Author: savejejunow.org

Why Women Must End the Korean War

Re-posted from the Foreign Policy in Focus

By Christine Ahn, March 8, 2013

As women around the world gather to celebrate International Women’s Day, a light needs to be shone upon the Korean peninsula where a tinderbox situation is about to erupt into a full-blown military conflict.

In response to the U.S.-led UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea for testing its third nuclear weapon last month, the DPRK has threatened to both nullify the 1953 armistice agreement that halted the Korean War and preemptively strike the United States. The North Korean foreign ministry said in a statement: “Since the United States is about to ignite a nuclear war, we will be exercising our right to preemptive nuclear attack against the headquarters of the aggressor in order to protect our supreme interest.”

While escalations of tension are nothing new, what they are revealing is that a major game changer is needed to break the silent stalemate between the United States and North Korea. And it’s going to take more than Dennis Rodman’s trip to North Korea. It will require the United States to take greater responsibility and leadership to end the Korean War, as well as a feminist, anti-militarist approach to achieve peace and justice on the Korean peninsula.

Why the U.S. Must Take Responsibility to End the Korean War

In 1948, after the close of the Second World War, the United States, with a nod of agreement from the Soviet Union, divided the Korean peninsula. During the war, the United States led the United Nations Command in waging a brutal scorched earth air bombing campaign across the Korean peninsula, particularly in the north, where U.S. bombs leveled 80 percent of northern cities and destroyed agricultural dams—actions considered war crimes under the Fourth Geneva Convention ratified that year.

The Korean War was incredibly vicious. More bombs were dropped in Korea than on all of Europe during World War II, and U.S. President Harry Truman threatened to drop another atomic bomb. And it was during the Korean War that napalm was first used against civilians. Within three months of the war’s outset, 57,000 Korean children were missing and half a million homes were damaged or destroyed.

One year into the war, U.S. Major General Emmett O’Donnell Jr. testified before the Senate, “I would say that the entire, almost the entire Korean Peninsula is just a terrible mess. Everything is destroyed. There is nothing standing worthy of the name…There were no more targets in Korea.”

It wasn’t until some 4 million people had been killed that the Korean War came to an unresolved end on July 27, 1953 with a temporary armistice signed by the United States, North Korea, and China. South Korea was not a signatory because it had ceded military power to General Douglas MacArthur. A permanent peace agreement has never materialized, which means the war is technically still on. Sixty years later, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) remains the world’s most heavily militarized border, with South Korean, North Korean, and U.S. troops poised for war amid over 1.2 million landmines.

We are facing, once again, perilous times as tensions escalate in the Asia-Pacific. Most western governments and the mainstream media point to North Korea’s third nuclear test and perceived belligerence as the cause of the escalation when in fact there are two major initiatives fueling this militarized response.

First is the so-called “pivot.” In 2011, the Obama administration announced a plan to transfer significant military resources to Asia and the Pacific, including expanding bases, surveillance, and equipment. The Pentagon has committed to deploying 60 percent of its air and naval forces to the region, including sending U.S. troops to Vietnam, the Philippines, and Australia. Without a doubt, the “pivot” is exacerbating tensions in a region that has still not resolved conflicts from the last century.

Second are the perennial U.S-ROK joint military exercises against North Korea. North Korea justifiably views these war games as acts of provocation. The annual U.S.-ROK “Key Resolve/Foal Eagle” war games, usually staged in March, and “Ulchi Freedom Guardian” in August typically last for months and involve tens of thousands of U.S. troops and hundreds of thousands of South Korean troops. In the exercises, U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, and Space Command forces simulate overthrowing North Korea’s leadership, occupying Pyongyang, and reunifying the peninsula under U.S. and South Korean control.

When I think about the impact of all this militarization, I think about the elderly rice farmers in Pyongtaek who used their bodies to defend their community from being bulldozed to accommodate the expansion of a U.S. military base. I think about the tangerine farmers and women sea divers of Gangjeong village on Jeju island struggling day and night to stop the construction of a U.S.-backed Korean naval base. This is what the militarization of the Korean peninsula looks like, and the only road to peace runs through Washington.

Why women’s leadership is crucial

Women’s organizing to end the Korean War is strategic for three key reasons.

First, the war has a disproportionate impact on the lives of women. As feminists, we know that nationalism, patriarchy, and militarism intersect. The militarization of the peninsula naturally leads to greater masculinization of society, which increases violence against women, including sexual violence by U.S. servicemen and the reallocation of resources from social welfare towards the military. But the partition also has very real consequences for North Korean women, especially those seeking a better life outside of North Korea.

According to estimates by aid workers, 80 to 90 percent of female refugees from North Korea are trafficking victims. At a women’s circle in South Korea, one 19-year-old escapee talked of being raped four times during her journey—once by the Korean Chinese man who promised to find her work in China, a second time by the Chinese man who hid her from the authorities, a third time by the South Korean coyote who brought her into the country, and a fourth time by the South Korean CIA. This she had to endure so she could survive.

Second, given our relationships with our families, children, and community, women have a reality check that is seldom there for men. Not only can women can bring into greater focus the experience of women and girls in militarized societies and armed conflict, we can provide crucial insights into the day-to-day consequences of the ongoing war on peoples’ lives.

Finally, the deadlocked situation calls for game changers. As a group of people outside the structures of power, we have to use our ingenuity to go beyond conventional paths outlined and dominated by patriarchal institutions. Women are not cowed by limited notions of solutions; we use our imagination and creativity to break through repressive structures.

Lights on the Water

Once, in the fall of 2009, I woke up in the middle of the night. Instead of continuing to toss and turn, I decided to switch on my computer. On the homepage of the New York Times read the headline, “North Korea Opens Dam Flow, Sweeping Away 6 in the South.” North Korea had lifted the floodgates of a dam on the Imjin River, sending a tidal wave south and killing six South Koreans, including an 8-year-old boy. The water level had doubled, which meant North Korea’s farms could flood and wipe out the season’s harvest. To avert this perilous situation, North Korea allegedly released the water without any advance notice.

