What would disappear with the building of the 2nd Jeju airport (air force base)? According to bird-lover Kim Ye-won (19), the area nearby the planned airport is a paradise for birds. Some of these birds, like Chinese black-headed gulls, are endangered species. About 10 oreums (parasitic cones) are also threatened to have 40 to 100 meters cut off from the top. Photos by and resource partly from Ha Sang-yoon, Segye Ilbo. March 3, 2019.
1.The eastern Oreum colonies of Jeju will permanently lose their present form as many Oreums (volcanic cones) will be cut.
2. The caves and
the bird sanctuaries at the airport site will be destroyed. Furthermore, there
will be high chances of accidents at the airport due to ground subsidence and
bird strikes.
3. The property
rights of the locals living nearby the Second Jeju Airport will be limited and
they will suffer from serious noise pollution.
4. There are
possibilities that the Second Jeju Airport would be used for military purposes.
If the US military decides to use the airport based on the ROK-US Mutual
Defense Agreement, Jeju Island will face aggravated risks of military
conflicts.
5. Even though the
number of tourists increases, only the airline companies and high-ranking
hotels will monopolise the benefits from the airfares and the lodging expenses.
Furthermore, the increase in the number of tourists will cause more trash and
water pollution.
6. There will be
more traffic congestion because of the increased number of tourists. If road
expansion follows accordingly, it will cost a huge amount of financial
resources and destroy the natural environment.
7. There will be
an increase of time and costs when it comes to access from outside of the east
of Jeju due to the division of functions between the current airport and the
Second Jeju Airport.
8. Due to the tremendous amount of finances that will
be spent on the construction of the Second Jeju Airport and related
infrastructure, it will be difficult to improve the current airport
appropriately and welfare projects for the inhabitants of the province will
diminish overall.
9. The fluctuation
of the real estate price in certain areas near the Second Jeju Airport will
benefit the landlords but will generally cause inflation and deepen
inequalities in terms of regional development.
10. The long term construction process will cause irreversible social conflicts among the inhabitants of Seongsan and from all parts of Jeju island.
Many species live in the Bijarim-ro forest. Among them, fairy pitta is classified as ‘vulnerable’ while Japanese night heron is ‘endangered,’ according to the IUCN red-list. Dung beetles (Copris tripartitus) are one of the endangered species defined by the South Korean government. Drawing by Lee Nan-young and a photo by Bird Korea (inside the drawing). The findings are thanks to People Doing All Things to Save the Bijarim-ro.
This is our chance to make some change!
Five propositions for a just,
sustainable Jeju where the Islanders are the agents:
1. To make tourist demand management policies that
consider the environmental and social capacity of Jeju Island as soon as
possible.
2. To implement
improvement projects to resolve inconveniences and guarantee safety of visitors
at the current airport as soon as possible.
3. To prepare
measures to guarantee the mobility rights of Jeju residents, such as a seat
quota system for residents.
4. To implement
policies and allocate budgets to minimize the damage from noise pollution
suffered by the residents living near the current airport.
5. To legislate the requirement to collect opinions from and to consult with the residents before launching large scale development projects and national projects.
People of the tent town in front of the Jeju
Provincial Hall who oppose the 2nd Jeju Airport
We want a Just, Sustainable Jeju where the Islanders are the Agents (Decision-makers)!
Stop the 2nd Jeju
Airport (Air Force Base)!
Stop the expansion construction of Bijarim-ro road, a connection to the 2nd Jeju Airport!
Text translation by People of the tent town in front of the Jeju Provincial Hall who oppose the 2nd Jeju Airport and proofreading by Curry.
Photo by Kim Jae-beom, a picketing in front of a hotel where 2019 Sustainable Development Jeju International Conference was held, June, 18, 2019 Photo by Kim Mi-kyung, a picketing in front of a hotel where 2019 Sustainable Development Jeju International Conference was held, June, 18, 2019 Photo by Kim Jae-beom, a picketing in front of a hotel where 2019 Sustainable Development Jeju International Conference was held, June, 18, 2019Photo by Kim Mi-kyung, a picketing in front of a hotel where 2019 Sustainable Development Jeju International Conference was held, June, 18, 2019
For a related urgent enforsement “No Fleet Review in Jeju”, please fo to here.
By Nan Kim
Nan Kim is a Medium member since Oct 2018. She is the author of Memory, Reconciliation, and Reunions in South Korea: Crossing the Divide/professor of contemporary history/anthropologist/public historian/working mom
Air shows. Water shows. Fleet Week. Depending on your views, these can be regarded as a nuisance or a form of entertainment here in the United States. But on South Korea’s Jeju Island, a place once officially designated as the Island of World Peace, the impending arrival of the first International Fleet Review is nothing short of appalling for residents still haunted by the trauma of intense militarized violence that had once gripped the island decades ago.
