No War Base on the Island of Peace
In this February Edition:
Gangjeong will not Give up, In remembrance of Father Bix, Okinawa, Jeju, Taiwanthe
Peace Triangle, Keep THAAD out of South Korea, Hotpinkdolphins meets Taiwan pink dolphins, International Solidarity, Choosing jail to resist unfair fines, Deported for Loving Korea, Interview with a Jeju Activist, Seeking justice from the chimney top, “To Exist is to Resist” Gangjeong Peace School, trial updates and much more!
Hee Eun “Silver” Park and Paco Michelson, peace activists from the Jeju Island Anti-Naval Base struggle will be traveling across the US in March and April to share the story of the struggle through the screening of a new full-length documentary, and speaking about their personal experiences on Jeju Island, Korea.
Since 2007, the people of Gangjeong and their supporters have struggled everyday against state violence, corporate power, war profiteering, and environmental destruction. They have done so nonviolently and passionately. As a result of their work for peace, the tiny village of Gangjeong now has one of the highest “crime” rates in all of South Korea. More than 220,000 police officers (as of 2012) have been stationed in Gangjeong. So far, more than 700 arrests have been made, leading to approx. 200 court cases for more than 650 people, approx. $270,000 in fines levied, and 46 imprisonments. More than 30 internationals have been blacklisted, deported, or denied entry. All for the “crime” of peacefully resisting the construction of a naval base that threatens villagers’ livelihoods, the local ecology, and the peace of northeast Asia.
At some events, Silver and Paco will be presenting the film of Korean director Sung Bong Cho, Gureombi, The Wind is Blowing followed by a Q&A. At others, they will be speaking about the situation and struggle as well as sharing their personal experiences and those of their friends on Jeju, with a presentation titled, If You Don’t Give Up You Can’t Lose.
At all events they will be raising support for legal costs of the activists and villagers of Gangjeong. Many of Gangjeong villagers are farmers whose struggle for justice has meant sacrificing their crops. Many Gangjeong supporters work full-time for the struggle and rely on odd jobs and occasional field labor to survive. The fines are increasing and many people owe thousands of dollars they cannot afford to pay.
Come out to an event in an area near you and hear the story, see the struggle, and donate to the brave peacemakers who are giving everything they can in this fight for justice.
Click on a location to go to that locations section in the list.
March 17-19 – Boston, MA
March 19-21 – Maine
March 21-25 – NYC, NY
March 25 – New Brunswick, NJ
March 26-28 Philadelphia, PA
March 28-30 Washington, DC
March 30-April 4, Los Angeles & San Diego, CA
April 4-9 – San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, CA
April 9-14 Seattle, WA (and Surrounding Area)
April 14-20 – Portland, OR (and Surrounding Area)
All events listed below are open to the public. There are occasionally non-public events as well, check with your local groups in your area for details on those.
March 16 (Mon) – March 19 (Thursday)
March 17 – Talk and Discussion: If You Don’t Give Up You Can’t Lose
Date: March 17 (Tue)
Time: 7 p.m.
Organizer: Boston College Korean Students Association
Location: Higgins 310, Boston College (140 Commonwealth Ave, Chestnut
Hill, MA 02467)
Contact Info: Ramsay Liem (liem@bc.edu / 617-777-5627)
Website: http://on.fb.me/1B5qHlN
Date: March 18 (Wed)
Time: 7 p.m.
