Priests were apparently turned away for their views on conflict with North Korea and naval base construction on Jeju Island
By Kim Kyu-won, staff reporter
When the Ministry of Defense was recently selecting military chaplains, three priests were rejected when they gave guarded responses to the question of what they think about controversial issues such as the naval base construction on Jeju Island and the 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. The decision is igniting controversy about ideological screening. Never before have priests applying to become chaplains been turned down in the selection process.
On Mar. 6, the Ministry of Defense announced the military chaplains whom they had selected, which showed that three of the nine priests who had applied had not been chosen. Their applications were rejected because of their answers to questions about the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and the naval base on Jeju Island during the interview on Jan. 31, the Hankyoreh confirmed. The interview was conducted by four military chaplains and three regular colonel-level officers.
When questioned about North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, one of the priests who was turned down said, “This was 60 years of ill will between the divided countries coming to a head. As a priest, I can’t give a response that leans to either one side or the other.”
The interviewers also asked the priest whether he thought the construction of the naval base on Jeju Island was the will of God or not. In response, the priest said, “The problem with the base is not so much what it is as how it was carried out. People are hurting because of how it was done, which leads one to wonder whether it was really the will of God.”
There were no major differences between the answers provided by the priests who were interviewed. Realizing this, one of the interviewers asked, “The priests all gave the same responses. Would other priests feel the same way?” To this, another of the priests who was rejected asked the interviewer to consider whether it was really necessary to ask ideological questions to people who are in the clergy.
“The primary job of a chaplain is to listen to the concerns of military personnel and to pray for them,” said one of the priests who was not selected. “I was asked questions that did not correspond to those duties.”
When the interviewer asked the priest once again, “What will you do when the military’s position is different from your personal position?” The priest said, “I will not insist on my opinion.”
The three priests were notified between Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, immediately after the interview, that their application had been rejected. The reason given was that their understanding of security and their attitude during the interview had been problematic. After the interview, the military chaplains expressed their opinion that the priests’ application should be accepted, but some of the three regular officers felt that they should be rejected, the Ministry of Defense said.
Regarding this, an interviewer with the Ministry of Defense said, “In 2012, Minister of Defense Kim Kwan-jin, instructed us to make sure that we assessed how officers view the country. As a result, these issues were dealt with quite a bit more strictly during the selection of military chaplains.”
“It is fundamentally inappropriate to apply ideological screening to priests, since they are members of the clergy,” said Kim Deok-jin, secretary general of the Catholic Human Rights Commission.
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
Photo and caption by Fox David/ March 11th, 2012 GANGJEONG, Jeju Special Self-governing Province, South Korea
1 year has passed
March 7th, 2013 was the date commemorating one year anniversary on the navy’s blast of the Gureombi Rock despite people’s fierce opposition to it.
The people’s struggles to save the Gureombi Rock, the absolute preservation coastal area of the Gangjeong village, reached one of their highest points during the time when the blast was continued for two months since March 7, 2012.
Photo by Lee Wooki, March 6, 2012/ Just one day before the start of the blast, tension was already being formed as people made efforts to stop the explosive-loaded trucks from a gun powder factory. For more photos by Lee Wooki who reminds the atmosphere of March 6, 2012, see here.
On March 2, 2013, there was a nationwide citizens’ rally in the Gangjeong village, which commemorated it. See the days’ photos and video, here.
The below is a small recollection and is focused on the oppression on international activists. It might not fully include all the happenings. Please pardon for any missing in advance.
Why the Gureombi Rock?
It was because as a villager has laid bare his heart, “Gangjeong is the Gureombi. Gureombi is the Gangjeong.” The one-body andesite that extends about 1 km from the east and west of the coast is very rare in the dominantly basalt-formed Jeju Island that was created by volcanic activity. With its soft and smooth rock surface of which the forms are various, the fresh abundant spring water among those provides the habitats for diverse endangered species, such as red-feet crabs, Jejusaebaengii(Jeju fresh water shrimp), and narrow mouth toad. For villagers, it has been not only a life ground for making living, but for maintaining community spirit and meditation on life. It is a site where one realizes that it is the very site that one has looked for somehow: The wholeness of life.
Such common feeling and idea on the Gureombi Rock was one motivation that could strengthen people’s unity against the Government’s merciless destruction of the Gureombi Rock, the nature, the peace, and ourselves somehow.
Further, the water mattered.
Headline Jeju, March 9, 2012 (Original source: Gangjeong Village Association) / Water became soon contaminated after the Navy’s first blasting on Gureombi rock. On the day, the woman who took this photo in the Metboori, the east part of the base project area, was also arrested though released soon.
The underground water underneath the Gureombi rock is highly guessed by the villagers to be connected with the Gangjeong stream that feeds 70% of the citizens in the Seogwipo City (the southern part of the Island). Beside that, the Gangjeong Sea is known as the cleanest and most beautiful sea throughout the Jeju Island, being the only UNESCO-designated soft coral habitats and one of the most frequent sites of the Indo-Pacific bottle nose dolphins, the IUCN-listed species.
Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo who had lived in the Gureombi Rock for three years until the navy forcefully set up its fence on Sept. 2, 2011, in an effort to stop the naval base project, was being imprisoned for the 3rd time and was in the hunger strike. As the blast started on March 7, he hit his 28th fast day. He stopped even water and salt since the day until his release on March 20.
March 4, 2013. One year later. “Illegal construction site/ The construction companies eventually broke the silt protectors while they unreasonably push those. The pristine Gangjoeng Sea where soft coral and Indo-Pacific bottle nose dolphins have been dancing is being destroyed (Photo and caption by Park Incheon/ Fwd by Saltcandy Yohan)”
The blast was unjustly forced through political fraud.
For the two months, the navy blasted about 10% of the Gureombi Rock: East and west parts of it to build the caisson production area and shipment site.
The National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the Naval Base in Jeju Island stated in recollection of one year ago, on March 7, 2013. See the whole Korean statement, here:
On Feb. 14,[2012], the technical verification committee on the Civilian-Military Complex for Tour Beauty issued its last report and acknowledged the fact that: “If the current execution design for the Jeju naval base construction is [continued to be] applied as it is, the original government pledge that it would build a civilian-military complex port for 150,000 ton cruise passenger ships cannot be kept. However, Lee Myung-Bak the President, declared that he would build the Jeju naval base construction without any explanation on it. Then the Prime Minster who had written in his facebook that the civilian-military complex port for tour beauty is impossible to be realized suddenly changed his attitude and started to push the construction. The Minister of Prime Office held the related government institutes’ measure meeting joined by the National Police Agency and Coast Guard etc. to support the enforcement of construction declared by the President, followed by assertion that there is no problem in the base construction, one-sidedly accepting the simulation report presented by the Ministry of National Defense on [Feb.] 23. Then it enforced the blast of the Gureombi Rock with a rush on [March] 7, [2012].
It was such an unjust and unreasonable process even Woo Keun-Min, the Island governor and members of the ruling conservative Saenuri Party opposed. See here and here.
A second 4.3: The human rights violation reached its highest point during the blast.
For 28 days alone since the start of the blast on the Gureombi Rock, more than 90 people were arrested while 20 people, swooned, were carried in ambulance for the police violence. Still the village sirens for protest rang everyday. For more, see here.
On March 9, the 3rd day of people’s war against the blast alone, 30 people including Angie Zelter, Nobel Peace nominee, Catholic and Protestant missionaries were violently arrested. Four people were carried to hospital. See the Dungree video in the below. On the day alone, the siren rang six times.
Following the arrest of Rev. Lee Jeong-Hoon and Jesuit priest, Kim Jeong-Wook on March 11 ( imprisoned on the day and released on April 4), Dr. Song Kang-Ho was eventually imprisoned for his fierce struggle on April 3 (released on Sept. 28). As for the navy and police’s abuse of their power, Mr. Lim Ho-Young was another victim. Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo who was arrested and imprisoned since Jan. 30 could be released only on March 20, after more than 42 days’ prison fast. Fr. Mun Jeong-Hyeon who fell from the 7 m tetra pod during his protest to the reckless coast guard on April 6 would suffer from the back and waist pain for long time despite his unexpected quick release from the hospital.
The people entered into the Gureombi Rock, risking high sea waves, security-filled fences, dangerously piled up tetra pods, and police and navy threat. The people chained themselves to vehicles to stop the explosive cars, eventually being taken away of all their cars. The cars were returned back only six months later. The people connected their arms with pipes to stop the explosive cars, only to be met by police’s merciless breaking down of those pipes with hammer (March 19) and electric saw (April 16).
It was the 2nd 4.3 in the sense that the base project is pushed despite people’s opposition, by the foreign (United States)and outside power(main land). On Feb. 24, the Chief of the Seogwipo Police Station had been informally decided to be changed with Lee Dong-Min, a figure from the main land. It was coincided with an opening of the Jeju International Peace Conference (the 20th anniversary of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space)
With the start of the blast, about 700 police personnel from the main land arrived the Jeju, reminding the 4.3 incident period from 1947 to 1954 when the central Rhee Syngman government, a U.S. puppet then, dispatched military, para-military, and police of the main land to mercilessly suppress the people’s uprising in the Island.
Oppressions on international activists were never precedent.
On Feb. 26, 6 Koreans and 10 international peace activists including seven Global Network members, such as Bruce Gagnon and Dave Webb were arrested while they crawled under the razor wire on the Gureombi Rock. See the report on it here.
After the blast of the Gureombi Rock started, the actions by international activists and oppression on them were remarkable. Angie Zelter who entered the Gureombi Rock on Feb. 26 was eventually arrested on March 9 when she entered the fence. The Daelim company thugs’ violence on her during the process was one of the subjects of people’s criticism on March 10 Press Conference. You can see her own account on March 9 arrest, after her release here.
It was the time that oppression on international activists started in earnest. Benjamin Monnet who first came to Gangjeong in May 2011 and had stayed for months eventually got injunction order on March 14 after his arrest on March 12 (See here). Angie Zelter who was arrested again on March 12 got exit order on March 15, as well. See the people’s statement in relation to it, hereand Angie Zelter’s here.
To be coincident, Elliot Adams (Past President of the VfP), Mike Hastie, Tarak Kauff, three members of the Veterans for Peace, US, were violently and inhumanly denied entries on March 14 while their intention was to ‘stand in solidarity with the villagers.’ See here. Bruce Gagnon states that ‘the South Korean authorities had a photo of each of them in their hands and told them they would not be allowed to enter Jeju Island.’ You can see the report here . And the statement by the VfP, here. Remarkably, it was for the first time that the members of the VfP, United States, were denied entry into South Korea, signifying that the naval base project is a highly sensitive matter for the authorities of the United States and South Korean governments.
