Ms. Hee Choon Oh was a Jeju Haenyeo(woman diver) and one of the few surviving victims of the Jeju 4.3 (1948). As a Haenyeo: Jeju society was very poor at the time during the Japanese colonial period and the division of the two Korea, especially after the Korean War, so she had to work regardless of gender. It was hard to go into the sea, but it was the only thing to support my family. In retrospect, Going out to work in the sea was like a life-threatening adventure every day. While there were many emergency moments, She becomes one with the sea and forgot all the pain. After having spent a lot of time together with the sea, I had to stop working as a Haenyeo because it was hard to take care of nine children after having heart surgery. I was able to receive Honorary Haenyeo through continuous exchanges and dedication to the society. As a victim of the Jeju 4.3: I had no choice but to explain it why I had to do work as a Haenyeo and to understand my life. I am a woman who chose the job of Haenyeo, but I have lived through the pain of the dark modern and contemporary history of Korea. The unfair one-year prison life that I wanted to hide even from my children hurt me all my life. Over the past 70 years, sharing pain with the sea, neighbors, and family, serving the region, and hopefully waiting for a better society and justice to come. and finally It was not until 2019, 70 years after 1948, that I was officially acquitted by a Korean court. I regained my honor as a Haenyeo and was able to get rid of my deep sadness.

I highlight morally relevant history - of Korea, of The United States and of The early years of the United Nations (UN), which tends to be ignored in the discussion of the Jeju tragedy - a seven year period of brutality on Jeju Island, South Korea, that lasted from March 1, 1947 to September 21, 1954. While discussions of these events acknowledge the responsibility of the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK), they overlook the connection of the tragedy to Korea’s earlier history - such as its Independence Movement in the early 1900s. Also overlooked is the way in which the US created machinery in the early years of the UN that was the sine qua non of the controversial UN monitored elections which were the flashpoint of the incident. This Pre-UN and early UN history is poignantly connected to the Jeju tragedy, as we will see, and is crucial for understanding its full significance. Sadly, however, this history is dimly understood. For the sake of understanding the full scope of moral responsibility for the Jeju tragedy, and for reconnecting to the values and virtues important for all people, this overlooked history must be brought to light.

It’s a time we prepare for a reparation agenda for Jeju 4.3 victims and their families. We should approach the USA government side collectively rather than individually for their lawsuits, because most of them are elderly, over 75 years old and need intensive medical care and assistance immediately. It’s up for us to recognize some tasks of actualizing Reparation, Reconciliation and Reconnection Agenda for “Environmentally Sustainable Peace Island” beyond Trauma of the Jeju 4.3 Grand Tragedy into the next Decade.

It has been firmly concluded that there isn’t any new evidence to negate already proven facts about the Jeju 4.3 Massacre. The contentions made by the Rightist group are very subjective and self-centered and distorted interpretation. This book is written by the ultra-right winged, perpetrators of Jeju 4.3 Massacre. Their contention is completely, and without exception, distorted. They are trying to state that the Jeju 4.3 never took place and that no new inquiry investigation needs to ensue. Their contentions are totally false and without merit. Social Healing begins with the exchange of truth and justice. The perpetrators need to acknowledge the crimes committed and seek forgiveness. The victims can then accept the remorseful apologies and then begin the social healing through the justice process. These processes then ultimately lead to social healing through justice for all parties involved.

The Jeju April Third Tragedy saw an estimated 14,000 and possibly many thousands more Jeju Islanders killed amid the political turmoil of a re-merging Korean stated after the Japanese occupation. US troops were stationed on the island province before and during the Tragedy which lasted from 1947 to 1954. The aim of this article is to present theoretical and practical issues of the unfnished business of reconciliation and social healing for the victims of the April Third Tragedy; for survivors, for family members, and for the memories of the decreased. This process requires the engagement of as many of the actors at that time, in order to conclude the story of April 3rd Tragedy. Based on 13 years of’ collaborative efforts setting up a vision of Jeju as World Peace Island, there is now formal recognition of the April 3rd Tragedy event. We have hoped for a future beyond the trauma and tragedy of the Mass-killing of Korea Jeju Islanders during and after the US Peacetime Occupation ( 1947-1954). Even though it has taken 10 years to translate the Jeju April 3 Incident Investigation Report of 2003 into an English edition in 2013, I believe, it provides a cornerstone for Jeju islanders to open a new Age of Social Healing for the Mass Killing of Korea Jeju Islanders ( the Tragedy) while under and then after US Military Peacetime Occupation (1947- 1954).

Healing for the Jeju 4.3 survivors and families progressed significantly after the work of the 2000 National 4.3 Committee and the 2005 Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Acting on these investigatory organizations’ recommendations and the expressed desires of the Jeju people, the Korean government began a healing process that included a presidential apology, a government-sponsored museum and an extensive public memorial and gravesite for known victims—albeit without individual reparations. American and Korean scholars also point to the United States’ partial responsibility for Jeju 4.3 and its lack of participation in redress efforts. Acknowledgment of the United States’ historical role in Jeju 4.3 by the Korean and U.S. governments today may be one of the crucial next steps toward genuine reparatory justice for the Jeju people and for Korean society. It may also bolster U.S. legitimacy globally as a democracy actually (and not just professedly) committed to humanrights.The United States grounds its global moral authority as a democracy in its stated commitment to human rights. But a genuine commitment entails acknowledging and actively repairing the damage caused by its participation in human rights atrocities—even decades ago. Its legitimacy as a democracy depends upon doing so—and after two damaging wars the United States needs to bolster its moral authority internationally. If America under President Obama, with its security pivot toward Asia, is to reclaim full legitimacy as a democracy committed to human rights, if there is to be complete social healing for the Jeju 4.3 survivors and families and for the Korean government and people—if the “han,” the deep sense of suffering from injustice, is to be lightened—then the United States needs to mutually and actively engage in the reconciliation process. The time is now.