This is so ridiculous, I thought to myself. Why can’t these two countries — that speak the same language, eat the same food, and share over two millennia of history — just communicate? Why couldn’t Kim Jong Il just have picked up the phone and given South Korean leader Lee Myung-bak a heads up?

After being thoroughly depressed about the situation of the two Koreas, I finally fell back to sleep. And then I had the most vivid dream, which I’ve held onto as hope for the future of a united Korea. In my dream, I was wading in a river alongside other Koreans. It was before the break of dawn and we were anxiously waiting for Koreans from the north. And just over the crest of the horizon, a light glowed. It was a group of people holding candles wading down the river. As we met in the river, there was an overabundance of joy and intense embrace. But I kept going forward up the river, bypassing this emotional scene to find the source. I came upon a ceremony of women huddled around a huge kettle stirring thick black liquid and pouring ladles of it into little pails carried by children. It was at that moment when I awoke and realized, aha, it will take Korean women on the peninsula and throughout the Diaspora to bring about peace and reunification for Korea.

Now I have no idea what was in that black liquid, but what I do know is that peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula must be advocated without supporting any particular nation-state. We don’t want the reunification of two highly patriarchal, militaristic societies. Our immediate task is to talk about the unfinished war’s militarization of the Korean peninsula and the consequent violence against women, children, and the future. We need to confront head-on the military buildup that is destroying livelihoods, communities, and the natural world.

So what can we do? We are powerless in the face of the military industrial complex, and we are cynical in the face of over 60 years of unfinished war. I don’t have the solutions, but I do have some dreams.

Imagine if people severed the barbed wires along the DMZ and transformed it into an ecological park. Imagine if the elderly could board a bus that would take them to visit their families in cities in the north, like Kaesong, Nampo, or Pyongyang. Imagine if the resources allocated to buying drones or to launch a satellite were instead spent on education, childcare, or support for single mothers. Imagine if North Korean farmers could access all the materials they needed to yield abundant harvests.

Central to all of this is ending the Korean War, with the United States signing a peace treaty with North Korea. But it will take more than signing a document to end over half a century of enmity and mistrust—it will take a new approach to achieving security. This is why it will take women’s leadership, because women realize that genuine security means having health, education, and freedom to live without fear and want. From Ireland to Liberia, women have stood up to end violence and conflict. We can and must do the same for Korea.

March 31, 2013
Two reverends Joining the suffering of Yang Yoon-Mo and Gureombi Rock

Rev. Kim Hong-Sool, Busan SPARK/ Image provided by Rev. Kim Hee-Yong. For more photos, see here.

Rev. Kim Hong-Sool, representative of Busan, SPARK, and Rev. Kim Hee-Yong, Gwangju, have taken a fast prayer meeting in solidarity with the sufferings of Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo and Gureombi Rock in front of the Jeju prison from March 26 to 29, 2013, during the Passion week according to the Christian faith before Easter.

Rev. Kim Hee-Yong, Gwangju (Image provided by Rev. Kim Hee-Yong)

Pat Cunningham, a Columban Father said on March 26, “A wonderful expression of solidarity with Prof. Yang as he begins the recovery process back to full health! I pray this week as we remember the sufferings and deep humiliation that Jesus suffered at the hands of his oppressors and the subsequent humiliation of being put on trial and executed as a common criminal despite being an innocent man we pray that no more violence and injustice will be visited on the brave peace makers in Gangjeong village! As people of hope and people of the resurrection we pray that justice will flow like a mighty stream once again and that the village of Gangjeong will return to its rightful custodians-the villagers and not the navy!”

It is told that, when the two visited Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo on the last day, Yang said to them, “I have been lonely to be alone, but was encouraged to hear that you were suffering with me outside. Let’s please gather power together.”

In the press conference ending their fasts, they demanded release of the political prisoners for opposition activities against the Jeju naval base construction, retraction of fine sentence, and construction stop.

In their statement to the citizens and Island people, they stated that it is the crucifixion of this era that there are the imprisonments of the villagers and peace activists who have peacefully made efforts to stop the naval base construction in Gangjoeng and the reality that a community that has lived peacefully from its ancestors is moaning.

They explained that “From the heart to join the pain of the Gureombi Rock though it is a small gesture, we came here to the site of suffering, the Jeju Prison, where Yang Yoon-Mo has carried out decisive action with 52 days’ fast.”

They scolded that “the war is a monster feeding itself with human blood. The humiliating activity to hand over here to the battle field of another country is a shameful deed that is nothing to do with peace and development. The naval base that is constructed destroying the nature and community is not self-reliant defense but [Korea] will be a consumption country for the war material–production corporations and their trash site.”

Press conference ending the four days fast and prayer for the stop of Jeju military base and for the release of Prof. Yang. . .”War cannot be justified for any reasons nor any causes. . .as it is a monster living as eating human blood.” From the left, Rev. Kim Hong-sul, representative of Busan SPARK, and Rev. Kim Hee-yong, representative of Gwangju Citizen Center. . .They have fasted in a tent in front of Jeju prison for the past 4 days from March 26 during the Passion week. (image/ caption provided by Regina Pyon)

Saying on Park Sung-Soo (38), a peace activist that chose a prison labor rather than fines of 1,500,000 KRW, that “a dedicated activist has entered the prison choosing hardships,” they urged to release all the prisoners and retract heavy fine sentences.

They bowed saying that “more than 70 % of the Northwest Youth League that massacred people during the Jeju 4·3 were Christians. Even though we are not representing them, we would like to pay bows of repentance to the Jeju Island people and Gangjeong villagers from the heart to repent our sins.”

Two reverends bow on March 29 (Image source: Headline Jeju, March 29, 2013)

In their ending prayer, mayor Knag Dong-Kyun and chairman Go Gwon-Il joined the event.