It was not only those three VfP members. During the two months of March and April, 5 people from Okinawa and Japan were denied entries. They are Nakamura Sugae and her daughter(March 27), Ryuji Yagi ( March 31), Umisedo Yutaka (Okinawa, April 2), Tomiyama Masahiro (Okinawa, April 6). From August 26, 2011 to Oct. 16, 2012, the total people who were denied entries to Korea, in relation to the Jeju naval base issue, were at least 20, while the total numbers are 24. It is because the last three people were repeatedly denied entries during the WCC period, Sept. 6 to 15, 2012. In June, even an international Catholic priest was threatened to be deported. See here. For the whole matters on the deportation, see here.
Though, not deported, harasses on international activists were remarkable. Paco Booyah reported on the incident of March 24, 2012. See here.
The oppression on internationals especially during the time of the blast on the Gureombi Rock signified the growing international solidarity to the threat of the United States and South Korean authorities, otherwise.
The International peace activists have often gotten unjust disposal from the South Korean authorities for their peaceful protests against the war-base building in the Jeju. We so thank them and hope to share with you the urgency to protect international activists who fight to save the Peace Island.
Post by Pat Cunningham/ “Stop the Oppression on International Peace Activists” It was the sign that the village international team held on March 2 upon the 1st year anniversary of the blast on the Gureombi Rock. The oppression on internationals were in earnest with the start of the blast on the Gureombi Rock on March 7, 2012.
Remembering international peace messages. Time to strengthen solidarity for peace
Beside Benjamin Monnet who still sends his deep friendship and solidarity with Gangjeong, here is a heart-touching message from Angie Zelter who sent us a message on the 1st anniversary of the Gureombi Rock-blast:
Source: Angie Zelter in Gangjeong on March 8, 2012, 104th International Women’s Day. She held the Earth flagwith Jeong Young-Hee, chairwoman of the Village Women’s Committee to Stop the Naval Base.
Dear Jeju Friends, a year ago I was with you in Gangjeong, crying as the blasting of the sacred rocks started. I know your struggle continues and is very hard and long. You are courageous and are fighting for all of us. Our struggles are the same – to fight against war, oppression, and the abuses of corporate power. I am sorry I cannot be with you but know that I share your pain and struggle.’
Here in the UK I have just started a new direct action campaign to try to stop the replacement of our nuclear weapon system and persuade the Government to give them up. It is linked with your struggle as we must all in our own ways stop our Governments from wasting resources and lives on war preparations.
I send you much love and solidarity and will never forget you. Please send my greetings to all those whose knew me and whose emails I do not have.
Love and hugs, Angie.
( Angie Zelter on March 7, 2013)
The below video (by Yang Dong-Kyu) was taken for the 4.3-memorizing event in Jeju, just before Angie Zelter’s leave of the village where she stayed for a month. It is always great to remember all the valuable experience of international solidarity and to strengthen it. We pay our deep gratitude to all the international friends who have shown friendship and solidarity despite serious hardships that they had to suffer from, continuously reminding us that the universe and we are one.
We, the members of World without War, held a Movement Building Workshop in March of last year in collaboration with Andreas Speck from War Resisters’ International. The workshop used the Movement Action Plan (MAP) model to examine our campaigning, particularly in relation to government’s abandonment of the previous administration’s plan to address the issue of alternative service. Our campaign has been at a standstill since the inauguration of the current government.
MAP was developed by US activist Bill Moyer to explore the stages and roles in successful nonviolent social movements. He described the eight stages as: 1) A critical social problem exists; 2) Proven failure of official institutions; 3) Ripening conditions; 4) Take off; 5) Percieved failure; 6) Majority public opinion; 7) Success; 8) Continuation. In these stages, there are four different advocate roles: Citizen, Rebel, Reformer and Social Change Agent. Social movements are complex and do not always follow the exact route that MAP articulates, but I found this tool to be very useful for us when World without War members felt tired, and often said we did not know what else to do.
We have never used a MAP analysis to examine the Save Jeju Island Campaign, so this article is my personal view of how the Save Jeju Island campaign relates to MAP.
Where are we now with MAP?
The South Korean government has been planning the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island since 1993. They said that “Imports and exports of Korea pass through the sea south of Jeju Island, so we have to defend it effectively and secure the transportation route for resources.” In 2002, the Korean government announced the new naval base construction plan in Hwasoon village, Jeju Island, but postponed it due to fierce opposition from Hwasoon villagers. This plan was relaunched in 2005, but it was again opposed by the people of Hwasoon. That summer, Wimi village on Jeju Island was named as the new site of construction, replacing Hwasoon.
This time, the budget proposal – which was based upon a premise that construction would only commence if the residents agreed – was passed in the National Assembly. Hwasoon and Wimi local residents held a general assembly and made an official decision to oppose the naval base.
In spring 2007, the Gangjeong Village Association submitted an application to requesting the construction of the naval base in Gangjeong. This decision was primarily a result of manipulation by the Jeju governor, who took every measure to win local people over in favour of construction. It was not the majority opinion. In fact, the Gangjeong Village Association general assembly where 94% against the naval base plan. This represents stage 1 of the MAP: The Korean government preached the need for the naval base on Jeju Island for national security, but local people did not agree.
The second stage lasted from 2007 – when Gangjeong people started agitating against the naval base plan – to 2009, when civic groups launched a campaign to recall Jeju Island’s governor, and held a referendum to this affect. In this campaign, the government and Navy tried to conceal the root of the issue: that plans to construct a national military facility were approved in early 2009, and that the Jeju Island provincial government made a civil-military dual port construction work contract with the Navy and the Ministry of Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs. Many Jeju Island civic groups took action themselves to prove that these institutions were not our friend, and in May 2009, they launched the campaign to recall the governor. In the end, the results of the recall vote fell short of expectations.
The third stage, ‘ripening conditions’, lasted until the end of 2011. At this time, the local movement entered a period of slight recession as a result of the unsuccessful campaign to recall the governor. Simultaneously, activists from the mainland moved to Jeju Island to join the campaign, and started to convince civic groups on the mainland that the campaign against the naval base had not ended. Their efforts set off nationwide demonstrations against the construction of the naval base, and the Nationwide Committee to Stop the Jeju Naval Base was launched in May 2011. The committee mobilized many people from all over the mainland to come to Gangjeong in 2011. There was growing recognition of the problems as these supporters met and talked with Gangjeong villagers personally, and saw the striking scenery of Gangjeong with their own eyes. The whole village was deluged with the colorful banners that brought by visitors during this period. Also, in December 2011, the National Assembly cut 96% of the Jeju naval base budget for 2012: the movement at this time was ripe and active.
2012 was the fourth stage of the MAP. The Korean government blasted the Gureombi Rock (both an important environmental resource and an ancient place of prayer) and started construction. A great number of people – Koreans and internationals – came to Gangjeong village and took various direct actions to halt construction. Others supported the campaign in significant and powerful ways. The campaign was at its peak.
The fifth stage started at the end of 2012, when the conservative party won the presidential election, and the National Assembly passed the naval base budget proposal for 2013. The activists of the Save Jeju Campaign are in fucked up situations with heavy fines totaling 300 million won (approximately 210,000 Euros) and confinements when their trials start. They felt frustration, despair, and exhaustion. Participation in movement events decreased as the response of governmental power toward the actions strengthened and media coverage died down.
The Save Jeju Campaign is still in stage 5. The beautiful landscape of the seashore of Gangjeong seems to change day by day as the construction proceeds, and this has led to a feeling of helplessness. However, we won’t stop our efforts to make Jeju Island a peaceful island. There is a possibility that other military installations – including an Air Force base, Missile base and Marine Corps base – are to be built on Jeju Island: the government’s plans do not end with a naval base. This will likely be an issue during the 2014 local elections, and we plan to build a network with civic groups in Okinawa and Hawaii, who are facing similar problems in trying to demilitarized their Islands.
Roles of different groups
In each stage, activists have done a zillion things. The role of World without War in the campaign was mainly the ‘Rebel’, especially in its fourth stage. We carried out direct actions which helped promote the issue in the media and raise awareness across the nation. World without War joined the Nationwide Committee to Stop the Jeju Naval Base and performed the role of the ‘Change Agent’ of the MAP. We are doing our utmost to train and mobilize people. There are 3 main agents in the campaign: Nationwide Committee to Stop the Jeju Naval Base, Jeju Pan-Island Committee for Prevention of Military Base and for Realization of Peace Island, and Gangjeong Village Association. They are the reformers and the ‘Change Agent’ of the MAP and aim to promote long-term strategies together.
The new president of Korea has always been very pro-naval base. She has ambitions to turn Jeju Island into a “second Hawaii”, and will push ahead with the plan. The new government would argue that the plan is now irreversible and opposition has been defeated. Our task is to reveal the power holder’s tricks – civil-military dual port, planned new (military) airport, etc., and promote alternative solutions.
World without War plans to offer the MAP workshop to other civic groups this year. Taeho Lee, Secretary General at People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), and Huisun Kim, Director at Center of Peace and Disarmament of PSPD, helped me to write this article. They are core members of the Nationwide Committee to Stop the Jeju Naval Base.
Photo by Song Dong-Hyo/ The 2nd event for the Jeju as the Demilitarized Peace Island, Gwandeokjeong, Jeju City, March 1, 2013. For more photos and event briefing by Paco Booyah , see here.
1. Yang Yoon-Mo reminds the history and vision of the Jeju
It was exactly here in Gwandeokjeong, Jeju City, March 1, 1947 when 6 people were killed by the constabulary governed under the US Army Military Government in Korea during their parade on commemorating independence movement on March 1, 1919. It was here when Hur Du-Yong, uncle of Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo who hits his 32nd day of prison fast as of March 4, 2013, was one of those six victims. His uncle Hur was only 15 years old then, the youngest among the six. Still Prof. Yang has not said much about his personal history. The personal history must have been for him only a window that would open him toward the vision for the Jeju, as true Peace Island, demilitarized, filled with life and peace.