South Korea will host the International Fleet Review over four days beginning October 10th, when warships from 15 nations, including the Philippines and the United States, will arrive at Jeju Island. For the Fleet Review to happen this year, of all years, is a bitter irony in that 2018 saw a great many earnest and somber 70-year commemorations of “April 3rd” (사삼 “sasam” in Korean). Sasam is the short-hand vernacular term to denote the period of massacres beginning in 1948 when tens of thousands of civilians were sweepingly labeled as communists, which served as a pretext for their being summarily killed by rightist state- and paramilitary forces in a campaign of “island pacification” synonymous with mass death. It was a traumatic episode that had been lost for a time to oblivion, as all accounts and evidence of the massacre were heavily censored for a generation under South Korea’s past authoritarian governments.
But eventually through the work of survivors, activists, and other advocates determined to ensure that the tragedy of the April 3rd massacres would not be forgotten, public opinion in South Korea and beyond had transformed to the point that sasam has come to be publicly memorialized in official and unofficial ceremonies every year. Moreover, by the “post-Cold War” period of the 1990s, it became widely recognized that Jeju Island had to remain demilitarized for the sake of regional peace and stability. This is because of Jeju’s sensitive location at the crossroads of Northeast Asia, particularly given its past use as a military outpost by the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII. Part of the island’s tragic history is that, toward the end of Japan’s occupation of Korea (1910–1945), Japanese colonial forces built airfields on Jeju so that bombers could refuel in order to carry out aerial attacks against cities on China’s eastern seaboard including Nanjing and Shanghai.
Peace in the region therefore hinges upon a peaceful Jeju, and among those who visited the island to attend peace conferences and high-level summits in the 1990s were Mikhail Gorbachev (1991), Jiang Zemin (1995), and Bill Clinton (1996). It was during that period when Moon Chung-in — a Jeju native and currently special advisor to the South Korean President — also proposed that the island be made “a hub of peace” along the model of Geneva. Jeju’s identity, which had revolved at the time around tangerine farming and a burgeoning tourism industry, would be burnished by Jeju’s official governmental recognition as an “Island of World Peace” in 2005.
But the delicate balance of regional stability that had relied upon Jeju’s demilitarization would be dangerously altered by the realization of plans for the Jeju Naval Base, which has been vigorously opposed by peace activists for the past 11 years throughout the period of its construction until its opening last year. Given that military alliance agreements mean that US warships and nuclear submarines can readily port at Jeju, Gangjeong peace activists persist in their protests out of moral conviction and a collective refusal to back down in their opposition to conditions that they argue raise the risks of a future disastrous war.
Morning after morning in Gangjeong Village, a dynamic group of peace activists have held a daily protest of creative dissent, to call out those enabling a dangerous elevation of military tensions. Year after year, hundreds converge on Jeju Island to take part in a march to participate in Gangjeong’s “Peace for Life Movement” (saengmyŏng pyŏnghwa undong). That includes visitors like me, who have spent time in the village and have been deeply moved by the dedication of the activists there, while marveling at the rhythms of its remarkable community. That is, sustaining a protest movement over several very challenging years has only been possible through resilience, courage, and a deeply artistic sensibility. Such creativity explains how they have continually repurposed discouraging circumstances into new material for direct actions, moving forward to sustain their dissent of ethical witness for yet another day.
But when I visited this past summer, I was surprised and alarmed by how those rhythms had been disrupted. As an outsider, I could only begin to understand how wrenching had been the process of having this imminent Fleet Review imposed upon the village. It has divided the village community anew, opening deep wounds that recalled the original divisive battles over a decade ago surrounding the base construction.
When I first visited Gangjeong Village in 2014, it appeared to me as a wholly civilian agricultural village. Over the years, I have witnessed the steady encroachment of the base’s presence, along with the appearance of more and more navy personnel, whose expanding appropriation of space has amounted to a militarized form of settler colonialism. One could understand how the phenomenon would be profoundly galling and distressing for the vast majority of the village residents, who had originally voted against the base construction, only to have their opinions ignored. But for survivors of the April 3rd massacres and their family members, the appearance of military vehicles and uniforms have been re-traumatizing — not to mention the imminent arrival of a procession of warships.