‘Trouble is not coming to us but it is for our approaching to it_by Rev. Kim Hee-Yong, March 26, 2013.’ Messages on the wire fence of the Jeju prison (Image source: Jeju Sori, March 26, 2013)

(Summary by Regina Pyon and Sung-Hee Choi)

March 30, 2013
Leave us for farming!: Villagers succeed to dissipate the navy presentation on the military residential housing project

Image source: Seogwipo Daily Newspaper, March 26, 2013

“Even though the naval base construction has not been completed, the navy is again raging wind with the matter of the military residence house in the Gangjeong village. The naval base would bring lots of conflicts such as radar base, helipad, powder magazine, training facilities, military airport, and more and more military residential house projects..”

How does the navy push the projects that accompany the large size land expropriation again when the tears of the Gangjeong villagers have not been dried yet for already large size land expropriation to build the naval base!

If it is a society where the powerless’ rights are repeatedly violated, even though the land expropriation is legal by the Act on Acquisition of and Compensation for Land, ETC. for Public Works, it is a society that has lost its justice.’

(Translated quotation from the statement by the Gangjeong Village Association, March 25, 2013: Source)

In July 2012, the government expropriated 132,460 ㎡ for the whole base project land area of 277,604 ㎡. At the time, 64 among 103 landowners had refused to sell their lands to the navy.

The expropriated lands included the best floriculture export complex in Korea. The government has acknowledged the Gangjeong floriculture export complex as the best floriculture–specialized production area in 2009 and 2010-the only Jeju region that got two years’ continuous honor on it by the central government.

The expropriated complex was 49,500 ㎡, more than 42 % of the whole Gangjeong floriculture complex (115,500 ㎡). See the source. For on the matter of the injustice on the land expropriation, as a whole, please come by later.

The navy planned to hold a presentation on the military residence housing project in the KimJung Culture Hall, Seogwipo City at 5 pm on March 26, 2013, but it was dissipated again in 10 minutes by about 100 Gangjeong villagers and peace keepers who stormed into the hall.

The villagers have already dissipated its hearing on May 29 and June 15, 2012. The navy plans to build an apartment of about 616 households in the 99,500 ㎡ in the B area by 2015. For that, they planned to build 384 households first in about 594,000 ㎡ there. The B area is composed of more than 60% rice paddies and fields, the best farming field of the village.

See the source

The villagers strongly denounced the navy saying “we did not receive an official letter from you,” “It is nothing but to say that we, villagers should die if you rob of our farming lands,” “Does it make sense that the navy who has said that it would co-exist with the local residents is to trample down us again by unilaterally holding a presentation?”

Despite that, the navy made a woman to hold a mike and speak that ‘the presentation starts now,’ bringing tremendous fury from the villagers and peace keepers. Eventually, the navy could not but acknowledge that the presentation was dissipated in 10 minutes. The navy is told to have originally thought that it would finish in 30 minutes.

Image: headline Jeju, March 26, 2013/ The navy’s presentation material was torn by the villagers.

The villagers and peace keepers made a strong unity again to stop the military base to enter into their Peace Island, to inherit the descendent the nature, culture, and history of the ‘Il-Gangjeong: The best village,’ of more than 450 years old in Jeju. Watch the video made by the Peace Nomad that made it on behalf of Dungree, the video maker who was jailed on March 25. (Source)

‘It reminds me 2007 when the Gangjeong village was chosen as a naval base construction area. At the time the navy drove the naval base construction project, [falsely] asserting that the villagers decided to install it even though the navy did not have any necessary reason to do it.” [..] It is a 65^th anniversary of the 4.3 period again in a week. If the navy pushes the Jeju society with division and conflict again to enforce the military residential house in the Gangjeong village, the 4.3 spirits will never forgive them.” (Translated quotation from Prof. Shin Yong-In, Professor of the Law School, Jeju University: Source) You can see some photos of March 26 here and here. Here, two people are introduced. Here is a navy commander, Soong Moo-Jin (right in the photo)

Song Moo-Jin (left in the photo), the navy commander, employed in the naval base project appeared in the presentation on march 26.

After the Korean Presidential election on Dec. 19, 2012, some navy strategist have been (re)employed to take dividing strategies against the villagers. One of them is a man called Song Moo-Jin, who was in chrage of planning in the naval base project committee in the earlier period and now a navy commander.

He has entered the village in the beginning period of struggle, 2007 and had a role to decoy some villagers, eventually breaking the community. At the time, he was a lieutenant commander but a commander, now, after a service in the SSU (special salvation unit). His works included the followup of the Cheonan ship incident. It was coincident that the navy presentation and the 3^rd anniversary of the Cheonan ship incident was on the same day. But is it just coincident? Wasn’t the navy planning to mislead people to remind the patriotism, blah, blah?

Image source: Yonhap News, 2012/ Song Moo-Jin (left in the photo)

Video maker Dungree has made a video on his returning to the village on Jan. 24. See here. In the video, villagers are strongly criticizing him as soon as they saw he was stepping into the village. In the video, a man of dark green jumper. Song has greatly denounced by people when he sneaked into the Korean facebook called, “Gangjeong people” and made a pro-base propaganda on March 3, 2012. He was soon removed out from the group. Here is another navy.

The person in the right of the photo is a Captain Yoon Seok-Han. He was one of the representatives of the government side in the 3^rd contact group meeting on Sept. 14, 2013, during the 2012 WCC Jeju from Sept. 6 to 15, 2012. You can see his face better in the video. He was the one who made remarkable remarks that ‘it is not right that the Gangjeong village and government talk on an equal position.” It was a remark that thoroughly ignores local autonomy and democracy. ( See related Korean script)

Image source: Headline Jeju, March 26, 2013

Both men were in civilian costumes. There were no pro-base side personnel who were in the military costume. There appeared also a man from the Daelim Industry who was often it working hat and cloth.