The 2nd event for the Jeju Demilitarized Peace Island on March 1 happened to coincide with the start of the US-ROK annual war exercise called Key Resolve/ Foal Eagle. In the Gangjeong village, people’s 24 hour protests to night time construction trucks were still going on. It was ever more significant that the active move to build the Peace Island was declared again in the historic place along with the opening of the 4.3 movie ‘Jiseul‘ in Jeju on the same day. A recent article in the Truth Out helps well our understanding on the historic background of modern Korea. See here :
“The Korean War that lasted from June 1950 to July 1953 was an enlargement of the 1948-50 struggle of Jeju Islanders to preserve their self-determination from the tyrannical rule of US-supported Rhee and his tiny cadre of wealthy constituents. Little known is that the US-imposed division of Korea in 1945 against the wishes of the vast majority of Koreans was the primary cause of the Korean War that broke out five years later. The War destroyed by bombing most cities and villages in Korea north of the 38th Parallel, and many south of it, while killing four million Koreans – three million (one-third) of the north’s residents and one million of those living in the south, in addition to killing one million Chinese. This was a staggering international crime still unrecognized that killed five million people and permanently separated 10 million Korean families.” (Source)
Two days before the 2nd event for the Jeju Demilitarized Peace Island on March 1, he wrote the two page long letter to Dr. Song Kang-Ho who being in full comradeship with prof. Yang, has led the campaign. Here is the excerpt from Yang’s letter who urged people joining the day’s event. You can see his original Korean letter, here:
As I enter a long time fast, I happened to have a phenomenon close to dyslexia because I can’t concentrate well due to not smooth brain activities. So I am just focusing my nerve and heart only on the balance of ‘body,’ all day.
So while there are numbers of letters from the overseas, nationwide, and Gangjeong, I could never reply to them. [..] (For more on his status, see the contents in No. 3)
The matter of Gnagjeong suffering illness for the naval base [project] is merely an advance notice. Our agony is that it is not a situation when we talk the “matter of Gangjeong,’ and “matter of the whole Jeju Island” separately. In a big frame, it is the time when there should appear a movement body that seriously realizes and acts considering the two matters as one together [..] Therefore I consider the appearance of the ‘declaration on the [Jeju] as the demilitarized Peace Island,’ very timely. To say strictly, the peace movement in the Jeju reached to the 2nd turning point. I think that the experience in Gangjeong should be more developed and expanded. [..]
“Let’s save Jeju!
Let’s save Jeju entering into one hundred year’s suffering!
The Jeju is now in dangerous forked road!
The Jeju Island should be no more slaves of capital and security.
It is the time to say, ‘No!’
To fully inherit the beautiful nature, environment and Island people’s war-less community to the descendants, I urgently appeal to you to join the march on the declaration rally on the Jeju ‘Demilitarized,’ Peace Island”
( Excerpt from the letter by Yang Yoon-Mo, one of the declarers on the Jeju, Demilitarized Peace Island, from the Jeju prison, Feb. 27, 2013)
You can see Yang’s interview on the Gureombi Rock in 2011, here.
Photo by Paco Booyah/ Yang Yoon-Mo’s letter read during the March 1 event program. See more event photos, here.
2. People’s statement to build the Jeju, Demilitarized Peace Island on March 1.
And here are the excerpts from the people’s statement on March 1. To see the full statement in Korean, see here:
[..] The Jeju Island has been used as a bridgehead for the Mongol to invade Japan during the period of people’s resistance against Mongol [in the 13th century].
It was used as an overseas site for the Japanese military to bomb China in the China-Japan war during the period of Japanese occupation [in 1937].
It has been strained to a breaking point as Japan built the whole Island as a military stronghold at the end of her imperialism [in 1945].
As such, the Jeju Island has often taken a role of military base because of its geopolitical importance.
During the 4.3 period (* 1947 to 1954), Rhee Seung Man, [the puppet government under the United Sates] said that he would let the United States to build a permanent base in the Jeju.
In 1970, President Park Chung-Hee, [the father of Park Geun-Hye, the new South Korean President who was inaugurated on Feb. 25, 2013] said that he would provide the Jeju Island as a new US base in replacement of Okinawa.
Since the construction of the air base, Songak Mt., Moseulpo, about 20 years ago was stranded, the government is building a naval base in Gangjeong after it attempted [but failed] it in Hwasoon and Weemee.
However, the Jeju Island is the World Peace Island!
In last 2005, the ‘Government designated the Jeju Island as the world Peace Island so that the tragedy of Jeju 4.3 can be sublimed with cooperation & co-existence and contribute to the peace of world.
The Jeju Island that has endlessly suffered and been sacrificed by the domestic and overseas power has finally become to rise into a new epicenter of peace.
However, such efforts for the Demilitarized Peace Island has gradually become collapsed as the naval base became to be driven in the Jeju.
We don’t want the Jeju positioned at the intersection point of continent and maritime to be the arena of competition between two powers.
Rather, we pray for it to become the outpost for peace as a buffer zone between the two powers.
It is to build the Peace Island in Jeju, with neither military nor military base, neither war nor violence.
It is to accomplish preservation on nature and protection on environment by clarifying opposition to all the thoughtless developments.
It is to plan for the precious lives’ native growth, opposing the terror to all the lives.
It is eventually to accomplish a self-reliant community of the permanent neutral to which no intervention by a foreign or other powers reach.
That is the essence of the Jeju Demilitarized Peace Island.
On March 1, we, here in the Gwandeokjeong being alive by the spirit of the patriotic forefathers who resisted to wicked foreign powers and tried to save the precious Jeju community,
Are to abandon collapse and destruction, the products of war and violence,
Are to accomplish resurrection and restoration, the fruits of peace and co-existence.
For that, we make resolution to realize the Demilitarized Peace Island through constant practices and peaceful efforts.
We, confirming our determination and practical will, also declare that we would step together with all the conscientious citizens in the world including Jeju.
March 1, 2013
People who make the Jeju as the Demilitarized Peace Island
3. Yang Yoon-Mo’s prison fast inspires overseas
Photo by the Village International Team. Mr. Koh Gilchun and Ms. oh Soonhee, After visiting Yang Yoon-Mo in the Jeju prison.
On Feb. 28, Mr Koh Gilchun, Jeju artist, Oh Soon-Hee, a director of a small theater, and a village international team member visited Prof yang who hit 28th prison fast as of Feb. 28.
Known later… Ms. Oh Soon-Hee is a sister of Mr Oh Myul, a movie director of Jiseul, the Sundance grand prize 4.3 movie.
Thin though, Prof. yang looked bright. He has been in a sick room of the prison for 10 days. in the sick room, he stays with two other people and was wearing a patient cloth.
He has recently begun to take enzyme as he feels powerless.
He said he is getting many support letters from the domestic and international. Even though he wants to reply to them, he feels so energy-less. So he asked to deliver his great thanks to all the domestic and international friends.
Regarding the march 1 event, he said he is pleased for two things.
First, he is pleased that the 4.3 movie ‘Jiseul’, begins to screen on March 1. He wished that at least about 30,000 people could see the movie. it is known that at least 30,000 people were sacrificed during the 4.3 period, 1947 to 1954.
Oh Soon-Hee said that she got the contact from the movie theater manager on Feb. 27 that he would increase the daily screening numbers of Jiseul from 6 to 11 as many people are more and more interested in the movie. she also said the Jiseul team is considering to screen the English subtitled once a day.
Prof yang also said that he is pleased to see a meaningful 3. 1 event , the 2nd event for Jeju demilitarized, commemorating the fuse of 3.1, 1947, when 6 people were killed by the police under the governing of the US military government and became the fuse of 4.3 incident. he said he hopes this could be a momentum for many Jeju island people to be aware of the importance of the jeju as the demilitarized and self reliant .
A postcard from Benj and Five postcards from Okinawa were delivered to Prof Yang. T shirt from Benj (photo) was shown to Yang and he was very pleased. Thanks so much, Benj and friends from Okinawa.
Otherwise, on March 4, Ishle Yi Park‘s message was sent through Benj
‘Aloha, Hope you are well and in light. I am a mother, poet and activist (Poet Laureate of Queens, 2004-2007) who is currently fasting in Hawai’i in solidarity with Professor Yang Yoon-Mo and the beloved people of Jejudo.
I am currently on my fifth day of my fast, and plan on fasting as long as Professor Yang is fasting. Would greatly appreciate an update on his status, how his health is, and if he is still fasting, how long he plans to fast.
I am a nursing mother, so this fast is a big deal for me. I’ve been to Jeju several times, have written numerous poems in praise and tribute for the island, and hold a special place in my heart for Jejudo haenyos (Sea diving women)as well. My prayers and well wishes are with you all, for caring about our beloved island and our future generations.
Thank you so much, and look forward to hearing from you very soon.
God bless, and Peace to Jeju,
Ishle Yi Park’
4. Struggle for Gangjeong and Jeju is one matter.
Photo by Saltcandy Yohan on Feb. 27. The sign reads, “We declare that the Jeju Is the Demilitarized Peace Island.”Photo by Saltcandy Yohan/ 01:57 am, March 1, 2013. The sign reads, ‘Cruise Special District with 1 million tourists? The 1 million tourists will avoid if for the naval base!’Photo by Saltcandy Yohan/ 04:37 am, March 1, 2013. The signs read , ‘Civil Disobedience,’ ‘The Gangjeong Naval Base is a sub-contract base for the US. No War!’Photo by U-Jin Kang / During the day, March 1. The signs read, ”Stop the construction of the civilian-military complex port for tour beauty which is only a sugar-coating cover!’ ‘The Gangjeong Naval base is the sub-contract base for the US. No War!’/ ‘Fr Kim Sung Hwan SJ and Pat Cunningham SSC at the gate in Gangjeong on Independence Movement Day (삼일절) protesting against the occupation of the village by modern day forces preparing for war under the banner of ‘national security’ while all the while jeopardizing the future of lasting peace and security on the Island of Peace! The building of the naval base only serves to dishonor the memory of all who sacrificed their lives for peace and freedom and increases tension and insecurity among people on the island and in the wider region! ( script by Pat Cunningham )
Source: original site/ Troops land at P’ohang-Dong, Korea during the Korean war. (Photo: Expert Infantry / Flickr)
US political leaders and media pundits trumpet North Korea’s recent testing of missiles and nuclear weapons as a great threat. But the US mass media do not tell the whole story. Without the context of history and current events, the actions of North Korea look insane, but when put in context we find that the United States is pushing North Korea on this path. North Korea is really not a significant threat compared to what the United States is doing with nuclear weapons, the Asia Pivot and war games off the Korean coast. In this article, we seek greater understanding by putting ourselves in the place of North Korea.
Historical Context: Korea, a Pawn for Big Power, Brutalized by the United States
The history between Korea and the United States goes back to the late 1800s when the US had completed its manifest destiny across North America and was beginning to build a global empire. In 1871, more than 700 US marines and sailors landed on Kanghwa beach in west Korea, seeking to begin US colonization (a smaller US invasion occurred in 1866). They destroyed five forts, inflicting as many as 650 Korean casualties. The US withdrew, realizing it would need a much larger force to succeed, but this was the largest military force to land outside the Americas until the 1898 war in the Philippines. S. Brian Willson reports that this invasion is still discussed in North Korea, but it has been erased from the history in South Korea as well as in the United States.