Organizer: American Friends Service Committee, United for Justice
with Peace
Location: Friends Meeting House (5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge, MA 02138)
Contact Info: Joe Gerson (jgerson@afsc.org), Duncan McFarland
(mcfarland13@gmail.com)
Website: http://masspeaceaction.org/event/jeju-island-gureombi
http://on.fb.me/1B5qWgv
March 19 (Thursday) – March 21 (Saturday)
Date: March 20 (Fri)
Time: 7 pm
Organizer: Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, PeaceWorks, Maine Veterans For Peace, CodePink Maine, Peace Action Maine
Location: Grace Episcopal Church (1100 Washington St (park in back off Edwards St)
Bath, Maine)
Contact Info: Bruce Gagnon (globalnet@mindspring.com / 443-9502)
Website: http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2015/03/jeju-island-activists-coming-to-maine_10.html
Date: March 21 (Sat)
Time: 11:30 am
Organizer: Peace Works, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, Smilin’ Trees
Disarmament Farm
Location: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Contact Info: Bruce Gagnon (globalnet@mindspring.com)
March 21 (Saturday) – March 25 (Wednesday)
Date: March 22 (Sun)
Time: 2 pm – 5 pm
Organizer: Nodutdol for Korean Community Development
Location: The New School, Dorothy Hirshon Suite, Arnhold Hall, (55 West 13th Street, Room I205, New York, NY 10011)
Contact Info: Juyeon (juyeon.jc@gmail.com / 917-656-0156)
Website: http://on.fb.me/1B5r53r
Date: March 23 (Mon)
Time: 6:40-9:00 pm
Organizer: Monica Kim
Location: Cantor Film Center (36 E 8th St,Manhattan, NY 10003, bet. Greene St. and University
Place)
Contact Info: Monica Kim (mstarkim@gmail.com / 517-214-8003)
Website: http://on.fb.me/1B5rcfE
March 25 (Wednesday)
Date: March 25 (Wed)
Time: 7 p.m.
Organizer: Graduate Union of Sociology Students
Location: Rutgers University (Davison Hall Room 128, Douglas Campus, 26 Nichol Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901)
Contact Info: Haruki Eda (contact address is deleted by his request)
March 26 (Thursday) – March 28 (Saturday)
Date: March 26 (Thurs)
Time: 7-8:30 p.m.
Organizer: Philadelphia Committee For Peace and Justice in Asia
Location: Calvary United Methodist Church (815 South 48th Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19143)
Contact Info: Hye-Jung Park (hjparkcorea@yahoo.com / 347-283-6065)
Website: http://on.fb.me/1B5roeO
Date: March 27 (Fri)
Time: 8 p.m.
Organizer: Circle of Hope Church, Circle of Peacemakers
Location: Circle of Hope Church (2007 Frankford Ave Philadelphia PA 19125)
Contact Info: Joshua Grace (joshua@circleofhope.net / 215 423 2880)
Website: http://on.fb.me/1B5rsLo
March 28 (Saturday) – March 30 (Monday)
Date: March 28 (Sat)
Time: 5-8:30 pm
Organizer: Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER)
Location: ANSWER National Office (617 Florida Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C.20001)
Contact Info: Sarah Sloan (sarahsloan930@yahoo.com / 202-904-7949)
Website: http://on.fb.me/1B5rBhS
Date: March 29 (Sun)
Time: 7 p.m.
Organizer: Coalition of Koreans In the U.S. (희망연대)
Location: William Cho Peace Center (3883 Plaza Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030)
Contact Info: Huk-Kyo Suh (hksuh2003@yahoo.com / 704-314-1489)
March 30 (Monday) – April 4 (Saturday)
Date: March 31 (Tues)
Time: 7-9:30 p.m.
Organizer: Reconciliasian / Christian Peacemaker Teams
Location: Casa Robles Missionary Community (6355 Oak Avenue, Temple
City, CA 91780)
Contact Info: Sue Hur (reconciliasian@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/761540473966887/
Date: April 1 (Wed)
Time: 3-5 p.m.
Organizer: UCSD’s Ethnic Studies Department Colloquium, Program in Transnational Korean Studies, Graduate Division Grad Life and Grad Climate Interns, and Coalition for Critical Asian American Studies
Location: UCSD Cross-Cultural Center – ArtSpace, University of California, San
Diego (9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093)
Contact Info: Esther Choi (estherminchoi@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1566580410258374/
Date: April 2 (Thurs)
Time: 7 p.m.