Pro-base people after the presentation was dissipated on March 26, 2013

2. In the Gangjeong filed, the struggles by Catholic fathers and activists went on.

When most people went to the navy’s presentation for protest, Fr. Mun kept the main gate. The main gate opened again on the World Water day, March 22. The people have now to keep both gates in front of the naval base project building complexes and main gate.

Fr. Mun kept a main gate from the entry of construction trucks, March 26, 2013

Fr. Kim Jeong-Wook replaced Fr. Mun Jeong –Hyeon.

A picket made for Dungree, 4th day of his imprisonment as of March 28

The entry/exit of construction trucks went on even in the night.

March 28, 2013
Report from UK: Benjamin Monnet’s SOAS Speech

Image: UK Gangjeong solidarity Team

Report on Benjamin Monnet’ s SOAS speech on March 21

By Andrew, UK Gangjeong solidarity team

This month SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) University of London, hosted Benjamin Monnet to talk about the struggle against the Jeju naval base, sponsored by the ‘Save Jeju Island’ student society. Benj, as he is known to his many friends, lived in Gangjeong village for ten months, joining the resisting the naval base and bringing the issue to the attention of international media. He was a valued and loved member of the village peace community, but last year was deported suddenly, violently and illegally by a South Korean government clearly worried by his non-violent acts to defend the Gureombi from detonation.

He arrived in London from his hometown in France the day before his talk and came straight to SOAS, meeting other students involved in the ‘Save Jeju Island’ society. Immediately he was engaging with students, inviting them to the event and helping our team put posters around the student union. A real ‘hands on’ guest speaker! We shared a delicious Indian curry provided free by Hari Krishna devotees on the campus. Benj, who is now based in Nepal, said the food made him feel at home.

Image: UK Gangjeong solidarity team

The talk the next day was attended by twenty five students, from the UK, South Korea, Japan, Norway, Italy and Tahiti. Benj’s desire was to ‘generate some inspiration’, and he did so speaking in his warm, calm French accent. But behind this softly spoken man there is a strong passion for justice, and for harmony among all people and nature. There is anger too at the destruction and injustice taking place at Gangjeong. He showed film of the navy’s ramming of Save Our Seas team kayaks, in which he narrowly missed being killed ( * See the English article, here), and described, when asked by audience members, the events leading up to the deportation that has separated him from his partner, and the people and place he loves. But he was careful to not make himself the focus of a talk about that is fundamentally about the struggle against greed and militarism. He is uncomfortable with the ‘activist’ label – “I’m not sure what I am, but I know I am human and I have a heart”. Without saying it directly, he was challenging the audience to examine their own hearts in relation to the Gangjeong issue.

Video by Jeju Sori TV on March 8, 2012

Benj is keen from the outset that his talk should be a dialogue, not a monologue, and encourages a relaxed atmosphere where people are free to contribute and question. Many students express despair about the ongoing construction. ‘Is it really possible to stop the base?’ ‘What about all the work that’s already completed?’ He dismisses the defeatism behind such questions with a smile. ‘Of course it’s possible. Where there’s a will there’s a way – but we need your help. Don’t worry about the work that’s already done, that can be removed. Korean people work fast!’

Image: UK Gangjeong solidarity team

There is a lively discussion about North Korea, but Benj makes sure people know that the base is related to China. He says that in terms of kilo wattage, the US will have the equivalent of 12,000 Hiroshima bombs on Jeju Island. ‘One was enough, huh?’ A Korean student expresses strong support for the naval base as he thinks it is about self defence. Benj listens patiently and respectfully, but then challenges the student. ‘If I point a gun at your head, is that self defence? Is this how you should treat your neighbour?’ It’s a response that he makes several times when he meets young Koreans in London who have the same view about national defence. ‘Some people are a bit shocked when I pretend to hold a gun to their head’ he remarks, ‘but sometimes we need to shock people. Some people are sleeping, and they need to be woken up!’

Many people were reluctant to leave after the event, and stayed continuing discussions. Benj warmly suggested everyone go together for dinner, so ten of us went to ‘Naru’, a Korean restaurant near the university. We enjoyed making new friendships over delicious food. Being with many Korean students, and engaging with the friendly staff made Benj visibly happy. ‘Oh I’ve missed the energy of Korean people!’ he said, beaming with a big smile.

Image: UK Gangjeong solidarity team

Unfortunately his planned visit to Wales to meet with British peace campaigner Angie Zelter, who was also arrested with Benj at the time of his deportation, and who is now barred from entering South Korea, could not go ahead due to heavy snow. Benji used his extra time in London to meet with an independent film maker, who had attended his talk, and who is working on a documentary on South Korea. He also made contact with a professor in another UK university who was keen to invite Benj to speak about the Jeju naval base. While at SOAS we met political rapper ‘Lowkey’, who asked lots of questions about the situation in Jeju, and the US military in South Korea, and took away Gangjeong Village news letters.

On a personal level, I was happy to spend more time Benj and deepen our friendship. We had lots of interesting discussions, and some pretty funny ones too. Over another Korean dinner, and some very good makkoli, we celebrated the great news that Yang Yoon Mo had ended this 52 day hunger strike in jail, and agreed this should encourage us to work harder for the ‘Free Yang Yoon Mo’ campaign.

It was great to have Benji with us in London. He definitely generated inspiration, and he continues the fight for Gangjeong, waking people up so they might join us.

Image: UK Gangjeong solidarity team

(Thanks so much, UK Gnagjeong solidarity team for the report and photos)

March 27, 2013
Yes, ‘A True Peace’ Now : Events on the 65th anniversary of the Jeju 4.3 uprising

See the bottom of this poster for the translation of event contents.

See the images of event posters, movies, and books, here.

Image source: the National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the Naval Base/ People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)

Yes, ‘A True Peace’ Now!