Korea succumbed to Japanese rule beginning in 1905, often serving as a pawn between Japanese conflicts with China and Russia. This was a brutal occupation. A major revolt for Korean democracy occurred on March 1, 1919, when a declaration of independence was read in Seoul. Two million Koreans participated in 1,500 protests. The Koreans also appealed to major powers meeting in Versailles after World War I, but were ignored as Japan was given control over the East. The Japanese viciously put down the democracy movement. Iggy Kim, in Green Left, reports they “beheaded children, crucified Christians and carried out scores of other atrocities. More than 7,500 people were killed and 16,000 were injured.”
Near the end of World War II, as Japan was weakened, Korean “People’s Committees” formed all over the country and Korean exiles returned from China, the US and Russia to prepare for independence and democratic rule. On September 6, 1945, these disparate forces and representatives of the people’s committees proclaimed a Korean People’s Republic (the KPR) with a progressive agenda of land reform, rent control, an eight-hour work day and minimum wage among its 27-point program.
But the KPR was prevented from becoming a reality. Instead, after World War II and without Korean representation, the US quite arbitrarily decided with Russia, China and England, to divide Korea into two nations “temporarily” as part of its decolonization. The powers agreed that Japan should lose all of its colonies and that in “due course” Korea would be free. Korea was divided on the 38th parallel. The US made sure to keep the capital, Seoul, and key ports. Essentially, the US took as much of Korea as it thought the Russians would allow. This division planted the seeds of the Korean War, causing a five-year revolution and counter-revolution that escalated into the Korean War.
Initially, the South Koreans welcomed the United States, but US Gen. John Hodge, the military governor of South Korea working under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, quickly brought Koreans who had cooperated with the Japanese during occupation into the government and shut out Koreans seeking democracy. He refused to meet with representatives of the KPR and banned the party, working instead with the right wing Korean Democratic Party – made up of landlords, land owners, business interests and pro-Japanese collaborators.
Shut out of politics, Koreans who sought an independent democratic state took to other methods and a mass uprising occurred. A strike against the railroads in September 1946 by 8,000 railway workers in Pusan quickly grew into a general strike of workers and students in all of the South’s major cities. The US military arrested strike leaders en masse. In Taegu, on Oct. 1, huge riots occurred after police smashed picket lines and fired into a crowd of student demonstrators, killing three and wounding scores. In Yongchon, on Oct. 3, 10,000 people attacked the police station and killed more than 40 police, including the county chief. Some 20 landlords and pro-Japanese officials were also killed. A few days later, the US military declared martial law to crush the uprising. They fired into large crowds of demonstrators in numerous cities and towns, killing and wounding an unknown number of people.
Syngman Rhee, an exile who had lived in the US for 40 years, was returned to Korea on MacArthur’s personal plane. He initially allied with left leaders to form a government approved of by the US. Then in 1947, he dispensed with his “left” allies by assassinating their leaders, Kim Ku and Kim Kyu-Shik. Rhee consolidated power and the US pushed for United Nations-sponsored elections in May 1948 to put a legal imprimatur on the divided Koreas. Rhee was elected at 71 years old in an election boycotted by most parties who saw it as sham. He came to power in the midst of an insurgency.
On Jeju Island, the largest Korean island lying in a strategic location in the Korea Strait, there continued to be protests against the US military government. It was one of the last areas where people’s committees continued to exist. Gen. Hodge told Congress Jeju was “a truly communal area that is peacefully controlled by the People’s Committee,” but he organized its extermination in a scorched-earth attack. In September, Rhee’s new government launched a massive counterinsurgency operation under US command. S. Brian Willson reports it resulted in the killing of “60,000 Islanders, with another 40,000 desperately fleeing in boats to Japan. Thus, one-third of its residents were either murdered or fled during the ‘extermination’ campaign. Nearly 40,000 homes were destroyed and 270 of 400 villages were leveled.” It was an ugly attack, Iggy Kim notes: “Torture, mutilation, gang rape and arbitrary execution were rife. . . a quarter of the Jeju population had been massacred. The US embassy happily reported: ‘The all-out guerilla extermination campaign came to a virtual end in April with order restored and most rebels and sympathizers killed, captured, or converted.’” This was the single greatest massacre in modern Korean history and a warning of what was to come in the Korean War. As we will see, Jeju is part of the story in today’s US Asian escalation.
More brutality occurred on mainland Korea. On October 19, dissident soldiers in the port city of Yosu rose up in opposition to the war in Jeju. About 2,000 insurgent soldiers took control of the city. By Oct. 20, a number of nearby towns had also been liberated and the People’s Committee was reinstated as the governing body. People’s courts were established to try police officers, landlords, regime officials and other supporters of the Rhee dictatorship. This rebellion was suppressed by a bloodletting, planned and directed by the US military.
“The Korean War that lasted from June 1950 to July 1953 was an enlargement of the 1948-50 struggle of Jeju Islanders to preserve their self-determination from the tyrannical rule of US-supported Rhee and his tiny cadre of wealthy constituents. Little known is that the US-imposed division of Korea in 1945 against the wishes of the vast majority of Koreans was the primary cause of the Korean War that broke out five years later. The War destroyed by bombing most cities and villages in Korea north of the 38th Parallel, and many south of it, while killing four million Koreans – three million (one-third) of the north’s residents and one million of those living in the south, in addition to killing one million Chinese. This was a staggering international crime still unrecognized that killed five million people and permanently separated 10 million Korean families.”
Bragging about the massacre, USAF Strategic Air Command head General Curtis LeMay, who blanket-bombed Japan in World War II and later ran for vice president with segregationist George Wallace, summed it up well, “Over a period of three years or so we killed off – what – twenty percent of the population.” Willson corrects LeMay, writing “it is now believed that the population north of the imposed 38th Parallel lost nearly a third its population of 8-9 million people during the 37-month long ‘hot’ war, 1950-1953, perhaps an unprecedented percentage of mortality suffered by one nation due to belligerence of another.”
Context Today: Korea Targeted, Mock Attacks, Learning from Iraq and Libya and the Asia Pivot
This historical context results in North Korea taking the threats of the United States very seriously. It knows the US has been willing to kill large portions of its population throughout history and has seen what the US has done to other countries.
In 2002, President George W. Bush labeled North Korea part of the “axis of evil” along with Iraq and Iran. S. Brian Willson traveled 900 ground miles through six of North Korea’s nine provinces, as well as Pyongyang, the capital, and several other cities, talking with dozens of people from all walks of life; all wanted to know about the “axis of evil” speech. He found that North Koreans “simply cannot understand why the US is so obsessed with them.”
Of course, the North Korean government witnessed the “shock and awe” campaign of bombardments against Iraq and the killing of at least hundreds of thousands (credible research shows more than 1 million Iraqis killed, 4.5 million displaced, 1-2 million widows and 5 million orphans). They saw the brutal killing by hanging of the former US ally, now turned into an enemy, Saddam Hussein.
And, they can look to the experience of Libya. Libya was an enemy but then began to develop positive relations with the US. In 2003, Libya halted its program to build a nuclear bomb in an effort to mend its relations with the US. Then last year Libya was overthrown in a US-supported war and its leader Moammar Gadhafi was brutally killed. As Reuters reports, “‘The tragic consequences in those countries which abandoned halfway their nuclear programs… clearly prove that the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) was very far-sighted and just when it made the (nuclear) option,’ North Korea’s KCNA news agency said.”
The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea. In November 2012 the US upgraded its weapons systems and announced an agreement with Japan that would allow South Korea to bomb anywhere in North Korea. In June 2012 the Pentagon announced that Gen.l Neil H. Tolley would be removed as commander of US Special Operations in South Korea after he revealed to a Japanese foreign affairs publication that American and South Korean troops had been parachuting into North Korea on spy missions.
US troops and bases are not popular. Protests erupted in 2002 after two Korean woman were killed and a court martial found the US soldiers not guilty of negligent manslaughter. Several pubs and restaurants put up signs saying “Americans Not Welcome Here.” In anAugust 2005 protest against US troops by 1,100 people, 10 were injured by police. One month before that, 100 were injured in a protest. In 2006 protesters occupied land on which the US planned to expand a base, resulting in a conflict and their eviction followed by installing barbed wire around the area to protect it from South Koreans. The South Korean government banned a rally that was expected to draw more than 10,000 protesters.
•”The first joint military exercises between the US and South Korea since Kim Jong-il’s death suddenly changed their nature, with new war games including pre-emptive artillery attacks on North Korea.
• Another amphibious landing operation simulation took on vastly larger proportions following Kim Jong-il’s death (the sheer amount of equipment deployed was amazing: 13 naval vessels, 52 armored vessels, 40 fighter jets and 9,000 US troops).
• South Korean officials began talking of Kim Jong-il’s death as a prime opportunity to pursue a regime-change strategy.
• South Korea unveiled a new cruise missile that could launch a strike inside North Korea and is working fast to increase its full-battery range to strike anywhere inside North Korea.
• South Korea openly began discussing asymmetric warfare against North Korea.
• The US military’s Key Resolve Foal Eagle computerized war simulation games suddenly changed, too, simulating the deployment of 100,000 South Korean troops on North Korean territory following a regime change.
• Japan was brought on board, allowing the US to deploy a second advanced missile defense radar system on its territory and the two carried out unprecedented war games.
• It is also not lost on anyone that despite what on the surface appears to be the US’ complete lack of interest in a new South Korean naval base that is in the works, this base will essentially serve as an integrated missile defense system run by the US military and housing Aegis destroyers.”
North Korea has shown anger at these drills. In response to the announcement of the largest annual joint exercises for US and South Korean troops scheduled for March and April of this year, in a rare direct message to US Gen. James Thurman, North Korea warned the top American commander in South Korea on Feb. 23 of “miserable destruction” if the US military presses ahead with the joint drills with South Korea set to begin next month.
Add to these drills the “Asia Pivot” President Obama is implementing, which will result in 60 percent of the US Navy being moved to Asia, and one can understand why North Korea believes that it is necessary to have nuclear weapons. Part of this Asia Pivot includes Jeju Island, where the US military is trying to install a massive Navy base. The village of Gangjeong, where the base is to be built, and the elected assembly of Jeju Island have voted to stop the naval base construction. The people of Jeju have mounted protests and resistanceefforts against the base. But the base is a key location for the Asia Pivot. Jeju faces Shanghai across the East China Sea, the South China Sea lies south of the island, and the mainland of South Korea lies to the north.