This was not supposed to happen. These Jeju residents are the ones who survived a traumatic violent past and lived through decades to reach a more humane equilibrium. How can all of that have come to pass, now only for these survivors to see this dismaying, incomprehensible regression to militarism? That militarism has effectively displaced many Gangjeong residents from their own community while generating risks to countless others, a situation that goes against the spirit of the recent North-South Korean agreements in the name of building peace. Meanwhile, resistance to the base is a cause that has been marginalized by other Jeju residents, those persuaded into supporting the base construction by government lobbying and the lure of economic stimulus.
In a further challenge for the Gangjeong activists, an extremely frustrating aspect of this controversy is the difficulty they have faced in rallying those who are in fact their long-time allies and advocates. That’s partly because the very name “International Fleet Review” sounds so bland and apparently benign. Alternative descriptive phrases could be “parade of warships” or “military festival,” but neither serves to convey the urgency and seriousness of what the Fleet Review represents. When the whole world seems plunged into crisis, this controversy over the Fleet Review is an issue that risks falling off of the radar of otherwise-enthusiastic supporters.
Yet, the peace activists at Gangjeong are now putting all their strength and leveraging their formidable tradition of moral protest to oppose the Fleet Review, and they need more help — particularly from friends and advocates abroad — to support their cause. According to the Gangjeong activists, they are protesting the Fleet Review to oppose the ceremonial event that formally marks the relapse of Jeju into an international military outpost. The peace activists on the island therefore seek to warn against the ruinous dangers that such re-militarization would augur, if we only pay attention.
Lately, here in the U.S., we find ourselves living through a time to remember Cassandra, the Trojan figure in Greek mythology who would utter prophecies that were true but not believed. I can begin to imagine how she must have felt, amid a host of feelings that could have taken hold at the worst points of any given day. But whether it be anger, or disbelief, or horror, or dread, such emotions need not be in vain. That is, not if we can stand up for each other and offer our support to those who have summoned the courage to face down a gauntlet of doubt or indifference and to speak the truth.
Gangjeong Case at The International Tribunal on Evictions; The 5th Anniversary of the Gangjeong Life and Peace Mass; Cultural relics found, buried, destroyed again at Jeju naval base site; No life can live near Jeju naval base The National Assembly inquiry on the navy lawsuit; Trial update; Peace Festival and Keep Space for Peace Week; Calls for Park Geun-hye to resign in wake of “Choi-Gate”: Three COs declared Not Guilty: Security meeting amid protest etc.
The Grand March for Life and Peace concluded last night with a rousing rally in Jeju City along the sea wall (that reminds one of the Malecón in Havana).As our east team met the west team in the center of the city each side carried one of two large banners depicting wooden totems that now stand in front of the peace center in Gangjeong village. The two banners were brought into the busy traffic clogged intersection and symbolically joined. From there the two merged teams walked the last few miles to the rally site. The totem banners were erected onto the large stage and as dark came, and the stage lights hit the banners, the beautiful colors came alive in a brilliant display. I was very moved to stand on that stage and deliver the message representing the international guests.
As you can see in the short video above, taken of the west team during a storm, not even a down pour bothered the walkers. Very few pulled out umbrellas or raincoats – most just keep moving along to the music coming from the sound trucks.
There is so much to say about this walk including the many things I learned and about the Korean people that we had the great fortune to meet during these days. I will likely write a series of posts, with many more photos, in the coming days as time and the words make themselves available to me.
In the meantime I must say thank you to all our new friends and co-walkers for this incredible experience. Despite the fun and the excitement of the walk what must come first is the reminder that the people in South Korea are witnessing their democracy being dismantledeach day by the right-wing Park government. They are seeing their country, already long a US military colony, become even more so as Washington rushes to prepare for war with China and Russia.
People here, like in Okinawa and Guam, know they are a prime target in a conflict because of the US bases on their islands. They are doing all they can NOW while they still can. They wonder why people in the US and in Europe are largely so silent and inactive when it comes to the massive expansion of the US-NATO war machine into the Asia-Pacific (including new NATO partnership agreements with South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand).
In my short talk last night I told the hundreds who were assembled at the final rally the story of our protest in Bath, Maine last June when 12 of us (Zumwalt 12) were arrested at the Bath Iron Works shipyard for blocking the road and gate into the ‘christening’ ceremony for a new warship. I said that warship was likely to visit Gangjeong village at some point. I told the people that they inspired us in Maine to act – in fact five of the 12 of us who were arrested have been to Gangjeong village over the past few years. I said we’d continue to support them into the future.
The only way we can prevent WW III is to become bolder during this dangerous time of military expansion and the drowning of democracy. The people of Korea who have come to Jeju Island in large numbers (union members, human rights activists, peaceniks, parents of the Sewol ferry students killed in that terrible accident, Korea Green Party members, priests & nuns, environmentalists, and community leaders) are showing that it is possible to build effective coalitions in order to protect democracy, peace and our Mother Earth.