Organizer: Nanum Corean Cultural Center (우리문화나눔회), Peace21 (내일을 여는
사람들), Friends of the Progressives (진보의 벗), Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA)
Location: Abundant Life of Korean Church (3020 Wilshire Bl., Los Angeles, CA 90010)
Contact Info: Cheol-Ho Lee (icydewdrop@gmail.com, 424-281-7901), Danny
Park (danny2680@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/942948465728887/
Date: April 3 (Fri)
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Organizer: SOOBAK (SoCal Organized Oppression Breaking Anti-imperialist
Koreans)
Location: 2936 W 8th St. Los Angeles, CA 90005
Contact Info: Gonji Jessica Lee (jessica.kang.lee@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/805579472859691/
April 4 (Saturday) – April 9 (Thursday)
Date: April 5 (Sun)
Time: 2-4 p.m.
Organizer: Code Pink (EB), East Bay Media Center, HOBAK (Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans), Korea Policy Institute, Peaceworkers
Location: Eastside Arts Alliance (2277 International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606)
Contact Info: Paul Liem (pliem@mindspring.com, 510-414-5575)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/644421315663973/
Date: April 6 (Mon)
Time: 6-8 p.m.
Organizer: CKS (Commitee Korea Studies) Berkeley
Location: UC Berkeley, 126 Barrows Hall (Berkeley, CA 94720)
Contact Info: CKS (cks.staff@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1404608813189759/
Date: April 7 (Tues)
Time: 7:00-9:30 p.m.
Organizer: Code Pink (EB), East Bay Media Center, HOBAK (Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans), Korea Policy Institute, Peaceworkers
Location: East Bay Media Center (1939 Addison St, Berkeley, CA 94704)
Contact Info: Paul Liem (pliem@mindspring.com, 510-414-5575)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/644421315663973/
Date: April 8 (Wed)
Time: 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Organizer: The Metta Center, St. John’s Episcopal Church
Location: St. John’s Episcopal Church (40 5th St, Petaluma, CA 94952)
Contact Info: Michael Nagler (michaeln.nagler72@gmail.com)
Website: http://mettacenter.org/events/speaker-film-tour-long-struggle-peace-jeju-island-korea/
April 9 (Thursday) – April 14 (Tuesday)
Date: April 9 (Thurs)
Time: 5:30-8:00 p.m.
Organizer: SahngNokSoo
Location: Wing Luke Museum (719 S King St, Seattle, WA 98104)
Contact Info: James Keum (keumjames@gmail.com), Christina Seong (christina.seong@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1597467890499723/
Date: April 10 (Fri)
Time: 5:30-8:00 p.m.
Organizer: SahngNokSoo
Location: The Hillman City Collaboratory (5623 Rainier Avenue South Seattle, WA 98118)
Contact Info: James Keum (keumjames@gmail.com), Christina Seong (christina.seong@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1597467890499723/
Date: April 11 (Sat)
Time: 7 p.m.
Organizer: Seth Martin
Location: The Matrix Coffeehouse (434 NW Prindle St, Chehalis, WA 98532)
Contact Info: Seth Martin (sethpatrickmartin@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/850433715023993/
Date: April 12 (Sun)
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Organizer: Seattle Catholic Worker, Seth Martin
Location: Seattle Catholic Worker (12914 74th Ave S, Skyway, WA, 98178)
Contact Info: Seth Martin (sethpatrickmartin@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/566047346832246/
Date: April 13 (Mon)
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Organizer: Tacoma Catholic Worker, Seth Martin
Location: Guadalupe House, Tacoma Catholic Worker (1417 S G St, Tacoma, WA 98405)
Contact Info: Seth Martin (sethpatrickmartin@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/609362585866665/
April 14 (Sunday) – April 20 (Monday)
Date: April 15 (Wed)
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Organizer: Eloheh Farm
Location: Eloheh Farm (13510 NE Roedel Rd, Newberg, OR 97132)
Contact Info: Seth Martin (sethpatrickmartin@gmail.com)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/events/1557027914580890/
Date: April 16 (Thurs)
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Organizer: Lewis and Clark College East Asian Studies Program
Location: Lewis & Clark University, Miller Humanities Building room 102 (0615 SW
Palatine Hill Rd, Portland, OR 97219)
Contact Info: Martin Hart-Landsberg (marty@lclark.edu)
Please come out, invite your friends, and share this to your networks!