Jeju – designated as the “Peace Island” as part of an apology for the 1948 massacre – is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is a destination for honeymooners. Bruce Gagnon visited Jeju Island twice and reported on the protests there, which include the mayor of Gangjeong being arrested in protest and Professor Yang Yoon-Mo, who is now in jail on a hunger strike. This is his third hunger strike. The previous one lasted 74 days and he almost died. Gagnon works with the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.
Beyond that, as S. Brian Willson points out, the US is remaking its nuclear arsenal so that nuclear weapons can be used in a war. Three weeks before his “Axis of Evil” speech, President Bush presented a “Nuclear Posture Review” report to Congress that ordered the Pentagon to prepare contingency plans for use of nuclear weapons. The first designated targets for nuclear attack were the “axis of evil” members – along with Syria, Libya, Russia, and China. The US remains the only country to have used nuclear weapons against another nation. The US has approximately 5,113 nuclear warheads, including tactical, strategic, and non-deployed weapons. According to the latest official New START Treaty declaration, the United States actively positions 1,722 strategic nuclear warheads on 806 deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and strategic bombers.
While calling for a world without nuclear weapons, President Obama has instead continued Bush’s plan and has increased the budget for nuclear weapons. He has been giving the nuclear arsenal a massive and costly overhaul, modernizing the land-sea-air combination of planes, submarines and missiles that deliver nuclear bombs and warheads. Obama made a commitment in a letter to the Senate in February 2011 to accelerate, “to the extent possible,” the design and engineering of a new plutonium facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico while sustaining a facility in Tennessee. What would a North Korean leader think of all this?
And when it comes to talks with North Korea, there is no progress. As our guests on “Clearing the FOG” – Bruce Gagnon and Elliot Adams, both active with Veterans for Peace – pointed out: China encourages talks, but the US refuses. Gagnon and Adams suggest a first step would be a peace treaty with North Korea – an end to the Korean War, something that was never agreed because the fighting ended in a truce. The US needs to stop boxing North Korea into a corner with escalating rhetoric, military actions off its coast and crippling sanctions, and allow North Korea into the community of nations.
Once again, Korea is a pawn in a bigger battle between the US and China and Russia. Countries like Australia and Japan have joined the US and NATO, which has also been brought into the Asian Pivot. As Gagnon points out, North Korea is very independent and does not want to be anyone’s puppet and feels it must always show it is ready to defend itself. Adams adds, the US military does not fear “pipsqueak” North Korea with their low tech missiles and bombs, but in the media they use every test by North Korea as an excuse to escalate. Adams clarifies, “the US military needs a bogeyman to justify spending 60 percent of US discretionary spending on an insane, incompetent and bloated military.”
The solution begins with the American people understanding what is really going on in Asia and the Koreas. When the context is examined, and Americans try to stand in the shoes of North Korea, a different picture emerges. This is not easy with the misinformation and inadequate reporting by the mass media, which is complicit with the escalation, but this contextual understanding is essential as the US increases military action in Asia, threatens China and uses North Korea as an excuse.
You can hear our interview with Bruce Gagnon and Elliott Adams on North Korea, Nuclear Weapons and US Expansion into Asia and Space on Clearing the FOG Radio (podcast).
Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.
We called him, “Benj.’ The villagers used to call him, ‘Benjari,’ which sounds similar to the name of a fish, “jari,’ very common in the Jeju Island. It was Miryang, a village woman, who put him with such nickname. A villager poet, Kim Sung-Gyu wrote a poem for ‘Benjari,’ from the intimate feeling toward him. Benjamin Monnet, a French peace maker, as we often miss him now, has been our close friend. Despite the different language, he loves Gangjeong, Gureombi, and prays for the peace and lives of the Jeju. He first came to Gangjeong upon the moment of Women’s film festival in May, 2011. Since then, Gangjeong became a kind of his spiritual hometown.
His feeling on justice was very strong so because of it, he got the injunction order on March 14, 2012. He was inhumanly forcefully deported from Korea on March 15. On the day, a UK activist and Nobel Peace nominee, Angie Zelter, also got the order of forceful exit on her planned date (See more on it, here). It happened that three members of the Veterans for Peace of the United States were also violently deported on March 14 (See more on it, here). It was a time that the government, changing the chief of the Seogwipo Police station with a figure from the mainland, forcefully started to blast 10 % of the Gureombi Rock, on March 7, 2012. It was a time that 10 internationals had been arrested on Feb. 26 when they tried to enter the Gureombi Rock underneath a wire razor that was suddenly set up on Feb. 24, the 1st day of the Jeju International Peace Conference (20th anniversary of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space). See more on it here. The oppression on international peace activists around the time and since then have been remarkable. There have been at least 20 internationals that have been denied entries to South Korea, related to the issue of the naval base project in Gangjeong from Aug. 26, 2011 (See the summary on it, here)
Benj has continued supports on Gangjeong. In May 2012, we could see him with Seri in Paris for the solidarity protest with the struggle in Gnagjeong (See the video here)
Thanks to Seri who recently visited him, we could get his postcards to the Gangjeong Village international team, villagers and Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo. We share those here.
Remembering Benj
Photo by Lee Wooki
On March 12, 2012, he climbed up a crane with Kim Seri. He was arrested for the 3rd time and got the injunction order from the Immigration Office two days later. For the detailed situations, please click here. After injunction, he filed a suit against the Jeju Immigration Office for the ‘cancellation on the injunction and supervision orders,’ through representative of him. The first trial was on June 13, 202 (related Korean article). However, the Administrative department of the Jeju District Court dismissed his suit saying he did not have the qualification for an applicant on July 15, 2012(related article). The court said, “Mr. Monnet brought about not a little obstacles in the progress of the [Jeju naval base] project by joining many times in the opposition rallies against the [project] and has gotten the warnings on his long-term visit…The injunction order to devise for the interest and safety of a nation is never neither a excessive deviation nor abuse of discretionary power.” To the surprise, the judge was Mr. Oh Hyun-Kyu who made a sentence of direct arrest of Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo from the court on Feb. 1 (See here)
On March 12, Benj and Seri stopped the destruction of the Gureombi Rock for two hours in suim suits in cold weather. The beautiful site that they tried to keep has now become the ugly 3~4000 ton caisson production area. The navy eventually blasted the 10 % of the Gureombi Rock in the east and west parts of it during March and April last year. And It started to produce caissons for 24 hours since Oct. 25, 2012. However, we will restore the Gureombi Rock unless our hearts and determination disappear.
His message shows his continuous heart for the Gangjeong and Gureombi Rock. We thank and miss him, our brother!
2. Benj’s postcard to the Gangjeong Village international team and villagers
Dear Gangjeong International Team, Villagers
Kathmandu, Nepal
Feb. 17, 2013
Thanks to Seri, I have well received all your gifts. I truly appreciate it. So please receive some hand-made embroidered t-shirt of my creation. I was thinking to put them on website, Peace Center for the people to buy it. The proceedings of the sales could help to strengthen the movement or pay the court fines. What do you think? We can also sew a Korean version…I am searching for new ways to help Gangjeong. I am in contact with two French journalists who are ready to make a documentary about Gangjeong situation.
With patience, determination & Universal love, Benjari
3. Benj’s postcard to Yang Yoon-Mo
Photo of the postcard: Tashi R Ghale/ Tilicho lake, the highest lake in the world
Kathmandu, Nepal, 17 Feb. 13
Professor Yang,
I ignore where you are, But I heard you were surprisingly sentenced to jail for 18 months. I sent some t-shirts to Gangjeong with “Free Yang Yoon-Mo ♡“ embroidery. Hoping the people will buy it in solidarity with our resistance movement.
I remember when we were in the cell together, at Dongbu in March 2012.
You were practicing some kind of meditation.
As a meditator, I wish that inner-insight practices, will help you to pass sense fully through the term of your sentence-Concentrating on your breathing and observing your inner sensation to purify your mind. You will come out stronger.
Hopefully, the picture of this Himalaya landscape will inspire you-
With Patience, Determination, and universal love
Benjamin
Photo by Benj
“The struggle for Harmony continues.
~ FREE Pr YANG YOON MO ~
Here is a picture of Pr Yang holding a photo of the undercover police beating him, he said humorously to a villager: “Keep this photo, someday it will worth millions!”” (Benj)
4. T-shirts to people
The front side of t-shirt sent to mayor Kang Dong-Kyun. While the front is of the embroidary letters of “Why Crimes Against Humanity?,” the letters of ‘savejejunow.org’ is described at the end of a sleeve. One green T-shirt is of the embroidary letters of ‘Free Yang Yoon-Mo.’ Benj designed himself and asked embroidaries. As seen in the below photos, T-shirts for women are green while the T-shirts for men are blue and black.
The back side of T-shirt is the embroidary letter of “Jeju Island, Hiroshima, Himalaya.” In the right bottom of the image, it is signed in embroidary of ‘Benj’.
Photo by the Village International team/ On Feb. 28, Mr. Koh Gilchun, Jeju artist, and Oh Soon-Hee (Sister of the ‘Jiseul‘ movie director, Oh Myul ) Visited Yang-Yoon-Mo and showed him his t-shirts to the delight of Yang Yoon-Mo. Benj’s postcard to Prof. Yang was also delivered to him on the day.
5. Benj is always with us.
Photo by Gonyang/ Post by Paco Booyah
The banner hung in the background of the photo is what Benj designed and Mr. Lim Ho-Young (media team leader then) made a production for the Jeju International Peace Conference (the 20th anniversary of the Global Netwwork against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space) from Feb. 24 to 26, 2012. Whenever we see this banner, we always think of Benj
Photo sent by Toshio Takahashi (For more photos, click here) ‘In the afternoon on the 5th of September 2012, I and two of my friends, Mr. Masahiro Tomiyama and Mr. Eiji Tomita, were prohibited entry into Republic of Korea (ROK) at the Incheon International Airport.’ (source)
Update: April 24, 2013, Wang Yu-Hsuan (Taiwan), 21st subject to be denied entry to Korea, in relation to the Jeju naval base project. Since the inauguration of Park Geun-Hye government, she is the 2nd human rights defender to be deported after Ban Hideyuki, Citizens’ Nuclear Information Center, Japan, on April 19, 2013.(see here)
Update: [IUCN letter to Dr. Imok Cha, Nov. 13, 2012] IUCN so regrets the decision for The ROK governmentnot not to allow Dr. Imok Cha (Fwd) : CLICK HERE
Update: A Japanese peace activist has been denied entry at the Gimpo Airport, Seoul, on Oct. 16, 2012 when he was to visit his sick friend. Mr. Koto Shoji has visited Gangjeong last year and has written an article on it in the magazine named “Power of People’.With his forcefully denied entry, the total numbers of people who have been denied entry, related to the Jeju naval base project have become at least 20. 3 of them have been repeatedly denied entries.