: A spiritual success upon the 65th anniversary of the Jeju 4.3 uprising!

A Joint Action for the realization of peace

: 4.3 Peace Week: From April 1 to 6, 2013

4.3 Joint events program

April 1 (Mon) 20:00 pm Screening of ‘Jeju Prayer (Binyom)’ in Gangjeong, Village Community Hall

April 3 (Wed) 19:30 pm “You, Gangjeong_Writers Fall in Love with Jeju,”: Peace Book concert, 10th Fl. Jeju Venture Maru, (1176-67 Ido-2 dong, Jeju City, Jeju Island (Or 217 Joongang-no, Jeju City))

April 4 (Thurs) Watching Jiseul with the Gangjeong villagers, Lotte Cinema, Seogwipo City (914 Beophwan-dong Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do)

April 5 (Fri) 18:30 pm “Gangjeong is the 4.3” Poet Kim Kyung-Hoon’s 4.3 Book concert, Small Theater, Jeju Culture Hall ( 69 Dongwang-no, Ildo 2-dong, Jeju-si, Jeju-do)

April 6 (Sat)

09:00-16:00 Peace trip, 4.3 historic sites in the eastern part of the Island

16:00-18:00 Peace Culture Festival, Gangjeong Village Community Hall yard

Peace Week Joint Campaign

Let’s see together! Nationwide campaign to see the movies of ‘Jiseul,’ and ‘Jeju Prayer(Binyeom)’

Raising a peace beacon fire. Online Joint action

Guide on the April 6 peace trip

Leaving the Shinsan Park (4.3 Haewonbangsatap: 4.3 tower for relieving one’s chagrin and dispelling evil)

Keungot Geomheulgool (About 3 meter ddep cave. It is guessed to have been a meeting place by the 4.3 armed guerrila. It is told that the Jeju City set up wire fence around it, considering it as a detesting place

Darangshi Cave (a famous 4.3, 1948 massacre site in which 11 dead bodies were discovered only in 1992 but condemned by the government)

Darangsh Oreom (a small hill impressive for both of views and history for the Darangshi village that existed underneath but extincted following the 4.3 )

Lunch

Shinheung-ri Camellia Hill

Sokryeongii Cave (Abandoned grave yard of the dead bodies of 4.3 armed guerrillas)

Gangjeong

Guided by Koh Jeryang, former representative of the Jeju Ecology Tour

Koh Kyung-Ha, Education director of the Jeju People’s Rights Solidarity

_There will be a peace culture festival after the peace trip

_Participation fee: Adult, 10,000 won( Under 20 yrs old, it is free/ bus and lunch are provided)

_Closing of Peace trip participants’ list: April 3rd

( Contact Jeju Solidarity for Participatory Self-Government & Environmental Preservation

March 26, 2013
A video maker who volunteered to be jailed for fines

See also Regis Tremblay’s writing

Gangjeong Village Video Documentarian Jailed

Photo by Lee Wooki/ Dungree working during the summer, 2012

Dungree (Real name: Park Sung-Soo) has stayed in the Gangjeong village since summer 2011. With his unlimited energy and dedication, he produced the videos of daily struggle in Gangjeong almost everyday. His video ‘Gangjeong Style’ made a mega hit. Not only that, he is the one who has diligently collected and listed all the daily human rights violation incidents in the field. Thanks to him, enormous examples of judicature oppression have been known to the world.

Moreover, thanks to his dedication, people nationwide and overseas could be vividly informed about the struggle and suffering of Gangjeong.

Today, on March 25, we got the surprising news from his writing that he is resolute to go to jail not only because he can’t afford fines but he is sorry to young female activists who not only suffer from daily long-time protests in front of gates but also from tremendous fines for their protests.

As of Feb. 2013, average fines against each activist are about $3,000 to $4,000 USD. Some of them are fined of $ 8,000 to $9,000 USD each. The fines against activists have become soared especially after the Presidential election on Dec. 19, 2012. It is a new strategic method of the government to oppress the movement against the Jeju naval base project. See more detail, here.

Dungree has been accused for trespass in 2012 when he entered alone the naval base project committee building complex to protest that the navy had confined, threatened, and harassed two young woman reporters with condemning sexual remarks. The two reporters appealed on the incident later to the Korean human rights committee (though eventually dismissed by the puppet committee)

You can watch the video at the time here. Dungree himself narrates with humor what happened to him on the day, including the reminders of the past crimes of the same navy personnel who have committed human rights violation on two reporters. One of those was lieutenant commander Chung who has openly put a banner of naming protesters as ‘the pro-North Korea left,’ in the village.

Recently Dungree’s appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed and he has to pay 1,400,000 KRW (which is about $ 1,300 USD).

He was told to be volunteering to appear in the Jeju Prosecutor’s office and was eventually jailed as of 5~6 pm, today, March 25. Currently the Korean law, counts a day for 50,000 KRW(which is about $ 50 USD). It means he has to be imprisoned for 28 days.

Dungree was very resolute to say he does neither want people pay for his fines nor he was visited but receiving letters. He is willing to bear the sufferings that he would encounter in the prison for a month.

He became the first victim of the government’s new strategy to oppress people with the judicature fines. Before him, Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo had been jailed for 10 days because of his protest in 2010 (See the bottom of here) At the time the fines against him was 2,000,000 won and people released him by gathering remaining fines for him despite Yang’s own resolution to be jailed for full period.

The matter is that it would be not only Dungree but that many activists are now at the risk of being jailed because they cannot afford fines. As the judicature oppression will grow, more and more activists will suffer from those burdens of fines.

Image source: Choi Hye-Young/ Dungree during the Island Peace Pilgrim, Summer, 2012

Today March 25, the Jeju media says that the Ministry of Strategic Planning allocated the budget for the naval base project. As the 70 days’ period ended on March 11 and the Island governor jointly signed with the central government on the civilian-military joint usage protocol on March 14, the acceleration of construction speed has been expected.

