When I got to Gangjeong Village, I soon met many beautiful spirits there, I quickly regretted my past mistakes, in other words, I thought “Why was I not one of peace group members who visited Jeju twice from Tacoma, U.S. in 2013 and 2014?”
My little sister Melissa from US and Korean sister Choi Sung-Hee picked us up at the bus stop on Jan. 20 with big smiling faces. Rev. Imai Shonin, 86 years old, my teacher monk from Japan got off the bus too. We had an unusual snowstorm during our short 3 day stay in Jeju, including our visit to 4/3 Museum.
Only a few hours and one overnight passed, I’ve already recognized the people here are real, and that was a really beautiful moments in my life. The very next morning we joined the 100 prayer bows with long time activists and young students visitors at the gate of the Navel base. Although the obnoxious construction was completed, that prayer is still continuing not just in my heart but also on the earth for our better future. I will never forget it and I promise to come back here again in my life time. Thank you everybody include Dongsok-san who has great spirit.
Gangjeong is in the same latitude as my hometown Usa in Kyushu, Japan and we also produce sweet mandarin orange. “Usa” is proud of it’s ancient history and advanced people from Silla settled here. Since after WW2 the reservoir area “Hijudai” behind my hometown has been used as a live firing field by US Marine Corps in Okinawa. I visited Okinawa for one week with 23 US citizens before visiting Jeju. To my regret we could not stay Jeju in even for 5 days because I wished to visit Putagol(Pagoda) Park in Seoul for the prayer for the souls of Korean victims under Japanese occupation especially for Jugun-ianfu(comfort women). I came back to Seattle now and I am thinking what is the next step for peace walking with the people whom I met in Gangjeong. Not just a word. Gassho(palms together)
Kanaeda, Senji, Japanese Buddhist monk belong to Nipponzan Myohoji order-Gangjeong visit Jan 20-23rd 2017
Civic groups hold a press conference on Feb. 7 in front of the entrance to Jeju Naval Base to criticize the South Korean and American governments’ discussion of the deployment of the USS Zumwalt, a stealth destroyer. (by Huh Ho-joon, Jeju correspondent)
Protesters worry that Jeju will become a front-line in a military confrontation between the US and China
After it was reported that the US navy has suggested deploying the USS Zumwalt, a stealth destroyer, at the Jeju Naval Base, civic groups in Jeju held a press conference on Feb. 7 in front of the entrance to the base to criticize the South Korean and American governments’ discussion of its deployment.
On the morning of Feb. 7, the Gangjeong Village Council, the Island Residents’ Action Committee for Blocking the Jeju Military Base and Realizing an Island of Peace, and the National Action Council for the Jeju Naval Base held a press conference in front of the entrance to the Jeju Naval Base in Gangjeong Village, Seogwipo, to condemn discussion about the US navy deploying the Zumwalt.
“We have recently learned that US Pacific Commander Harry Harris proposed deploying the USS Zumwalt, a stealth guided missile destroyer, to the Jeju Naval Base. If this destroyer is deployed, it is obvious that Jeju Island would become a front-line American outpost against China,” these groups said.
“We have been concerned that the Jeju Naval Base would be used as an American front-line outpost against China, but the [South Korean] navy has strenuously denied this, stating that the [South Korean] government’s approval would be required before American naval vessels could enter or leave the base. Deploying the USS Zumwalt would begin the transformation of the whole island into a military base,” the groups said.
“If a Zumwalt-class stealth guided missile destroyer is deployed at the Jeju Naval Base in addition to deploying THAAD on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea and China will be forced down the road toward inevitable military conflict. The ultimate result of deploying American combat vessels to Jeju will be further increasing military tensions in Northeast Asia,” the groups said. They urged the US to retract its comments about deploying the USS Zumwalt to Jeju and urged the South Korean government to flatly reject the proposal to deploy the ship to Jeju.
The USS Zumwalt on the Kennebec River in Maine (AP/Yonhap News)
No Samsung! the No.1 power of South Korea!/ For a Jeju native to survive/ Solidarity Trip to Hawaii From Jeju Island/ Henoko struggle goes on despite hardships/ Welcome the judgment of acquittal on reservist objector/ Jeju sea, covered with wind farms?/ Trial update/ The 18th Gangjeong Peace School etc.