………………………………………………………………
The below summary is primarily based on the Korean summaries here and here. Please come by later for any fix, revision or update. ( See the original post here)
Summary on the matter of entry denial against internationals, Regarding the issue of the Jeju naval base project
: Report as of Oct. 3, 2012
(1) Preface
On Sept. 25, 2012, PSPD (People’s Solidarity for Peace and Democracy) issued a press release that the ROK government denied to make public the reasons of entry denial against the targeted internationals. See the Korean document here and summary of it in No. (2).
The numbers of international activists who were denied entry to Korea, related to the Jeju naval base project have been at least 15 from Aug. 26, 2011 to June 29, 2012. See the Korean document here.
However, it was not precedent that as many as 9 people were denied entry to Korea and deported during the WCC period (Sept. 6 to 15, 2012), beginning with Dr. Cha Imok on Sept. 3. Therefore the numbers of entry denial related to the Jeju naval base project have become at least 24. See the Korean document here.
Please see No. (5) for the details of list of the internationals who were denied entry from Aug. 26, 2011 to Sept. 6, 2012.
Among 24, it is still uncertain whether two Nigerians who were denied entry on Sept. 6 had the will against the naval base. 3 of 9 people had to go through repeated entry denials (Yagi Ryuji, a Japanese peace activist, Tomiyama Masahiro, an Okinawa peace activist and Umisedo Yutaka, an Okinawa musician)
During the period of the WCC co-sponsored by the IUCN, at least two people were official IUCN nation representative or member and four people carried the invitation letters and identity certification letter from a ROK National Assembly woman.
Even though excluded of two Nigerians and repeated entry denial numbers, the international personnel who have been denied entry to Korea then deported, related to the Jeju naval base project currently enforced in the Gangjeong village, despite the opposition by the majority of villagers, have become at least 19 from Aug. 26, 2011 to Sept. 6, 2012 (One Korean American, three from the United States and 15 from Japan and Okinawa)
It should be noted that it is a matter of serious human rights violation internationally committed by the current Lee Myung-Bak government, Republic of Korea, which disrespects the UN human rights chapter and other international agreements, as well as domestic laws and regulations. Above all, it was confirmed that the government has made and is operating a black list against some internationals. The suspicion on the police’s illegal information collection on the foreigners in the Gangjeong village is also being raised. (See (4)-14).
Further international investigation should be earnestly looked for regarding this matter so that constructive and positive measures should come out.
This report is merely a summary and we hope any concerned Korean associated groups or international institutes pay attention to this matter and work on it.
Any corrections and added facts will be updated here.
Gangjeong village international team
……………………………………………………………………………
(2) PSPD Press Release on Sept. 25, 2012
According to the PSPD press release on Sept. 25, titled, the “Government being consistent not to make public the reasons of entry denial on international activists,” the Ministry of Justice has sent one page reply on Sept. 18 to the 7 page open inquiry letter by the PSPD on the entry denial of international activists on Sept. 6. See here.
In summary, the PSPD press release reads that: 1.The basis of information collection to prohibit the entry of overseas activists for the reasoning of “past works” is opaque, 2. The ambiguous basis to prohibit the entry of the overseas activists does not fit to the international human rights standard.
The Ministry of National Justice saying that “the foreigners who have been denied entry to Korea were judged to ‘deem likely to commit any act detrimental to national interests of the Republic of Korea or public safety, in the reflection of their past works,” totally refused replies to the inquires. It said “The entry denial measure to specific foreigners is the nation’s sovereign discretionary act and in case when its detailed contents are to be known, there is concern that there might occur foreign diplomatic matter or trouble in the government institutes’ activities to protect the national interest.”
The PSPD Press release reads that:
“To prohibit the entry of overseas activists without clear basis is a violation of the UN Human Rights statement that states that ‘everyone has the right individually or in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels’ ( *article 1 of the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups, and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, UN) and of the agreement on the civic political rights that prohibits dealing with citizens as potential criminals.
Claiming that the Lee Myung Bak government is infringing the freedom on the peaceful rally and assembly by the international human rights defenders who take opposing opinion against the government, the PSPD says it will make public opinion on the issue of oppression on the international activists through the examination on the Universal Periodic Review on human rights in coming October.
……………………………………………………………………………
(3) Noticeable points of the human rights violation by the South Korean immigration office
1. The Korean Immigration Office’s entry denial of some internationals regarding the Jeju naval base project has been earnestly practiced since August, 2011.
Case: On Aug. 26, 2011, when an entry-denied Japanese peace activist asked when she has become the subject of entry denial to Korea, a Korean immigration office replied her it was since August, [2011]. See AWC (Asian Wide Campagn)_Japan statement on Aug. 28, here.
2. Internationals are denied entries merely for the fact that they have visited the Gangjeong village ‘for tour,’ in the past or merely for the Immigration Office’s ‘presumption’ that they might visit the village.
Case 1: Nakamura Sugae who was denied entry along with her college student daughter on March 26, 2012, says, “Regarding my visit to the Gangjeong village, Jeju, I have dropped by a village and talked with villagers for a short time on my way of group tour last August, which was guided by my daughter who was an exchange student in a Korean traditional medical college in Daeku then. That was all. I haven’t joined protest but wanted to learn one another there. [The entry denial] is totally nonsense. [..] Further the visit this time was to drop by the Daejeon-Choongchung nam-do province, nothing to do with the Jeju.” She has applied the visa to the Korean Consulate in Japan again on July 31 to visit the Independence Museum, Cheonan in Choongchung nam-do on Aug. 22. However, despite her appeal to cancel the entry prohibition measure against her, she saying that she ‘would never visit the Jeju Island, she did not receive any reply from the Consulate even after 9 days. It was found later that she had been labeled as the ‘[Korea]-entry-prohibited,’ by the Lee Myung-Bak government.
Case 2: On June 15, Arime Yuuri (25), an Okinawa peace activist, was denied entry. She had visited Gnagjeong with an Okinawa Broadcasting Co. for a short time. But it is told that she had not planned to include the visit to Gangjeong this time. She just wanted to watch the Korean baseball game and to meet her friends in Korea. (See here)
3. The Korean Immigration Office openly expresses that it denies their entry for the reason that they have visited the Gangjeong village in the past. The reasoning is nothing to do with their visit purpose at their entry-denied time.
Case: Nakamura Sugae stated on March 29, 2012, through her phone interview with the Ohmynews, a Korean independent media, that “an immigration officer in the entry-checking desk of the Busan International Terminal said that I, [Nakamura], cannot enter Korea since I had visited the village last August therefore violated the Korean law.” It should be noted that there is no legal basis that visiting the village is the violation of Korean laws. Further Nakamura had no purpose to visit the village in the Jeju Island but to visit the Choongchung South Province for tour and forum purpose on March 27, 2012 when she was denied entry to Korea, along with her college student daughter. (Please see here.)
4. Some of the entry denied internationals were labeled from the outset as the ‘entry-prohibited,’ by the Korean government.
Case 1: On its July 2, 2012 statement, AWC_Japan stated that as many as 7 of its members and their family members seem to have been labeled as the ‘entry-prohibited’ to Korea by the Korean government. See here.
Case 2: On Sept. 5, Toshio Takahashi got the words from the Korean Immigration Officer that “you are applicable to the entry-prohibition. I don’t know the reason. The Ministry of Justice has just contacted us so you should exit out of the country, when he was denied entry in the Incheon airport on the day.’ (Toshio Takahashi’s letter to the Hankyoreh, Sept. 9, 2012) See here.
5. The entry-denial is being suspected to be practiced under the international mutual cooperation by the individual government institutes.
Case 1: The AWC_Japan statement on July 2 reads that the Japanese and South Korea police have exchanged information on the targeted subjects for the entry-denial before an international conference. See here.
Case 2: When Tarak Kauff, Eliott Adams, and Mike Hastie were met by South Korean authorities when they landed on Jeju Island [or in the departure airplane to it], the ‘South Korean authorities had a photo of each of them in their hands and told them they would not be allowed to enter Jeju Island.’ See here.
6. Sometimes the visa procedures are intentionally delayed to the obstruction of entry.
Case: On Jan. 28, a representative of BAYAN, Philippine was frustrated to enter Korea since the Korean Immigration Office had prolonged the issuing of visa for him and had not eventually issued the visa until the planned day. See AWC_Japan’s Jan. 30 statement, here.
7. There is neither a reasonable explanation, nor a letter-form notice but irresponsible answer that the entry-denied internationals should hear the reasons in the overseas Korean Embassy or Consulates.
Case 1: On Jan. 27, 2012, an immigration officer said to Ikeda Takane, Secretary of AWC_Japan, that “you have become the subject of entry-prohibition since you oppose the Korean government policy.” (See here)
Case 2: On March 31, 2012, a colleague of Yagi Ryuji, a Japanese peace activist inquired to the Immigration office why Yagi was denied entry on the day. The only reply he got was that “You know well.” (See here)
8. Lie is used for the reasoning of entry denial.
Case: The Korean immigration office denied entry of Dr. Cha Imok on Sept. 3, 2012. One of the main reasons that the Office took was that Dr. Cha had joined rally in the Washington D. C. However, it was confirmed that Dr. Cha has never joined it. Her home is in California, far from the Washington D. C. ( See the Commentary by the National Organizing Committee for Opposing the Jeju Naval Base Project, on Sept. 7 (here) and Ohmynews interview with Dr. Cha on Sept. 12 (here)
9. The Korean Immigration Office denies the subject of the chance to file for a different opinion. Further it lies to the subject that there is no such chance.
Case: The AWC_Japan statement on Aug. 28, 2011 reads: ‘When two members of AWC-Japan, who were denied entry on Aug. 26, 2011 asked the ROK Immigration workers, “Please let us informed of the way since we want to file a different opinion to the ROK Minister of Justice,” the workers replied to them that, “there is no such way. You cannot but return back to your country,” and “ask to the ROK embassy or Consulate in Japan after your return.” However it was a big lie. During the talk with them, one of the two members had a chance to talk with a lawyer of the KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) who said the two can report on different opinion. It means the ROK, Republic of Korea, the democratic country, robs of even a chance for opposing opinion, hides and even lies on it. Isn’t it an infringement on human rights done by the workers of the Japanese Immigration Office as well?”
10. The Korean Immigration Office demanded signs to the entry-denied internationals that they should return back to their countries with their own money according to the immigration law.