Tomorrow, March 26, the villagers will fight again to dissipate the navy’s presentation on military residential housing project. The villagers had an emergency general meeting on March 24. The Gangjeong Village Association concerned about saying that “Even though the naval base construction has not been completed, the navy is again raging wind with the matter of the military residence house in the Gangjeong village. The naval base would bring lots of conflicts such as radar base, helipad, powder magazine, training facilities, military airport, and more and more military residential house projects..”

Photo by Dungree on March 24, Sunday/One of his photos that he took on Sunday, March 24, just before the day of his imprisonment. See more of his photos , here.

Reverends, Kim Hong-Soul and Kim Hee-Young will take solidarity fasts with Yang Yoon-Mo from March 26 to 29. The peace activists will take daily one man protest in front of the Jeju Prosecutors’ Office to denounce the judicature oppression upon the jailing of Dungree.

As Dungree appealed to people in his writing, please become a member of the Gangjeong Friends that gathers members from the domestic and international to support the fines for activists, campaign for Life and Peace Gangjeong Village and movement for Demilitarizing Jeju, the Peace Island.

You may contact gangjeongintl@gmail.com.

Photo by Song Dong-Hyo/ Dunguree Park Seong-su on August 24, 2011 when mayor Kang of Gangjeong village was arrested. . . Memorable day that lots of Gangjeong villagers protested to block the arrest of mayor Kang. . .Overnight protest has continued in front of Seogwipo police station (Caption by Regina Pyon)

Photo by Abigail Yu/ Dungree working in the field when mayor Kang was arrested in Aug. 24, 2011.

March 25, 2013
Gangjeong Village Story: Monthly News from the Struggle | March 2013 Issue

In this month’s issue:
Remembering the one year anniversary of the blasting of Gureombi, the campaign to demilitarize Jeju continues, linking the tar sands protests and Jeju, Solidarity from Okinawa and Taiwan, trial updates, Guest articles from several visitors, as well as Angie Zelter and Benjamin Monnet, and more!

Download PDF

March 25, 2013
44% dismissal rate regarding arrest warrants! Stop judicature oppression!

Source/ Press conference in front of the Prosecutors’ Office, Seoul, simultaneously held with that of Jeju on March 21, 2013

Press conference in front of the Prosecutors’ Office, Jeju, simultaneously held with that of Seoul on March 21, 2013

It is a translation of people’s statement on March 21, 2013. You can see the original Korean script, here.

March 21 Press Statement

We denounce the prosecutors’ brutality to oppress the Gangjeong village!

: The dismissal rate of the arrest warrants regarding the incidents in the Gangjeong village is 44%

: The written arrangements and arrest warrants are manipulated with lies and distortions

In the research on the ‘Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2012‘ reported by the Transparency International (TI) on Dec. 5, 2012, the Republic of Korea (ROK: South Korea) got the 45^th among 176 nations, two steps down from a year ago. The ROK headquarter of the TI stated that “The result this time is because of the prosecutors that got the bottom in the examination on the CPI.” The prosecutors matter because they pretend that they are the guardians for capital and power not for citizens. The very example appears in their measures on the ‘opposition movement against the Jeju naval base project.’

The navy’s illegal and law-evasive behaviors during the drive process for the Jeju naval base project have been exposed through the audit on the government affairs in 2012. While opposing against an illegal project is citizens’ natural rights and duties, the prosecutors, saying ‘it is a legal project with no problem,’ in their written arrangement, quibbled to strictly punish the citizens that have opposed the Jeju naval base project while giving an indulgence to the project interspersed with illegality and law-evasiveness.

During the process against the Jeju naval base project, 38 arrest warrants have been claimed since April, 2011 to the current. Among them, 16 have been dismissed ( 44% dismissal rate while the avarage dissimisal rate of the Prosecutors’ claims in 2012 was 20.5%). It shows how the Jeju Prosecutors have unreasonably wielded their judicuture power by now. The bigger problem is that tremendous parts of even the cited arrest warrants are filled with lies

For example, in their arrest warrants on July 3, 2012 against Mr. Kim who was arrested for his crane sit-in in protest of ‘uninstalled silt-protectors,’ on June 30, 2012, they stipulated that “since double silt-protectors were completely installed, there is no possibility of floating materials in the vicinity sea. However there has been not once that double silt protectors have been installed in the Gangjeong Sea observed of the regulations in the environmental impact assessment. Moreover, on July 2, just one day before the arrest warrant against Kim, the Jeju Island governor, sending an official letter to the joint chief of naval operation, had directed him to “resume construction after carrying out restoration construction on silt protectors and then receiving the Island government inspection on it.” The fact that the prosecutors manipulated arrest warrants against Kim, ignoring navy’s such illegality but representing only the positions of the construction companies, shows the current status of the prosecutors. Such cases are not limited to one or two.

It is not only in case of arrest warrants. The ‘written arrangements’ are also filled with various lies and distorted facts. The prosecutors defined a citizen who has not done even one-man protest in the Gangjeong field as ‘a professional protester,’ only to demand an imprisonment sentence against him. They have even forcibly indicted a peace activist in Gangjeong despite the proof of a photo that it was a construction company worker who kicked and damaged the construction fence. The prosecutors ‘cancelled indictment against the peace activist’ during the trial. There has been a case that the prosecutors have claimed 10 months imprisonment against a citizen but got the court decision of ‘no guilty on him/her. Not to mention it, a trial of a citizen who was charged for the violence against police ended because of the police violence shown in the screen submitted by the police themselves. The citizen filed later a written accusation against the police. To oppress religious events, the prosecutors over-issued mass indictments against the people who were sitting for the Catholic mass and prayer meetings in front of the gates. They have even demanded a sentence that is not stipulated in the ROK criminal law.