Koh Kwon-il, vice chair of the village committee and chair of the action committee against the naval base in Gangjeong Village, Jeju Island, calling for the government to waive its right to indemnity.
With indemnity, government apparently trying to send a message about what happens to people who oppose government projects
On Jan. 30, during the Lunar New Year holiday, I visited Gangjeong Village in Jeju Island. Faded and tattered yellow banners were fluttering in the fierce wind around the Jeju Naval Base, with slogans such as “No naval base in Gangjeong Village,” “Resolutely opposed to the naval base” and “Forfeit the right to indemnity.” The rough waves of the dark blue sea ceaselessly battered Gangjeong Port.
Today, the residents of Gangjeong Village feel a mixture of resignation and rage against the government. I met with Koh Kwon-il, vice chair of the village committee and chair of the action committee against the naval base. Koh and I were in the same class in high school. Koh has enjoyed drawing comics since his high school days, and he was always serious and optimistic. When he was attending graduate school in Seoul, he made a name for himself as a cartoonist, and his cartoons were syndicated in monthly magazines and sports newspapers. When he returned home to Jeju in 2008, after 26 years, he stood on the front line of the struggle. He did not stand by and watch what was happening to his home.
When I met this bronze-faced man at the site of the struggle, he no longer looked as he had in his late teens, but his personality remained mild and reasonable. Overcome with homesickness during his university years, he told me he had gone home and found healing for his body and soul by fishing and going for walks on the Gureombi Rocks.
The Gangjeong villagers’ campaign against the naval base is now in its tenth year. When the campaign began in Apr. 2007 with most villagers objecting to a unilateral decision by the minority to allow the base to be built, few thought it would last so long.
Despite the long struggle of the residents of Gangjeong Village, construction of Jeju Naval Base was completed in Feb. 2016. But the psychological and physical pain inflicted upon the residents during the construction process, as well as the damage to their property, continue today. More than 700 people were arrested by the police, and 392 cases were taken to court. They have been fined more than 400 million won (US$364,000). The naval base changed the face of the village and plunged the residents into conflict.
When construction ended on the base, President Park Geun-hye said she hoped that “this would be a significant opportunity for coexistence and harmony with the local community.” But when Samsung C&T asked to be compensated for the delay in the construction, the navy paid 27.3 billion won (US$23.64 million) and then stabbed the villagers in the back by demanding that 116 individuals and five organizations, including the village council, pay 3.45 billion won (US$2.98 million) just one month after the ribbon-cutting ceremony. In addition to this, Samsung C&T and Daelim Industrial are moving forward with a request for the navy to pay tens of billions of won in compensation.
After severely scarring the villagers during the construction of the naval base, the government, far from resolving the conflict, continues to provoke their anger. In Oct. 2016, 165 lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties submitted a resolution asking the government to forfeit its right to indemnity. “The government must never use lawsuits against the people (to whom sovereignty belongs) to push the people to the brink of the cliff of pain,” the lawmakers said.
Not only Jeju Island Governor Won Hee-ryong and the Jeju Island legislature but even the Jeju Island Lawyers’ Association advised and urged the government to forfeit its right to indemnity, but the government’s position is unshakeable. The government apparently intends this to be a warning to the public about what happens when people oppose a government project.
There is no precedent for the government demanding that its citizens pay it billions of won in restitution. During a meeting of the Gangjeong Village Council on Jan. 23, villagers angrily asked, “Is this a country?” They described the indemnity as “bloody pus” — sweat and blood squeezed out of hurting people.
“Just because it’s a government project doesn’t mean you can suppress the people‘s voices. The people have already endured so many inconveniences during their struggle to defend their community, and forcing them to pay restitution is state violence,” Koh said angrily.
The villagers are doing their best to avoid conflict. These people already experienced state violence during the Apr. 3 Incident, more than 70 years ago, and we must not dredge up that trauma. Unless we embrace the residents of Gangjeong Village, “coexistence” and “harmony” will be no more than empty words. The presidential candidates need to clean the bloody pus off the people of Gangjeong Village.
By Huh Ho-joon, Jeju correspondent
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