Case: On Aug. 26, 2012, the Korean Immigration Office demanded Sakoda Hideumi(46), his son(6) and Yamaguchi Yukiko(56, woman), coordinator of west regional branch of AWC, that they should do such signs. The two AWC-Japan members refused to sign it. (See here)
11. The Korean Immigration Office brought in a private airplane company worker as a translator.
Case: The AWC_Japan and Korea, Jeju Regional branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and Pan-Island Committee for the Stop of Military Base and for Realization of Peace Island say in its Aug. 28 statement regarding the entry denial of two AWC_Japan members on Aug. 26 that “the conversation between the two members and Immigration Office workers were processed through a Korean translator. The Immigration Office employed K, an Asiana airplane co. worker as a Japanese translator, since there was no person who could speak Japanese among the Immigration Office workers. K did not precisely deliver but summarized the two members’ words. Sometimes K mixed one’s own subjective viewpoint or opinion in doing that. It was a clear example of how the Korean government considers the human rights of international people.’ (See here)
12. The Korean Immigration Office dared to commit detention and forceful repatriation.
Case1: According to a report by Heo Young-Ku, representative of the AWC_Korea, Ikeda Takae, Secretary of International dept., AWC_Japan who was denied entry on Jan. 27 , 2012, stated as the below:
When I was in the waiting room (around 5:50pm), two men who self-claimed ‘Korean Airline workers,’ came to me. One spoke Japanese well. Even though they used polite words in the beginning, saying, ‘you might return back to Japan by a 7pm airplane,’ their words gradually became oppressive. That is why I became to know they are NOT the Korean airline workers. They looked like the airport police. When I said to them, “I will not return back to Japan, allow me to enter Korea,” they and Immigration Office workers tried to cheat me, saying, “There is a room where you can sleep in the upper floor so let’s move to there.” When I rejected them, Immigration Office worker(s) were trying to drag me. It was very forcing. I resisted hanging to chair. Later, so called a ‘Korean Airline worker’ who speak Japanese threatened me saying, ‘You should return back to Japan. If you persist, we should call the police.” It repeated many times then around 6:30pm, four more workers joined the ‘Korean Airline worker,’ therefore total six people grabbing my two arms, two legs and two armpits, forcibly dragged me from the office. Even though I protested in loud voice, very strongly resisting, they rook me toward a bus to an airplane, with my body being lifted in the air (except for the elevator time). Finally they forcefully boarded me in an airplane KE 721 around 7pm then took me a forced deportation. (See here)
Case 2: It is told that Yamaguchi Yukiko has been under detention in the Jeju airport when she made a sit-in in protest for 3 days since she was denied entry on Aug. 26, 2011. She was forcefully deported on Aug. 28. She was also demanded to pay her own meals during the sit-in (See here)
Case 3: It is told that Mike Hastie, a member of the Veterans for Peace, United States, was forcefully dragged out from a plane to Jeju in 10 minutes he boarded in and detained in the room of the Korean Immigration Office.
# On the same day, Benjamin Monnet (32), a French citizen who had been falsely charged for his activities opposing the naval base project was forcefully relocated to the detention center for foreigners in Hwaseong, Gyunggi province (He was forcefully and inhumanly deported soon under the injunction order) and Angie Zelter(61), a UK citizen and a Nobel Peace laureate has also gotten order of exit from the Korean Immigration Office for her activities to stop the base project.
Case 4: Toshio Takahashi who was denied entry along with two others on Sept. 5, 2012: ‘Officials from the immigration and Asiana Airlines ordered me and my friends to get on the Asiana OZ-136 plane departing at 5.20pm for Fukuoka. We were forcefully dragged out of the immigration office by six or seven male officials. Our passports were returned once they confirmed our identifications on board.’ (See here)
13. A series of infringement on human rights violation and inhuman deeds have been done. One of them is finger print, taking photos of faces etc.
Case 1: On the 5th of September, three of us left the Naha International Airport by Asiana Airline OZ-171 at 12.40pm, and arrived at the Incheon International Airport around 2.45pm. We showed our passports for a visa approval in front of immigration window. However, the immigration official turned his head, looked at the computer screen, and then asked us to go to the immigration office while handing us back passports. Two female officials were at the immigration office, and one of them asked again for passports from each of us, collected finger-prints from hands, and took photo of faces. (See here )
Case 2: For Dr. Cha Imok, it has not even been allowed to meet her elderly parents(90 and 88 years old)
See the note on Sept. 3 here.
Case 3: Japanese peace activists who entered the Incheon airport at 2:40 pm, Sept. 5, were carrying the invitation letter and identity certification issued by Jang Hana, member of the Democratic United Party. They demanded the related authority to explain them persuasive reasons for their entry denial and expressed their opinions that they would stay in the airport until the next day morning since Jang’s Office was looking for the solution. However, they were forcefully deported via an airplane to Japan at 5:20pm.
(Commentary by the National Organizing Committee, Sept. 7. See here.)
One of them was Toshio Takahashi from Okinawa who said he cannot accept that the Korean Immigration Office would send him to a site apart from Okinawa and demanded that he want to hear the entry-denial reason from the ROK Ministry of Justice. He says, “I insisted that being deported back to cities far from my original departure is not acceptable. Also, I added that the Ministry of Justice should inform us in a letter explaining the reason of forbidding our entry into the country and demanded for Japanese interpreter. But the employee from Asiana Airlines simply dismissed my requests and said this is the “Korean system”, which was by no means convincing answer.’ (See here.)
Jang Hana, the National Assembly woman complained later. ‘I contacted an Immigration Officer in the airport to see one of those denied entries, saying that ‘I invited them and I want to apologize them.’ But [the Immigration Office] intentionally moved up his air plane schedule at 6:05pm while it was possible that he could return back by 7:30pm airplane. (Jang’s interview on Sept. 10)
14: It was confirmed that the government black list exists. Suspicion is also raised that there is an illegal investigation against the foreigners.
Case 1: The fact of visiting Gangjeong village is merely a personal activity and it does not even remain in the official record. Still the thing that the Korean authority denies entry against the foreigners for the reason of “visiting to the Gangjeong village,’ is a certain proof that illegal investigation on the foreigners by government institute is being done. (Jang Hana’s commentary on Sept. 6)
Case 2: Jang Hana, a member of the Democratic United Party said that persons who have never visited the village are included among the entry-denied international activists. It means that not only routine investigation on the international activists by the Lee Myung Bak government is being done but also a black list exists.[..] It is an example of infringement on human rights that the government ignored the recommendation of the nation human rights committee that says it to positively protect the human rights of the foreigners who were denied entries. (Commentary by the National Organizing committee on Sept. 7)
Case 3: A person of the Ministry of Justice stated that it ‘is making and operating a list of foreigners who violates national interest or are threat to safety.” But he/she did not tell at all on the specific standards on the prohibition of entry denial. (Hankyoreh article, Sept. 10, that introduced a letter by Toshio Takahashi)
Case 4: ‘There is a common point of people who were denied entries. They are the people who have made solidarity with the Gangjeong village, with personal or group purpose. A suspicion is raised that illegal information collection by the police has even been applied to the foreigners in the Gangjeong village, given that personnel who came personally are in the government list for entry control.’ ( Kim Mi-Hwa’s interview with Jang Hana, National Assembly woman, on Sept. 10)
Case 5: ‘The immigration office workers openly say that “we know that you have worked in the Gangjeong village. We know what you have done entering Korea. And you are in the black list.” Here, the official name of black list is ‘the name list on the entry-controlled people,’ managed by the Ministry of Justice. However, the list is originally on the terrorists, people who have committed crimes in Korea, or people who have joined an international crimes such as smuggling. The government should make an official explanation on why the NGO activists are being dealt with like criminals for the reason that they have done peace activities and should make apology to them.’ (Kim Mi-Hwa’s interview with Jang Hana, National Assembly woman, on Sept. 10.See here.)
15. Suspicion on domestic email hacking is being raised.
Case: ‘Given that four speakers for the symposium [ on the environmental matter due to the US bases in the East Asia] have been denied entries and the symposium-hosting Korean groups are of the anti-war/ peace movement, we even think that emails exchanged by people might have been hacked.’ (Kim Mi-Hwa’s interview with Jang Hana, National Assembly woman, on Sept. 10. See here.)
16. The victims of the denied entry do not have protection measures from their own governments. Not only domestic pressure but international measure on the infringement of such human rights is urgent.
Case: ‘I called the Japanese embassy in Seoul (the respondent was named Mr. Shinsaka) around 15:14pm. I told him that my entry was being prevented, I was not noticed with reasons, and I was carrying an invitation letter and identity certificate. But he hanged off my phone, saying, “If you are in the stage before receiving the notice on the entry denial, please call again once you receive the notice.”
Since it was clear that the ROK Ministry of Justice was clearly denying my entry, I called him again around 16:05pm and told him process, asking him whether he working in the embassy can take any measures since it was an infringement on human rights that I was to be forcefully deported without a proper document from the ROK Ministry of Justice and explanation of reason for denial. However, Mr. Shinsaka replied me that the entry denial is by the judgment and authority of the ROK government, there was nothing the Japanese government can do.” ( A letter by Toshio Takahashi, Sept. 6, 2012)
15. Even the request by a National Assembly member for the resource material to the Ministry of Justice is being shunned.
Case: ‘Regarding [Sept. 6] incident, we (* Office of Jang Hana, a member of Environment and Labor committee, National Assembly) made a request for resource material to the Ministry of Justice. But the Ministry was not cooperative. Instead it said that we should request it after we get the stamp by Park Young-Sun, Democratic United Party, and a Chairwoman of the Legal Affairs committee, National Assembly, which was totally nonsense. It seems the Ministry must very strongly hide something. I hope that the members of the legal affairs committee clearly make public on that matter. (Kim Mi-Hwa’s interview with Jang Hana, National Assembly woman, on Sept. 10)
16. The ROK government’s serious infringement on human rights of the internationals is considered as its fear for the international exposure of the oppression on human rights being placed in the Gangjeong village (See here)
Case : ‘[ToshioTakahashi] said, “ It was for the first time for me. I have visited Korea more than 10 times by now.” He was suspecting whether his visit this February when the opposition activities against the Jeju naval base was at the peak caused him to be denied entry. He said, “It is an oppression being done by the ROK government since it feels burden that infringement on human rights being placed in the Gangjeong village is to be internationally exposed.” (Toshio Takahashi’s letter to the Hankyoreh, Sept. 9. See here. )
17. It was not only in cases related to the Gangjeong village. There have been about 463 people who were denied for unknown reasons, according to an article (May 28, 2012). Even the high ranking members of Green peace, and a Japanese activist who was invited by the Seoul Metropolitan government were denied entries.