The fact that is especially a problem is that such cold application of law is boundlessly benevolent on the violence by the police and construction companies. The representing examples are: The disposal on non-indictment of a cement mixer truck driver who wielded violence against a woman; a connivance on a police director of criminal investigation who took violence against Yang Yoon-Mo [on April 6, 2011]; a connivance on the navy who took violence against Dr. Song Kang-Ho [in June, 2011]. Because of that, the victims of four times police violence that resulted in their bones being broken have not even filed written accusations against the police. It is because it is obvious that it would result in wasting of paper to file to the Jeju Police and Prosecutor’s office with written accusations, regarding the police violence .

The prosecutors dispose with ‘no guilty’ for the violence by construction company thugs and police even though there are proofs; indict citizens who protest to such violence by construction company thugs and police, only with the police testimony; but demand an imprisonment sentence against the citizens. Such behaviors of the prosecutors show the typical type of judicature violence.

Tens of Asian Human Rights organizations who have visited Gangjeong in 2012 and UN Human Rights rapporteurs have expressed serious concern about the ‘state violence and human rights violations’ that occur in the Gangjeong village. The Jeju prosecutors should not forget that the subject that has brought in the international society’s concern is nothing but themselves.

The prosecutors, abusing their judicature power, have afflicted the Gangjeong villagers and citizens who oppose the naval base project. Even though it is natural that they immediately release the citizens who took just resistance act or protested against police violence but whom the police arrested, the prosecutors used to release them fulfilling the legal limit of 48 hours or used to indict them based only on the police’s lie testimonies or slipshod interrogatory documents without concrete proofs and then used to over-issue unreasonable prosecutions and arrest warrants against them.

While it is the responsibility of the judicature power to measure justice by collecting the claims by the anti-base side with even minimum principle of equity, the Jeju Prosecutors have not only condemned the accused with their subjective hostility and over-issued sexual discriminatory remarks, but also have prosecuted hundreds of imprisonment sentences based on partial value judgement that the citizens ‘should be strictly punished because they oppose the national project.” Further, considering that the case of actual prison sentence is only one (actual prison sentence rate is less than 1%) and there are many cases of no guilty sentence, it is clear how unreasonably the prosecutors have over-issued their judicature powers.

Therefore we strictly warn to:

: Prosecutor Park who has filled written arrangements by manipulating facts to represent the state power and capitalist position and who has directed the judicature violence against innocent citizens to drive them as if they are devils;

(Prosecutor Park was recently promoted to a position of prosecutor in the 2^nd criminal department of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ office. He is the responsible subject in most cases mentioned above)

: The Jeju Prosecutors’ Office that Prosecutor Park has been belonging to

: And the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, ROK, that defined the Gangjeong villagers’ struggle as the ‘public security situation.’

Stop all the oppression of unreasonable wielding of judicature power against the citizens, by asserting that there should be no opposition to the Jeju naval base project interspersed with illegality and law-evasiveness! If such judicature oppression is to be continued, the prosecutors will face more tremendous citizens’ resistance than the current.

The press statement that we have read is of tremendous fines, imprisonments, arrests and cries of blood in every line. Now when the voice for the reform of judicature is higher than ever, we demand that the prosecutors take responsibility for their positions with vocation even it is minimum

March 21, 2013

The Gangjeong Village Association

Jeju Pan-Island Committee for the Stop of Military Base and for Realization of Peace Island

Peace activists in Gangjeong

Image source: Rev. Jeong Yeon-Gil/ “Where is the judicature justice?/ The prosecutors do “by law” to the powerless citizens, but “by bribe” to the riches, and the police do “Like dog” to puppet government!

Exposure on the reality of the ROK prosecutors’ oppression in Gangjeong

(Video by Dungree on March 22, 2013 )

March 24, 2013
Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo’s Ends Prison Fast at 52 Days

Update from Ishle Yi Park on March 24 : See the underneath.

Image source/ Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo

Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo will end his 52 days long hunger strike on March 24 on Sunday. Eight representatives of SPARK (Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea) peace organization and Fr. Mun Jeong-hyon visited Prof. Yang to Jeju prison on March 19 and pleaded to stop the fast. In a meeting room specially provided to see him face to face, representatives persuaded him and he finally promised to start to eat light gruel from Monday, March 25. This visit was made out of people’s earnest wishes to have Pro. Yang stop the fast.

On the other hand, Rev. Kim Hong-sul(chair of SPARK Busan branch) and Rev. Kim Hee-yong from Gwangju, will do overnight 4 days fast prayer in front of Jeju prison from March 26 to 29 demanding the release of Prof. Yang and stop of Jeju naval base. Both of them also have visited Prof. Yang on March 7 and persuaded Prof. Yang to end the fast expressing their solidarity action at Jeju prison. (Regina Pyon)

Free Yang Yoon-Mo!

Letter to Yang Yoon-Mo:

Yang Yoon-Mo (No. 301)
Jeju Prison, 161 Ora-2 dong, Jeju City, Jeju Island, Korea

………………………………………………………

Here is Prof. Yang’s oral statement on March 23 ending his fast on March 24. The visitors to him on the day dictated his words to share them with the people in the world. You can see the original Korean script, here.

As I think that many people suffer from my fast, I don’t want to transfer them suffering any more.

I have taken fast to urge people concern with Gangjeong, to inform them on disappointing National Assembly, thoughtless Ministry of National Defense, and innocent villagers and activists oppressed by the judicature.

I consider those have become enough informed. And I accepted earnest request by Fr. Mun Jeong-Hyon, mayor Kang Dong-Kyun and representing group.

There will be no more fast in my life. Even though I stop fast, my struggle for peace will not stop.

I think I would live by 90 years old (laughter). So I state on my permanent struggle for the remaining 30 years. I will strive for demilitarizing the Island for life and peace.

While I am here in prison, I will return many of your favor and encouragement.

As a peace and unification worker, I will show myself, Yang Yoon-Mo, as a peace activists and movie critic.