We all have much to learn from the biggest little village on the planet called Gangjeong.Bruce
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See Bruce K. Gagnon’s records on the march (Click the words)
You’re trashing our home town and we’ll have nowhere to go! Photo: pagansweare.com
By Rose Bridger
June 10, 2016
Communities on Jeju, South Korea’s ‘island of peace’, are resisting a second airport that’s threatening the island’s farming, nature, culture and way of life, writes Rose Bridger. Linked mega-projects include an ‘Air City’ of shopping malls, hotels and offices, plus high-speed transport corridors, luxury resorts, casinos, theme parks and golf courses – all catering to wealthy outsiders.
Government and corporate powers are combining to impose aviation-dependent tourism megaprojects in Jeju. But islanders’ resistance gives hope of a more sustainable tourism, enabling visitors to enjoy the island without contributing to its destruction.
In November 2015, a sudden announcement of a new airport on the South Korea island of Jeju, came as a huge shock for residents of five villages – Onpyeong, Sinsan, Susan 1, Nansan and Goseon.
They were not involved, or even consulted, in the decision-making process about the airport, and are and worried that they face displacement from their lands, homes and villages and total disruption of their lives.
Most of the site, 70%, is a farming area, placing agricultural livelihoods and food production at risk. Little consideration had been given to the impact on rural communities that have thrived in the area for many generations.
Villagers immediately became distressed at the prospect of being forced to relocate, worried that they might receive a low level of compensation that would be insufficient to build a new life.
Situated 100 kilometres off the southern coast of South Korea, with a dramatic volcanic landscape featuring black sand beaches, waterfalls and lava caves, Jeju is already a major tourist attraction.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation stated that the airport, aUS$3.5 billion project to be built by 2025, would enable a dramatic increase in the number of visitors. Initially with one runway the new airport would be large enough to accommodate 25 million passengers annually. If the airport were to operate at full capacity this would constitute an enormous influx of tourists to an island with a population of just over 604,000.
Yet planners envisage that the airport could be expanded to accommodate an even higher number of passengers, with the possible addition of a second runway 20 or 30 years into the future.
The largest project in the island’s history
Governor of Jeju, Won Hee-ryong, said the new airport would be “the largest project in the island’s history.” And it would be the starting point for an even larger megaproject; the province has plans for an ‘Air City’ around the new airport, a complex of shopping malls, convention facilities, hotels and financial centres.
An ‘Air City’ is another name for an ‘aerotropolis’, urban development that is built around an airport and designed to be aviation dependent. Pursued by governments and corporations worldwide, many aerotropolis projects are meeting with resistance from communities facing displacement and destruction of farmland and ecosystems, including in Taipei (Taiwan), Bhogapuram (Andhra Pradesh, India), Kulon Progo (Indonesia), Kilimajaro (Tanzania) and Istanbul.
A second Jeju airport would jeopardise the pristine natural environment that is key to the island’s distinctiveness as a tourist destination. The tranquillity of Sunrise Peak, a 182 metre high cone rising from the sea with a large, green crater on the island’s eastern edge that is UNESCO protected and a particularly iconic visitor attraction, would be ruined if aircraft fly over it.
The area earmarked for the airport has unique ecological and geological features, including 18 subterranean lava tunnels. Honinji Pond, one of the most sacred historical sites, where, according to legend, farming began on the island, is close to the proposed site.
In contrast, various mega tourism projects would be supported by construction of a second airport, most notably Jungmun Tourist Complex and Jeju Myths and History Theme Park. Jungmun Tourist Complex, transformed a small fishing village into one of South Korea’s biggest resorts with upmarket hotels, coachloads of daytrippers, watersports, yachts, shopping, and an 18-hole golf course.
Upon completion Jeju Myths and History Theme Park will be one of South Korea’s largest integrated resorts. Originally conceived as a celebration of Jeju heritage, it was approved in spite of considerable local opposition because the project plans morphed into theme parks based on other ancient cultures such as Persia and the Inca Empire.
There was also disquiet over plans for an underground casino, pursued with a lack of transparency, and concern that little of the profits will reach the community.
Resistance against the new airport
From a provincial government announcement it appeared that a second Jeju airport had already been granted the go-ahead. Banners proclaiming ‘Second Airport Plans Confirmed‘ were displaced in Jeju City. But representatives of communities opposing the airport insisted that the project was not finalised; it had yet to receive the required validation from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the National Assembly.
