4.3 delegation submitted to U.S. Congress foreign affairs committee members a signed petition urging U.S. participation in future 4.3 social healing efforts and asking for congressional hearings on the 4.3 Tragedy. And in December 2017, the Jeju people and Korean and international supporters proposed that the Korean government revise the 4.3 Special Act to authorize meaningful reparations for Jeju 4.3 victims and families. Additionally, Jeju justice advocates are in the process of memorializing the 1947 Jeju 3.1 National Liberation Independence Day demonstrations in the nonviolent spirit of the 1919 national liberty demonstrations. In that spirit, the Jeju people are registering the records of 1947 legal cases of 328 people involved in the demonstrations. With the Jeju peace island human rights movement, the justice supporters are also advocating for recognition of the Jeju 4.3 Grand Tragedy under the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.
The story of the island called Jeju coincides with the history of the Republic of Korea. There is a lot of speciality, so if you take a closer look, you can find the history and universality of the land. So I am interested in people who are looking for Jeju. Especially after liberation. I think that the process from the colonization of Japanese Imperialism to the making of the Korean people may be common among people living in other peripheral areas. Okinawa and so on Taiwan. The process by which the state uses violence to make people obey, or incorporate them, is similar to the invasive approach of past imperialism. In the process of establishing anti-communism state, it is necessary to study whether a person should be a citizen or not, and those who do not have to be annihilated as a stigma of "red". It is very important for us to live today. Most of the history of the land on which you are based is hard to understand only in learning history related to the country at school. It is only for the teachers unless the local school board forms the appropriate curriculum.
This research covers up social activism of Jeju Buddhism during the period of Jeju 4.3 Incident. Jeju Buddhism launched the activist movements for pending issues of Jeju society after political liberation of Korea. Buddhists in Jeju were trying to restore their own tradition of Korean Buddhism and establish political autonomy of Jeju residents. However, Jeju Buddhism suffered from the severe oppression accompanied by their activist movements. Even now, the aftermath of 4.3 Incident still remains ineradicable to Jeju Buddhism. A lot of Buddhist monks were victimized with other Jeju residents without any judicial proceedings during anti-guerilla pacification operation. In addition, their properties including temples and Buddha statues were also devastated or plundered by the repression forces. For reconciliation of Jeju 4.3 Incident, we should pay attention to dedication of Buddhist activists and their sufferings under political violence during the 4.3 period.
We are currently considering to write a paper on the potential of using U.S. courts to push for U.S. participation in Jeju 4.3 reconciliation,similar to how reopening the Korematsu case tied into a broader reparations movement for the wrongful mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. For this paper, it plans to include some of the survivor testimony featured in the book Jeju 4.3 Grand Tragedy during ‘peacetime’ Korea: The Asia Pacific Context (1947-2016). The book contains a transcript of survivor testimonies given in Seoul on May 30, 2015. Some of the survivors whose testimony is included in the Jeju 4.3 Grand Tragedy book are petitioning to have their cases reopened. I would like to connect the petition to the importance of U.S. participation in Jeju 4.3 reconciliation. To do this, we would like to specifically incorporate parts of the petitioners’ testimony recorded in the Jeju 4.3 Grand Tragedy book into Hawaii team’s paper. We think including the testimony would powerfully emphasize the continuing need for social healing and would strengthen the argument for U.S. participation. If we can do it collaboratively, we can do a lawsuit or other such action in the US may help draw attention to the case in 2019.
This study was approached from the perspective of a historical trauma. This study was analyzed from the perspective of the 2nd generation of Jeju 4.3 experienced residents, unrelated to the ideology of right or left. In order to confirm the evidences of this historical trauma, the Korean national daily newspapers titled DongaIlbo(1962-1999), Kyung Hyang Newspaper (1947-1999), Maeil Business Newspaper (1966-1999), Hankyoreh Newspaper (1989-1999) were analyzed by the key word of Jeju 4.3(제주 4.3) and 제주사태(Jeju incident) in the Naver news library. This research showed that the sense of safety or security at the level of exo system including media as well as at the macro system including ideology was never secured for Jeju people related to Jeju 4.3 over 70 years. If this sense of safety or security at both macro and exo system is not secured, individual memory and mourning at micro system level cannot approached. Therefore publicly guaranteed safety feeling at macro system level including policy and media should become the starting line to recover the Jeju 4.3 historical trauma. The historical trauma related to Jeju 4.3, which has been handed down through generations in the silence of 70 years, should be solved by the central government policy in terms of the macro, exo, mezzo, and micro systems.
In this study, the anxiety about Jeju 4.3 was perceived to be passed down from generation to generation, and it was approached from the perspective of a historical trauma. From the interviews with my father from 2008 to 2014, and the anxiety expressed concerning 4.3, which was discovered during the in-depth interviews with the grandparents and succeeding generations who attended the social work practice class at Jeju National University in 2013 and 2015, was recognized as a universal phenomenon. In 2016, a social healing program was conducted through 3 generations communication between elderly people living in Chongsu, Hankyong-myeon, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, and students and parents who volunteered for the Social Welfare Foundation Chongsu. In the intergenerational communication program, it was found that not only the 4.3 experienced generation but also the 2nd generation who were forced to be silence about it were anxious about the expression of 4.3. and it was the 2nd generation being identified with an overall lack of awareness of 4.3 and the refusal of discussing it. The third generation felt as if Jeju 4.3 had been a historical event a long time ago or they learned about it from their grandparents. In this way, Jeju 4.3 observes that generations of trauma have been transferred from generation to generation. In order to confirm the cause of this traumatic event, the national daily newspapers Donga Ilbo(1962-1999), Kyung Hyang Newspaper (1947-1999), Maeil Business Newspaper (1966-1999),Hankyoreh Newspaper (1989-1999) were analyzed by the key word Jeju 4.3 in the Naver news library[1]. And it was analyzed how the national press had reported about 4.3 from 1947 to 1999. In particular, the titles and contents of the news reports were analyzed through the spectrum of "safety" according to the first condition of Herman's trauma healing, and Bronfenbrenner's PPCT system theory. In the Naver news library, daily newspaper including the Dong-A Ilbo, the Kyunghyang Shinmun, and the Maeil Business Newspaper had reported Jeju 4.3 as a Communist Party riot until 1987. However, other aspects of Jeju 4.3 began to be reflected since 1988. But The Hankyoreh newspaper had reported it as the Jeju 4.3 uprising since 1989. The newspaper reports did not take into consideration the anxiety and fear that Jeju residents had experienced since 1948, but rather revealed limitations of reporting from the ideological point of views of the left and right. This study analyzed the sense of safety which residents could feel about Jeju 4.3 from the perspective of the 2nd silenced generation of residents unrelated to the ideology of right and left.As a result of the analysis, the sense of safety or security secured by the whole system among the macro, the exo, the mezzo, and the micro systems, Bronfenbrenner suggested becomes the starting line of recovering the historical trauma concerning Jeju 4.3. If this sense of safety or security is not secured, individual memory and mourning will have limitations in the healing of trauma. Therefore, the historical trauma of Jeju 4.3, which has been handed down through generations in the silence of 70 years, should be solved by the central government policy in terms of the macro, exo, mezzo, and micro systems.