Originally published in Korean on 2015.02.03
By Ddalgi (Gangjeong villager, member of Peace Wind)
( Thanks for Fr. Pat Cunningham, Tom Raging Smith and Jude Lee for their collaboration work for the wonderful translation.)
At dawn on the 31st of January, we climbed the watchtower. Despite having thrown it up haphazardly in the icy winds that blew all night, we erected it knowing that we could trust it to defend our village. In protest against the naval construction, we raised a kayak that had previously circled the seas of Gangjeong to the very top of the platform; a kayak that should travel on the sea was lifted to the sky. It was our destiny to be with the old village bus that has carried villagers to the provincial hall, city hall, and mainland next to the sit-in protest tent that has already endured 99 days of hardship. A barricade had been erected around the sit-in protest area.
Private contractors who had come from the mainland for the crackdown were said to be staying at a minbak (traditional Korean lodging house) only 100 meters away. Someone informed us that a light had been turned on at the lodging house and they were on the move. We could hear the marching of the police as they approached the four-way protest intersection. The military housing sit-in protest site had been cornered off even before sunrise. The people who had been told to move by the police headed onto the watchtower, bus and in front of the tent. We were tense as we couldn’t recognise what was the sound of chains clanging in the darkness. We stoked the log fire, but were unable to drive out the cold. As dawn broke and we could start to make out the people around us, the Navy appeared and said they were there to carry out the order to remove the protest encampment. Private contractors who had appeared with the Navy began shoving us back on ourselves bit by bit.
The powerful private contractors used their bulky bodies to force people back one by one. They used all of their strength and every part of their bodies to drive us back, even smacking into us with their helmets, to narrow in on us little by little. There was a lot of screaming and cursing. The police nearby looked on and did nothing. However much we shouted, we were simply left to suffer helplessly without the aid of a single policeperson. Among the private contractors there were some who looked as if they had only just turned 20 or were even younger. The younger women cried out of anger and sadness.
Then they began to drag us away one or two at a time. There were people with cut heads, twisted arms and clothing torn off, and we didn’t know if the screaming would end. We heard the shatter of the glass from the village bus windows. The police smashed the glass and entered the bus in order to drag out the people from inside and arrest them. Some members of the press who were recording or taking photos of the police violence during the crackdown were also dragged away kicking and screaming. Only the village mayor, vice mayor, a local villager, Jeju resident, priest and clergyman remained sitting atop the watchtower. The police and the private contractors working for them occupied the sit-in protest area and tore the whole thing down. Very dangerously, the police tried to get onto the watchtower. They tried to climb up without putting down any safety mats or taking any other safety precautions. Unexpectedly, they brought out a construction crane and dug up the land surrounding the tower. Following this, they immediately placed a fence around the tower. Those police standing beside the police bus then tried to climb the tower again.
It was so very, very dangerous!! People’s screams had reached fever pitch when the police started to bring out mattresses and began laying them down around the place. However, the mat they roughly spread on top of the bus was only sliding around the place. Many possible things could have gone wrong that we couldn’t have protected against. It had gotten really dark by the time Bishop Kang Woo-Il had visited and negotiated for the release of all those arrested on the condition that the protestors come down and clear the site themselves. We relieved ourselves after holding it in for more than 10 hours. A day of not sleeping, eating, or pissing had drawn to a close.
It was assumed the sit-in would be all over in a couple of hours but such was the intensity of the resistance that it lasted for about 14 hours. However, a day and then two days slipped by and there was still no sign of two people of the 24 who were to be released. Finally after two days we heard the news that a warrant for the arrest of four detainees including the mayor and deputy mayor had been requested. There seems to be no end to the lies and deceit in which the village has been enveloped. Yesterday a siren was raised in the village and today a petition signature campaign was initiated in order to counter the lies the government is feeding the people.