By late December banners opposing the airport extended 20 kilometres along roads leading to the five affected villages. Hundreds of people, young, old and students, participated in a series of demonstrations against the airport. Protests drew on shamanic traditions, channelling a multitude of spiritual energies including the three founding fathers of the island and Yougdeung, Goddess of the wind and sea.
Resistance was pitted against a considerable weight of pro-airport propaganda. Prominent advertisements extended beyond the affected villages and were highly visible in Jeju City. The media presented reaction to the airport plan as a split of opinion, but the vast majority of locals, who stand to suffer the worst of the negative impacts, were opposed to it.
Unity in resistance against the new airport was still evident in the affected villages in January. Red and yellow protest flags emblazoned with slogans such as “Gieonara!” (Get out!) and “Second Airport Out! Oppose! Stop!” adorned buildings and cars. Protesters challenged the flouting of democratic process.
They blocked the entrance to a briefing meeting, demanding a full public debate and that the full study upon which the site for the airport was selected be made public. Campaign leaders spoke of their concern that the destruction caused by the airport would be compounded by urban sprawl from the ‘Air City’ and vowed to continue their fight for the future of their communities.
Island of peace resists naval base
Jeju islanders have form in sustaining long-term resistance against destructive megaprojects. Construction of an enormous naval base, with space for 24 warships, at the tiny village of Gangjeong on the southern coast of the island. It incorporates infrastructure for mass tourism: a port with space for the largest luxury cruise ships. Due to open in 2017 it is expected to handle 1 million cruise passengers by 2018.
The naval base has met with a nine-year non-violent struggle. Construction went ahead even though the result of a referendum was a resounding ‘no’; 94% of the village population of 1,900 people voted against it.
Rejection of the naval base plan was inevitable. Jeju is widely known as the ‘island of peace’, a culture with deep roots originating in response to the 1948 massacre of between 30,000 and 80,000 people, men, women and children. They were killed by Jeju authorities, at that time under the command of occupying US forces. Brutal repression was triggered by an uprising of locals opposing north-south division of Korea. Bodies were buried in mass graves across the island.
The movement against the naval base opposes militarisation of the island and South Korea, and planned use of the facility by the US military to support its strategic interests in the region. Jeju Naval Base forms part of an arc of US naval and military bases encircling China, aiming to counter the emerging superpower’s military build-up.
Unique marine ecosystems are being destroyed. The sea of Gangjeong is a key habitat for the few remaining Bottlenose dolphins living around Jeju island and the world’s largest soft coral forest began dying after construction commenced in 2011. Marine food sources and fishing livelihoods are being destroyed.
As explosives were laid at the site, to blow up rocks and the sea bed in preparation for construction, a large area of traditional diving grounds, where women have harvested abalone (marine snails) and other shellfish for many generations, was roped off.
Every day, except Sundays, protesters gather at the site entrance, physically blocking bulldozers and delivery of construction equipment such as cement mixers. They have successfully stalled the project many times. Villagers and activists responded to blocking land access to the construction site by taking to the seas, swimming and kayaking, to block cassions and dredging barges and monitor the environmental damage that is being inflicted.
Peaceful protest has been criminalised. About 600 people have been arrested, 400 of them charged with offences, but resistance continues in spite of imposition of fines and imprisonment of two activists. Some anticipate that, if construction of a second Jeju airport goes ahead, an even greater protest movement will rise up against it.
Mega resort complex halted by landowners
Jeju islanders have succeeded in halting construction of a luxury resort and residential complex. The site is in Yerae, Seogwipo City, on the southwest coast of the island. On 30 March 2015, the Supreme Court upheld a suit filed by a group of landowners, overturning land expropriation and requesting cancellation of construction.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the complex had been held on 7th March 2013 and the resort, the largest single foreign investment in the South Korean tourism industry, began to take shape, a major destination targeting northeast Asia. Plans showed that it would be geared towards visitors traveling by air, accessible for over 10 million people via a two hour flight.
The resort complex, called Jeju Airest City, is a joint venture between the Berjaya Group, a Malaysian hotel and resort conglomerate, and a public-private entity, the Jeju Free International City Development Center (JDC).
A promotional video shows the vision for the project, eulogising Jeju’s pristine environment, then proceeding to illustrate how large areas would be ruined with enormous buildings that supposedly evoke iconic natural features. The focal point, the ‘Casino Town’ complex, features a gigantic tower, the upper reaches vaguely resembling the contours of Sunrise Peak.
Obliteration of natural landscape would be further compounded by construction of the largest shopping mall in Jeju, hotels and condominiums, entertainment venues, corporate premises, a medical centre and a cosmetic surgery centre.