I pay gratitude to the concerns for me by elementary school students, parents, Catholic brothers & sisters and protestant devotees and to the letters full of passion for peace, via mail and internet.

Since I am not forgetting those blessings, I think my decision to stop fast is good

I am grateful to all the messages of support and friendship by distinguished scholars, intellectuals, peace activists and artists from the United States, Australia, Okinawa and Japan, France, Nepal etc.

( * You may see the messages from Noam Chomsky, Benj, Okinawa, and Japan )

To return your concern, I intend for my complete change. I will exercise hard to strengthen my abdominal muscles (laughter).

I especially thank more than 24 days’ solidarity fast by a Korean woman in Hawai’i.

( * Ishle Yi Park is a poet and caring mother. See the bottom of here)

I deeply thank her to take a spiritual response as an artist, despite my shallow idea and practice. Since I have received undeserved love, I will strive more for the world of peace, human rights and love.

Otherwise, I thank two men, Reverend Kim Hong-Soul and Reverend Kim Hee-Young for their solidarity fast from March 26 to 29. The two are my true friends and artists, and holly friends that I’ve met in the world of peace. I thank their friendship and will not disappoint them.

The peace of Jeju is the peace of Asia. It contributes for the peace of the world. The agenda of peace is the discourse of the world.

Image source: Ishle Yi Park

From Ishle Yi Park on March 24, 2013 (Fwd)

Thank you so much for this update, sister! I am so happy and relieved to know that Professor Yang Yoon-Mo has ended his fast and is on his way back to good health. I prayed for him often and am in deep admiration of his actions, his principles, and his heart.

I must tell you all that I fasted for seven days, but then my milk ran dry and my daughter cried for more (I am still nursing), so I ended my fast early for her. I don’t want to take credit for more than I am capable of…I want you and the other activists to know this, because to me it is incredible how strong Professor’s heart, mind, and spirit are to endure for so long. He is truly a man whose spirit I admire and love, and I love the people of Jejudo. Wish I could have done more.

I did write a statement of solidarity that asks the powers that be to free Professor Yang Yoon Mo and halt the construction of the naval base, and had it signed by over 30 activists, artists and citizens of Hawai’i ~ any suggestions on who would be the most effective people to send it to? Will try to get more people to sign it before I send it.

In terms of updates ~ any news on when he will be freed, or is he in prison indefinitely? Please let me know. Will continue to keep Jejudo and the Professor in my heart and prayers. And thank you and all the peace activists engaged in this movement for your positive, conscious actions and your huge hearts. The world is a better place because of you. God bless and Aloha.

Han Sarang,

Ishle Yi Park

RE: Thanks so much, Ishle Yi Park. Prof. Yang has got the court sentence of 18 months on Feb. 1. Please see here.

Photo provided by Rev. Kim Hee-Yong/ Photo of Mr. Kim Hong-Soul (front), Mr. Kim Hee-Yong(back left ) and Gangjeong village Mayor Kang Dong-Kyun (back right)

March 24, 2013
POSCO is another main construction company

The Jemin Ilbo, one of the Jeju media, reported on Dec. 6, 2012 that the POSCO construction consortium received an order for the land facility construction of the 1^st work area of the Jeju naval base project, which is about 130 billion won size.

Image source:

The Posco Consortium became additional main navy-contracted companies along with the Samsung C& T that is in charge of the 1^st work area that includes the west breakwater (420 m), South breakwater(1,076 m), and accessory facilities and the Daelim Industry consortium that is in charge of mooring dock(2,235 m), east breakwater(953 m), land area formation (478,500 ㎡) and accessory facilities.

The business size is 300.7 billion won for the Samsung C & T and 202, 2 billion won for Daelim Industry.

(See the Chosun Ilbo article)

Photo taken on April 18, 2011/ The companies that join Samsung C & T in the 1st work area are:
Daewoo Construction, Deokyoung General Construction, and Maritime General Construction
The companies that join the Daelim Industry in the 2nd work area are:
Hyundae Construction, Gyeryong Construction Industry, Daeyoung Construction, Samhwan Corporation, and Beomyoung Inc.

The POSCO construction consortium includes the Jeju-based Deokyoung general construction Inc. that has received orders of three constructions related to the Jeju naval base one after another.

The POSCO consortium includes the POSCO Construction (40%), Shindongah Engineering & Construction (20%), Seohee Construction (12%), STX Construction(10%), Deokyoung General Construction (10%) and Samwhan Corp. (8%). The Deok young is the only Jeju-based corporation.

The construction is to build the office and residential buildings inside the Jeju naval base project area.

It is known that the POSCO Consortium had a fierce competition with the Daelim Industry Consortium and win over it on Dec. 4, 2012. You can see some disgusting so called eco-friendly map pictures of landscape architectures designed by the Jteng Co that joins the POSCO here

Regarding Deokyoung General Construction, it is known that it received the order for the 1^st work area of the harbor and bay construction in the Jeju naval base project area(outer area construction)-which is about 310 billion won size- in 2009, joining the Samsung C & T Consortium with 5 % share.

It also received an order on naval base related construction one after another by receiving order on the construction on the 2^nd work area of the land facility of the Jeju naval base, which is about 82 billion won size, by joining the Hyundae Construction Consortium, with 10% share, last September.

Photo and caption by Inchun Mpark on March 19, 2013/ ‘A villager, riding an auto bicycle, comes to the naval base project building complex every morning and appeals to the people inside the complex to please show his land inside the project area. But he is turned away every time.’

The last tomb inside the project area was moved out.

In the dawn of March 19, the last tomb of a villager’s ancestor was moved to the outside the naval base project area. While many villagers’ ancestors’ tombs have been moved, the villager, Mr. Lee, has been the one who has persisted to keep it in its original place. It is told that there was a traditional ceremony when the tomb was moved this dawn.

March 21, 2013