Due to strong resistance from the villagers the Navy held numerous public meetings on the issue of military housing which ultimately ended in failure, and in 2013 the navy chief of staff directly assured the villagers by saying that “the Navy would not build military housing without the consent of the villagers.” The villagers assumed this to mean that plans to build 532 units of military housing would be scrapped. Instead 72 units of housing were abruptly steamrolled through and land containing rows of lily greenhouses was cleared overnight and ring fenced to make way for military housing! The protest tent which stood for 99 days in front of the designated construction site was then pulled down so that construction could begin.
The struggle of a village with a population of 1,900 people engaged in an 8-year-long campaign against the construction of the Naval Base seems to have flown by in the blink of an eye. However, the once very solitary and lonely struggle suddenly became a country-wide issue and a magnet drawing many people to Gangjeong to put down roots in the village while supporting the struggle. The fence encircling Gureombi which was erected on Sept 2, 2011 suddenly became the focal point for police from the mainland who descended on the village in their droves to unleash a suppression strategy during that hot and sweltering summer. March 7, 2012 saw the beginning of the blasting of Gureombi and the resulting blockade of all entrances to the village and those moments of horror and despair as we witnessed the construction begin in earnest. The police who descended from the mainland violently sought to isolate and arrest those citizens who came in solidarity with the villagers. The huge burden of fines amassed by villagers during the years of struggle has resulted in villagers being forced to contemplate the sale of the village hall during their recent annual general meeting.
The forcible expropriation of farmland, the stolen abalone and shellfish from the sea which has fed families for generations, and Gureombi Rock, the playground for children and the depository of many childhood memories, have now became places harboring great sadness and tears. What more can be stolen from us, what more can they take we were left to ponder.
We were foolish to believe them when they promised not to build military housing. We were foolish to believe them when they promised to release all who were detained. We have no one to appeal to now and no one can resolve the issues forced upon us and all we are left with is a feeling of further isolation and frustration. Today Mt. Halla stands in great clarity over the village as it witnesses our home and our land being taken from us by the Navy, the police and the government. Where do we go from here, to whom do we turn to? However, today we continue to sing…
Il-Gangjeong (Gangjeong, the Best Village)
Where both the big Gangjeong and Akgeun streams flow
Let’s go hand in hand to beautiful Il-Gangjeong
Where the song of Tiger Island is echoed by Seogun Island
Let’s go to the Sea of Gangjeong where the waves have danced
Since ancient times, the wonderful waters of Il-Gangjeong
Let’s go together hand in hand to the village of Life and Peace.
(To see more photos and videos, see here)
(Thanks for Jungjoo, for delivering)
In this January 2015 Edition:
Crackdown on the Village, Cork City Council passes the motion to support Gangjeong, Proposed Petition of Veterans For Peace-Korea Peace Campaign, Damage to Fishermen, Henoko State Violence, Realizing the Island of Peace, Different frontlines for Life and Peace, Interview with a Gangjeong Villager, The Story of Magazi, Documenting present day Gangjeong, Aotearoa’s Anti-Base Movement trial updates and much more!
“Urgent call for people to go to Gangjeong this weekend as villagers brace themselves for yet another unleashing of brutal state violence. Gangjeong villagers are on tender hooks as they await the administrative execution of a demolition order by the ROK Ministry of National Defence (Saturday Jan 31) against a protest site set up to resist the building of military accommodation in the village center right next to a primary school. The navy are not content with taking over the coastline and destroy marine life with the building of the naval base they now want to irreversibly transform the village into an ugly military camp town. The administrative executive order will apparently be enforced by a bunch of hired thugs and military police from the mainland-apparently numbering up to 900 invaders in total who could descend on the village to stage a brutal show of state violence against defenseless villagers/activists. Please spare a thought for the villagers and activists who continue to resist state violence as they struggle to retain the identity of this once pristine village now blighted forever by an ugly naval base. We stand together and resist together-please help them stop the takeover of their village and the militarization of the island of Jeju!” (By Fr. Pat. )
Below is the words that Mayor Cho sent to the villagers in the afternoon of Jan. 30.