In an interview for an architecture website the Project Director of Berjaya Jeju Resort Limited makes it clear the site for was not just selected for desirability and strategic location, emphasizing support from the government, both national and local, as an important factor, along with various incentives for foreign investors.
Property developers and investors worldwide were so enamoured of Jeju Airest City, that, in 2012, it won a ‘Gold Award for Best Future Mega Project’ at the MIPIM Asia Awards and a 5 Star Award for Best Mixed-use Development at the International Property Awards.
Landowners’ suit upheld the law
The landowners’ suit against Jeju Airest City succeeded in upholding a law stipulating that recreation zone development must contribute to the welfare of residents. The Supreme Court ruled that the project aimed to generate profit for specific parties and that the developer had misled landowners over the use of the site.
Inclusion of luxury condominiums and a casino meant that the project failed to satisfy requirements for serving the public good, and should have been categorised as an ‘amusement park’ rather than a ‘residential type complex’. By not being explicit about its intentions for land usage Berjaya had avoided paying landowners their rightful premium.
Initially, Berjaya ignored the Supreme Court ruling, continuing construction until finally abandoning the project in July 2015. Jeju Airest City had been about 60% completed. Now it lies dormant, but the Jeju province moved to resurrect the project, attempting to push it through the legislature by amending the law to bring management of amusement parks under its auspices.
One of the landowners who refused the increased compensation offer, Kang Min-cheol, chair of Yerae Ecological Village, warned that the resort complex was indicative of a wider picture of inexorable pressure for intensive urban development modelled on Hong Kong and Singapore, urging people to seize the last chance to save Jeju from “reckless development”.
High-speed transport network, tourism hotspot
In February, following the second airport announcement, and in the face of continued resistance against it, another tourism-oriented megaproject plan was announced. A consortium supported by the provincial government called for a high-speed transportation network of rail and bus routes linking Jeju Island’s main commercial and tourism centres.
The scheme raises severe environmental concerns, including the impacts of construction activity and road building. Scope for consulting affected communities will be limited if, as envisaged, design plans are finalised within a matter of weeks.
The proposed route consists of four key nodes. Jeju City would be linked with upcoming tourist hotspots: Seogwipo, Jeju Myths and History Theme Park and the second airport. Amap of the proposed high-speed route indicates plans for an aerotropolis around the second airport site, where the only words written in English appear: ‘Air City’. The high-speed transportation network would support development and growth of the second airport and an aerotropolis surrounding it.
Aviation growth could also be served by a broader programme to make Jeju a luxury tourism hotspot. Announced by Governor Won Hee-ryong at the beginning of March, the focal point is a so-called ‘celebrity town’, provisionally named ‘Star Village’, in Seogwipo.
Won Hee-ryong indicated special backing for the aviation sector, pointing out the high fuel use of aircraft and stating that financial support from central government would be required. He also called on President Park Geun-hye to take steps that would serve to expedite development of a second Jeju airport: minimising the assessment review period and allocating $4.1 million for a development plan.
Government and corporate powers are combining to impose aviation-dependent tourism megaprojects in Jeju, posing grave threats to the environment and cultural heritage.
But islanders’ track record of resistance gives hope that a path for more sustainable tourism can be forged, enabling visitors to enjoy the island without unwittingly contributing to destruction of its treasures.
On the 100 bows and dances mentioned in the main content of the article, click respectively here and here.
By Ann Wright
The South Korean Navy filed a civil lawsuit against 116 individual anti-base protesters and five groups including the Gangjeong Village Association, demanding $3 million in compensation for alleged construction delays caused by protests over the past eight years.
In one of the longest, strongest protests against more military bases in our world, the villagers of Gangjeong, Jeju Island, South Korea have achieved international recognition of their spiritual and corporal resistance and persistence in trying to preserve unique natural features of their community, the Gureombi Rocks.
Samsung was the primary contractor for the $1 BILLION dollar project and who filed a lawsuit against the government for slow down of work caused by the protests. Samsung’s profit margin was impacted by the protests!
Villagers are very angry about the lawsuit that, if upheld, would bankrupt everyone named. To show its displeasure to the Navy, the village moved its City Hall to a tent on the main road across from the entrance to the base. The Vice-Mayor holds city meetings in the tent and sleeps there!
Lawyers for the activists wrote that the navy’s lawsuit is “an unjustified declaration of war against the people. When the reckless development of the state and large construction companies threaten the right of citizens to a peaceful existence, the right of citizens to oppose this must be guaranteed as their natural and constitutional right since sovereignty rests with the people. To condemn this action as illegal is to delegitimize the foundation of democracy.”