It will be very a long, cold and dark night tonight. However, people are gathering together here. Please be with us in your thoughts and prayers.
The navy has not gained the consent of Gangjeong villagers yet, refused the negotiation by the Jeju Governer and even failed to get support from Seogwipo City.
Yet, It is informed that the navy will enforce the administrative execution order to remove the sit-in tent in front of construction site of military family housing at 7 am tomorrow morning. Those guys, who don’t feel ashamed and are very rude, are going to storm into the village.
Villagers! We should not let them occupy our village. The navy are mobilizing police to close the roads into the protest site from very early morning.
Please come out and join to stay with us at the sit-in tent from tonight!
Or please come gather at the sit-in tent around 5 am tomorrow morning.
We should pass down Gangjeong Village to our descendants without feeling shameful. When we gather our hearts as one heart and flow like a river, then we can keep our village. We are proud residents of Gangjeong.
Forever the best of best Gangjeong!
Gangjeong Village Mayor, Cho Kyungcheol
(By Jungjoo)
(All the image source by a peace activist, here)
A Great news from the Ireland! The Cork City Council motion is the 2nd motion for an international city council to support Gangjeong! In Dec. 2013, The Berkeley City Council, United States , has passed a motion for Gangjeong. See here and here.
The news below is by JoYakGol on Jan. 12, 2015:
‘Cork City Council in Ireland tonight unanimously passed the following motion: In the light of the recent RTE television series What in the World? Cork City Council supports the people of the South Korean fishing village of Gangjeong who are opposed to the construction of the US-backed naval base on their island home on the UNESCO World heritage site of Jeju.’
Article by Hosu, photos by Hye-Young
On December 27th, 2014, the fishing vessel was crashed by a part of concrete structure that was washed away. The whole part of concrete structure is laid right off the eastern seawall for protecting the newly built caissons from strong waves. But it eventually caused the wreck of the fishing vessel owned by one of Gangjeong villagers.
The parts of concrete structure are laid in the sea so it is not easy to notice them quickly as fish vessels approach the port. Moreover when it happened, it was about at 2 am in the dark. Although there are lights installed on the concrete structures, some of the structures laid closer to the sea have not any light.
Fishermen say they already expected this kind of accident would happen soon. On December 16th, the fishermen association of Gangjeong Village already visited the office of the construction site and demanded to remove those concrete structures right off the seawalls that have become obstacles to enter the port by making the space narrow. But they said their demand is ignored by the navy.
In this December Edition:
Gangjeong Mayor’s message for 2015, Encountering of Nanjing and Jeju’s suffering, Navy plans crackdown on 24 hour sit-in tent, A priest’s getting pushed down by a construction vehicle and the negligence of police, Republic Of Korea Navy Chief involved in corrupt arms purchase, Love is the only answer, tangerine harvest season, The struggle by villagers and Island people to stop the resumption of the construction
for military residence, Palestine Come and See, Korea loses Father James Sinnott, Christmas Eve in Gangjeong village, Metburi report, United Progressive Party, Introducing Gangjeong struggle through movies, trial updates and much more!
People resist to the lying navy who enforces the building of military residence inside the village
Admiral Hwang Ki Chul, the incumbent chief of Naval Operations of the Republic of Korea Navy since September, 2013, who is recently denounced for his scandalous involvement in the corrupt arms purchase from an unknown US arms company years ago (see here), has made a remark that the navy would never build military residence inside the Gangjeong village unless villagers agree with it. His lie still loudly rings to the ears of people who clearly remember what he said.