To buy off public support for the $1 BILLON dollar unnecessary naval base, the South Korean government built a huge sports complex for use by the local community. The facilities are located on the upper part of the area condemned for the naval base. The area has a track and field sports stadium, a 50-meter indoor swimming pool, indoor gymnasium, library, computer center, two restaurants, a 7/11 convenience store and a hotel on the top floor.
Villagers commented that major sports facilities were built in the nearby city of Segiwopo and have been used by them for years. They say that these facilities will not make up for the loss of the cultural and spiritual areas dynamited and concreted forever.
That’s why the protests continue at Gangjeong Village!
100 Bows Morning Vigil
Every morning for the past eight years, at 7am, rain, snow or good weather, Gangjeong Village activists reflect through 100 bows to the universe on their lives of activism for a peaceful world while confronting the war machine at one of its gates.
The thoughts represented in 100 Bows span all religions and spiritual traditions. A few of the thoughts include:
1. While holding in my heart that truth gives freedom to life I make my first bow.
7. As I hold in my heart that possessions create other possessions and wars only give birth to other wars and cannot solve problems, I make my seventh bow.
12. As I hold in my heart that the way to life-peace is to accept the world’s pain as my own pain I make my twelfth bow.
55. As I resolve to let go of chauvinistic nationalism which makes other countries insecure, I make my fifty-fifth bow.
56. As I resolve to let go of the superiority of my religion which makes other faiths insecure, I make my fifty-sixth bow.
72. As I resolve to respect all lives without any prejudice and bias, I make seventy-second bow.
77. As I remember that the beginning of violence starts from my opinionated ideas and hatred towards others because of differences, I make my seventy-seventh bow.
100. As I pray that the light that I kindle leads all sentient beings to live in peace and happiness, I make my one-hundredth bow.
One day I was at Gangjeong Village this week we endured a cold wind and rain for the noon time “Human Chain” at the entrance of the Naval Base at Gangjeong Village. The winds were fierce — the southern coast is known for its very strong winds and one of the reasons why many were perplexed that the naval base was proposed for an area of the island where high winds and high seas are most frequent around the island.
Other days I’ve been here, the weather was nice for the singing and dancing in the roadway to remind the South Korean Navy that the opposition to the construction of the naval base has not ended, despite the construction being complete.
The great spirit continues to challenge the navy base and militarism with the noon dance. For those who have visited Gangjeong, both events and the sounds remain with us — as we remember that each day dedicated activists in Gangjeong Village continue the struggle against militarism.
Navy Week on Jeju Island — Finding Part of Gureombi Rock
While I was in Gangjeong Village, the South Korean Navy had “Navy Week on Jeju Island.” Navy weeks are designed as a public relations event to get favorable public opinion. Most activists would not have been allowed on the navy base even if they had wanted to go — which they did not want to do. I wanted to see where the massive amount of concrete poured into the area had gone — so I produced my passport and I and another recent arrival were passed onto the base. We saw Aegis missile destroyer ships, helicopters, landing craft and demonstrations of martial arts.
But the most important thing we saw was what we think is the only remaining part of Gureombi Rock. Behind the first building on the left side of the main road past the entrance gate, is a small lake with one side of what appears to be a very small piece of the Gureombi Rock! The other side of the lake is composed of rock fill, but the northern side seems to be original rock.
The coastline surrounding Gangjeong Village consisted of one contiguous volcanic rock called Gureombi which was a 1.2 kilometer-long rock formed by lava flowing into the sea and rocks rising from the seabed. The estuary informed in this area was Jeju Island’s only rocky wetland and acted as home to several endangered species and soft coral reefs.
In 1991, the Jeju Provincial government designated the coastline surrounding Gangjeong Village an Absolute Conservation Area (ACA). In 2002, the area where the naval base construction is currently ongoing was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Conservation Area. In December 2009, Jeju Island Governor Kim Tae-hwan nullified the ACA designation to proceed with the naval base construction. The Jeju Branch of the Korean Federation of Environmental Movements have criticized the Navy’s Environmental Impact Assessment noting that several endangered species are absent from the report.
During its recent archeological excavation of the Gangjeong coastal area the Jeju Cultural Heritage Research Institute discovered artifacts dating back to 4-2 B.C.E. inside the naval base construction zone. According to the director of the Korean Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute only 10-20% of the site was dug up during construction, violating the cultural properties protection law.
At a talk that I gave two days later, many from the village discussed how to ensure that the tiny portion of Gureombi Rock remains intact and continues its cultural and spiritual ties to Gangjeong Village.
I mentioned that in some military bases in the United States, there are plaques to remind us of those who lived there before the U.S. government took over their lands.