But as Kim Sung-Chan, one of his predecessors, has later violated his own words that the navy would never expropriate villagers’ lands and would never start base construction without villagers’ agreement, Hwang and the navy has been setting to build 72 households of military residence on the way to the port inside the village, without consultation and agreement with the villagers (for more on the navy plan of military residence and people’s strong opposition to it, see the top articles of Oct. and Nov. newsletter, here and here.)
As soon as the navy got permission from the Seogwipo City Hall on Oct. 7, this year, it moved two containers into the military residence construction area for 72 households, set up the fence, and installed surveillance camera on the top of its main gate.
The navy’s enforcement of the military residence construction started along with the setting for the construction of a cruise terminal which is a part of so called ‘Civilian-Military Complex Port for Tour Beauty Project,’ an official name of the Jeju naval base project, ridiculous though as the navy seems to prefer to a ‘pure’ navy base. The location of the latter is much nearer to the port. Signs of construction information for those swarm along the way to the port where one does not miss a scene of the transformed coast and sea covered with ugly base construction facilities and monster-like pollution-pouring barges.
With urgency to save the 450 year old village from the building of military residence inside the village, people have begun to stop construction vehicles going to the area with 24 hours’ sit-in booth in the center road of the village and later on, with a large sit-in tent just in front of its main gate. The only village-owned bus was tightly chained next to the sit-in tent, totally blocking the whole gate from all the construction vehicles.
Now, the sit-in tent site just in front of the military residence construction gate is people’s another struggle fronts along with the base construction gate site in the eastern part of the village and Samgeori(a three-fork road) where people have set a communal restaurant and residence containers for the purpose of occupation against navy’s robbing-off the area.
Budget was passed with an unreliable condition, ‘Occasionally allocated’
Despite people’s clear demand to cut the whole 2015 Jeju naval base budget, especially that of military housing project inside the village (for the details, see here), it was on Dec. 2 when the South Korean National Assembly passed the whole 2015 Jeju naval base budget of 298 billion won (about 290 million USD), but with the decision to compile the budget as the ‘occasionally allocated,’ which means the budget is compiled and managed by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance which would hand over the budget to the Ministry of National Defense whenever ‘a condition’ is implemented.
The Jeju Island government stated on Dec 3 that the National Assembly condition meant an agreement between the navy and Jeju Island Government which had requested the former not to build military residence inside the village, following the result of its meeting with the representatives of the village association last month(see the headline article in Nov. newsletter, here). The Island government even stated that the execution of budget for the building of military residence became impossible for the navy without consultation with the Island government. It stated that it would do its best to consult with the navy so that the navy could purchase military residence in nearer and better location rather than building it in the currently planned site inside the village.
However, no matter how confident the Island government appears in regards to its interpretation on the ‘occasionally allocated budget,’ such condition is not clearly written as a collateral condition to the budget passed by the National Assembly. Doubts are reasonably raised on such budget allocation, given that the Ministry of National Defense, and the Central Governments have never observed such National Assembly condition even in written forms. The Government-specifically the Ministries of Strategy and Finance and National Defense could be very arbitrary in its decision to allow the execution of the budget and to execute it respectively.
(See a reference article in a Jeju media in Korean, here)
The Navy’s shameless warning to dismantle people’s sit-in tent
Otherwise, on Dec. 10, the Jeju naval base project committee sent a written warning to the village association that it would carry out an administrative vicarious execution which means it would dismantle people’s sit-in tent and village bus unless the village association is volunteering to remove it by Dec. 16. The warning even threatens villagers that they may be even enforced to pay all the execution fees.
The notice was recently sent again to the village with the due date by Dec. 22. Barbarous however the navy’s plan is, a lawyer tells on the legal matter. According to the lawyer:
‘Even though there is an issue of violation of Constitution when a special group so called military directly carries out an administrative vicarious execution against general citizens, which oppresses their right to property and freedom, it has an authority on an administrative vicarious execution by the positive law, in cases the state or local self-governing organization is an enforcement administration of the applied construction.’