And even in the family housing area on the naval base, there are two murals that represent the indigenous peoples.
We hope that some type of mural will be created on the naval base depicting the importance of Gureombi Rocks so that hopefully the remaining rocks will not be blown up or concreted over!
Peace Farming
How do anti-war, peace activists in Gangjeong village support themselves? Some work in the Peace Farm Cooperative! One rainy morning Joan of Ark took us to two peace cooperative farms. The first was in the protected, covered greenhouse where they grow corn and beans-I asked how big the greenhouse was and she said 800 pyeongs — apparently a word indicating how big a grave should be — the length of a person’s body. An interesting way of measuring!
Then we went out of the village to their second farm in a …cemetery — or actually next to a cemetery where they grow corn and peanuts. The grass in the cemetery is allowed to grow over the gravestones and once a year a family may come to clear out the area around the gravestone. After 30 years, the family may have the ashes removed to another place.
Currie, an activist from the US, mentioned that in the US, some people want to be buried in a natural area where grass and weeds are allowed to grow, not in a formal cemetery.
Customers buy produce online from the Peace Cooperative!
The St. Francis Peace Center in Gangjeong Village has a remarkable history. In the 1970s, Father Mun was jailed for his protests during the military dictatorship and 30 years later he was awarded compensation for wrongful arrest and years in jail. With the compensation money, he purchased land overlooking the pale where the naval base was to be constructed. The Bishop of Jeju Island decided to help build a peace center on the land — and now a wonderful place for those working for peace and social justice is in Gangjeong Village! It is a beautiful building with a 4th floor viewing area so the eyes of the peace house can alert the community to what the war machine is doing!
Ann Wright is a 29 year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. In December, 2001 she was on the small team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the co-author of the book “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.” (www.voicesofconscience.com). She has written frequently on rape in the military.
The first Gangjeong film festival ends with success; The Navy should drop the wrongful lawsuit; Global Days of Action on Military Spending; Jeju and Ukraine in a larger picture of US military operation; The Power of Film; Yonaguni Solidarity; Activities to remember 16 April; Dolphin’ monitoring; Protest to navy soldiers arriving in the village; trial update; Koh Gilchun’s art on April 3rd; There should be no air show and no war exercise; protest against the navy’s concerts; Gangjeong Peace Film School; Gangjeong Friends candle vigil; and more.
Photo by Joyakgol/ People freely gathering for street concert in front of the Peace Center during the period of International Film Festival in Gangjeong
We are announcing the closing of the 1st International Peace Film Festival In Gangjeong. We believe that peace from a small village on Jeju Island will spread throughout the world. Even though we didn’t have enough time to prepare this event, Jeju islanders and peace-loving citizens from all over the country have voluntarily helped organizing this impressive and moving event. And thus, we are able to successfully close the peace film festival today.
We are planting trees of peace in a village where there is a massive naval base. It is everyone’s job to nurture and grow the trees so that it becomes a forest where many different lives can peacefully coexist. We hope that every participant of the film festival will become mountains, waters, forests and winds to blow away all barriers.
As the first international film festival on Jeju, and the first peace film festival in Korea, our beautiful arts event will never cease to look hard at the history of pain, and sympathize with the sufferings of our time. We hope we can contribute to transforming Jeju into the island of true peace and Korea into the center of world peace by speaking through our films, by communicating through culture and acting through arts. We will hold hands with the citizens of the world to cast away the cloud of conflict, violence and war.
Let us put down uncomfortable weapons, steaming resentment, boiling anger and far-fetched hatred. Let us sit together and indulge in the dark screen as the sparkling lights show up and shine, because the peace we are working to achieve is none less than passionate tears and bright smiles.
April 26, 2016
The 1st International Peace Film Festival In Gangjeong
Photo by Kim Suo/ The IPFFG Opening dance in the Seogwipo Catholic church on April 23, 2016
On April 28th (Korea-time), the Korean Navy was found cruising around Gangjeong Village in a truck stowing soldiers with their hands firmly affixed to their rifles.
Passing by Gangjeong Elementary School, the drive shocked villagers and activists alike, who have adamantly requested for the Navy to stop treading the village grounds.
Mayor Cho and others stopped the truck and demanded to know if the weapons were loaded, and if this was a strategy to create an atmosphere of fear in the village. Silence from the soldiers ensued. The officer kept repeating the line that he would retreat.
This clear show of militarism comes at a very sensitive time vis-a-vis the lawsuit against the village measuring up to 3 million USD. To some activists, this drive represents an act of taking over the village through violence and force, just like the lawsuit is intended to do.
Please check out Gangjeong People on Facebook to see the entire coverage of this affair.