The village association, confirming its will to fight against any outside oppression, declared that it would keep the sit-in tent and other sit-in facilities to the end. The Seogwipo City to which the village belongs to, has not cooperated to the navy in regards of dismantling villagers’sit-in tent, as the City is under the order of the Island government.
The village denounced the navy saying that military residence building project denies the local residents’ right to self-governing decision and the existence basis of the village association. Not only that, it is an explicit extension of the Jeju naval base project, not to mention that it seriously threatens the villagers’ right to live. (see the collection of the articles on the navy letter and villagers’ protest statement in Korean here)
The Jeju Pan-Island Committee for the Stop of military Base and for the Realization of Peace Island, which is composed of 31 parties, civic groups, and religious groups within the Jeju Island, denounced the navy in its Dec. 12 statement, saying that “it is exposed that the navy’s showy rhetoric by now such as ‘agreement by villagers,’ ‘conflict settlement,’ is merely a kind of a ‘false psychological war,’ which intends to mislead public opinion on the basis of military operation.’
It is not clear yet when the navy would finally carry out its administrative vicarious execution, mobilizing its thugs and police.. Is the navy who has used sugar-coating words such as ‘co-existence of civilian-military’ and ‘civilian-military complex,’ willing to clash directly with the people? The time is approaching.
And regardless of the navy’s shameless deeds, people keep their 24 hour sit-in in the tent. A peace activist writes:
“Whatever, the politics, administration, and media do, there may not be much we can do. We have only our bodies and hearts. Nothing to be changed. We continue to sleep in the tent, clean it, perform traditional music, watch movies inside it, pack tangerines for fundraising, file fire woods, make fires in furnace, and stop vehicles with our bodies… regardless the navy comes to dismantle our sit-in tents whenever…”
(See here for more photos)
To save the village and to realize a true Peace Island, people’s fight will never end. A new year is approaching: The 10th anniversary of the Jeju designated as the “Peace Island’ by the Government.
A rough translation of the banner above:
“Gangjeong villagers!
Currently the navy is saying that it is driving only for 72 households for patrol boat crewmen. And it stated that it has already purchased 34 households of civilian apartment in the outside and it would additionally purchase 184 households of apartment next year to use those as military residence.
Then, will the navy’s military residence construction plan end only with it?
The navy has originally stated that the numbers of people who would station in the [currently being built] Jeju naval base would be 7,000.
Only with that fact, you can roughly guess the size of military residence. It is estimated that the maximum numbers of people who would be accommodated [in the currently being built military residence] inside the base would be no more than 5,000, even with combining all the numbers of people in 987 households for the singles and married, and of enlisted men’s barracks. It is planned that the military residence outside of the base would be mainly used by the company and field grade and it is estimated that the required numbers of the households for those would be around 500 at the minimum to 2,000 at the maximum.
The navy’s position is that once 72 households are constructed in the Gangjeong village, it would, consulting Gangjeong villagers, progress building of additional 359 households, beside the purchase of apartment, . Do you think that is indeed the end? There is possibility that more than 1,000 households of military residence would be continuously built in the Gangjeong village until the size of stationing people fulfills.
In other words, the Gangjeong village would be totally a military village as a result of it. It will be very likely that the navy would secure the initiative of the village association then extend the naval base in earnest through driving for military facilities such as magazine powder keg/ heliports.
Therefore, the navy’s current drive to build 72 households of military residence must be stopped. We should save the history of the 450 year old Gangjeong village.
The anti-naval base committee of the Gangjeong village
In this November Edition:
People demand to cut the full 2015 Jeju navy base budget, a shrine under threat of destruction, remembrance day for Yang Yong-Chan, visitors from the US Pacific Northwest, Okinawa trip reflection including recent Okinawa election, Henoko movie viewed in Gangjeong, Prof. Sasha’s presentation on the success of anti-base movements, women’s international solidarity, airborne arsenic dust damaging farming, a visit by a mother of a Sewol victim, two activists injured, trial updates and an introduction of the 12.13 Nanjing massacre event, and more!