Case1: [On April 2, 2012] Three of [four high-ranking members of Greenpeace] – its Korean manager and East Asia leaders – were denied entry and ordered to return to Hong Kong. Only Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo was admitted to the country. They were not told why they were banned. They guessed the reason may be the group’s anti-nuclear campaign, running counter the Korean government’s plan to expand atomic power generation. “But Greenpeace has not conducted a single activity yet except for a campaign (against nuclear power). Korea is the only country that has banned Greenpeacers though no activity has been launched,” Rashid Kang, manager for Greenpeace Seoul, said.
Case 2: The Ministry of Justice has denied a total of 8,203 people entry to Korea from October to April 2. The lion’s share of cases involved false-name passports, uncertain purpose of stay or those without places to stay.What observers find problematic are the 463 people who were denied for reasons unknown. They claim that the authorities are abusing the law to screen out civic or labor activists from holding campaigns against the government.
Case 3: In 2011, the authorities banned entrance of Japanese civic activist, Matsumoto Hajime, who was invited by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Hajime shot to the fame for starting several nonviolent protests against the government. But since he was invited by a city government, many called the decision bizarre. “We have asked the ministry to figure out why Hajime could not get into the event but we were told nothing,” said a member of Haja center, a youth job training facility operated by Seoul City. “We are concerned that there is no clear guideline to the regulation. Simply opposing government policies does not constitute denial or prohibition,” an official of the Center for Freedom of Information and Transparent Society said. None were clearly informed of the reason why they were denied entry into Korea.
(See the article at http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20120528-348805.html )
18. Victims as well as their colleagues who have accompanied them appeal for mental shock after their colleagues being denied entries.
Case1: [On March 14, 2012], two US veterans, both members of Veterans For feace, were asked to come by the people [in Gangjeong village]. Elliott Adams and Tarak Kauff responded to the request by traveling for 2 days from New York to Shanghai to Jeju, including 19 hours in the air. But when they got off the plane they were rudely told by the Korean government (not the Jeju government) that they must leave. Tarak Kauff says, “they were waiting for us, they had our photos as we arrived on the plane.” The veterans were left with little money, just tickets home that would not be good for a week. “This is gratitude. I served in Korea with the 2nd Infantry Division defending the people from North Korea, I come back to again defend the people and I am pushed off into no-man’s-land,” said Elliott Adams . (See here)-
Case 2: Nakamura Sugae who was denied entry along with her college student daughter on March 27, 2012, later appealed to the Omynews. “Further it was a visit to Daejeon and Choongnam province, nothing to do with Jeju. “I cannot understand the ROK government measure of entry denial, and I can hardly forgive it because I am so infuriated. I was shocked because I couldn’t imagine it. If I could, I want to appeal not only to Korea but also to the whole world.” (See Ohmynews, March 29, here)
Case 3: Nakamura Sugae’s colleague, Hasegawa, who was left alone for the entry denial of two could not but visit Daejeon alone in the afternoon of March 29. Hasegawa said, “All the programs have been prepared for by Nakamura who was denied entry. I got tremendous shock since I became to be left alone.” Hasegawa even had tears, saying that “It was for the first time for me to land on Korea. I could not read Koreans and could not figure out directions.” (See Ohmynews, March 29, here)
19. In conclusion, it is a clear infringement on human rights.
Case: The AWC_Japan has stated in its statement on Jan. 30, 2012
1.The ROK Korean Immigration Office does not make public entry denial reason(s) 2. It does not acknowledge the entry-denied people’s right to file on different opinion. 3. It repeats threat to the victims, saying lots of lies for forceful deportation of those. 4. Finally, it boards the subject(s) on planes with violent methods and forcefully deports. Those are clearly infringement on human rights.’ (See here)
20. The ROK Ministry of Justice is consistent in its arrogant and arbitrary position.
Case 1: The Ministry of Justice admitted that the rules can be ambiguous. “We cannot specify all the details about who cannot come and who can. We are capable of discerning detrimental figures,” a ministry official said. “We don’t need to disclose our criteria either, even to the person him or herself. There is no rule forcing us to. We are abiding by the rules. Besides, they all know why Korea does not want them anyway.” (See here.)
Case 2: The Korean Immigration Office having a call with the Bupyung Shinmoon on April 20 said that “The decision on the entry denial is registered not only by us but also by the Minister of the Ministry of Justice who decides that [the subject(s)] are detrimental to the national interest of ROK,” and “[The subjects] could be denied entry not only by us but if prosecutor, police and taxation office request. If their activities are not exact, it is possible to deny their entries. The entry-denial is established according to the demand(s) by the related department(s), if something is seen against the national interest of ROK.” (See here)
(4) Measures Taken
1. The AWC_Japan has driven the Korea-Japan joint statement, along with the AWC_Korea, to demand the withdrawal of entry-prohibition measure in August, 2011.
2. On Jan. 18, 2012, the both above filed a suit to the National Human Rights Commission of ROK, adding the signs by 394 civic activists from the both countries of ROK and Japan who demanded the withdrawal of unjust entry-prohibition measure (See AWC_Japan statement on Jan. 30, 2012, here)
3. The Center for Freedom of Information ( http://www.opengirok.or.kr/ ) has requested the Ministry of Justice, detailed contents including the nationality and entry denial reason of the targeted foreigners from Oct. 2011 to April 2, 2012. However, the Ministry of Justice has not made public those, reasoning that it would impede the diplomatic relationships. (See here.)
4. The village stated in its March 15 statement that denounces the ROK government’s entry denial of three members of Veterans for U.S., as well as its’ injunction of Benjamin Monnet, France and deportation of Angie Zelter, UK, saying that: “The oppression on the international activists is a mean and barbarous oppression to break down the chains of struggle against the Jeju naval base project against which international solidarity has been vital. In its statement on March 15, as well as on April 2 when a Japanese peace activist was denied entry on March 31, it claimed that the ROK government should make clear on what legal basis, it has taken measures on the prohibition of entry denial and on injunction order against them. It also claimed that the ROK government should make apology to the related groups and overseas civic societies, not to mention the victimized international peace activists, while taking measure for compensation and prevention on repetition. (See here)
5. On July 2, 2012, the AWC_Japan has demanded the both governments of ROK and Japan to make public all the lists of unjust entry prohibition and strongly demanded making public of all the information and officially withdrawing of the lists. It also demanded to stop construction, saying the scheme of the Jeju naval base project is to destroy environment, community, as well as to heighten the military tension in the North East Asia. The AWC_Japan has been carrying out regular protest in front of the Korean Consulate in Osaka.
6. As mentioned in (2), PSPD issues a press release on Sept. 25, titled, the “Government being consistent not to make public the reasons of entry denial of international activists,” the Ministry of Justice has sent one page reply on Sept. 18 to the 7 page open inquiry letter by the PSPD on the entry denial of international activists on Sept. 6. See here.
(5) Detailed records of the international activists who have been denied entries by the Korean government
Dr. member of the Emergency Action to Save Jeju Island. A consultant to the Center for Human and Nature, IUCN member group, a speaker for a Knowledge Cafe program, Sept. 7, WCC participant
Update: [IUCN letter to Dr. Imok Cha, Nov. 13] IUCN so regrets the decision for The ROK governmentnot not to allow Dr. Imok Cha (Fwd) : Click HERE
[2] Sept. 5, 2012
_Yagi Ryuji, a Japanese peace activist, Jeju airport, arriving Incheon airport at 2:40pm.
A speaker for the international symposium on the environment matters by the US bases in the East Asia, Incheon airport. He was carrying invitation letters and identification certification issued by Jang Hana, a National Assembly woman
_Tomita Eiiji, Takahashi Toshio, Tomiyama Masahiro, three Okinawa peace activists, arriving Incheon airport at 2:40pm.
Three speakers for the international symposium on the environment matters by the US bases in the East Asia, Incheon Airport. They were carrying invitation letters and identification certification issued by Jang Hana, a National Assembly woman
[3] Sept. 6, 2012: 4
-Umisedo Yutaka, Okinawa, Japanese representative of the IUCN
Okinawa musician, a member of Hallasan Association and Save Dugong Campaign, a member group of the IUCN
– Matsushima Yuske, Japan, a member of the Save Dugong Campaign, a member group of the IUCN group
– Unidentified two Nigerians, WCC participants
– It is still uncertain whether they had the will to oppose the Jeju naval base project.
……………………………………………….
Reference
A Summary of United Nations Agreements on Human Rights
http://cafe.daum.net/peacekj/I51g/628
[Toshio Takahashi] A report on the South Korean govt’s refusal to allow entry of 3 Okinawa Peace Activists (delegates to the IUCN WCC)
Thurs. Sept. 6, 2012
http://space4peace.blogspot.kr/2012/09/push-turns-to-shove.html
Sept. 14, 2012
PUSH TURNS TO SHOVE
World’s largest environmental organization in ethical quandary:
Should it answer to conference sponsors Samsung and Korean government, or it to its historical mission to protect environment and social justice?
http://cafe.daum.net/peacekj/I51g/753
[IUCN letter to Dr. Imok Cha, Nov. 13] IUCN so regrets the decision for The ROK governmentnot not to allow Dr. Imok Cha (Fwd)
Today, The National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the Naval Base in Jeju Island published two issue reports regarding the Jeju Naval Base construction.
Issue Report I is “Human Rights Violations on ‘No Jeju Naval Base Campaign’”. The report includes entry denials of foreign human rights defenders, freedom of peaceful assembly and associations, excessive use of force by the police and impunity for police violence, major human rights violations. The cases have been collected by the Gangjeong Human Rights Violation Investigation Team. The report gives recommendations to the Government of Republic of Korea and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This report was also presented to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association on 4 September 2012 during the 5th Asian Human Rights Defenders Forum which was held in Bangkok, Thailand. The full report will be published in September.
Issue Report II is “Environmental Disaster by Jeju Naval Base Construction”. The report is on how the suggested sea route creates environmental disaster, flaws in the environmental impact assessment conducted by the Government, and change of absolute preservation zone by the Governor of Special Self-Governing Province. It also includes recommendations to the Government of Republic of Korea and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the raised environmental concerns. This second report was jointly published by The Gangjeong Village Association, The Jeju Pan-Island Committee for Stop of Military Base and for Realisation of Peace Island, and the National Network.
Right after the villagers’ press conference on March 22, the victims of police hammer violence on March 19 had a press conference in front of Island government hall. The victims holding the signs with the photos of injuries on them strongly demanded the punishment of police personnel in charge of the accident and claimed an introduction of Special Prosecution System on the matters of the Jeju naval base. (# The Special Prosecution system was first initiated by people’s lawyer Shin Yong-In on Feb. 27, 2012)
Here are some excerpts from people’s statement :
‘The reckless police operation (of hammering down on the PVC pipes activists were putting over their arms to tie themselves one another, for the purpose of non-violently stopping the moving of the explosives to the Gureombi Rock ) was continued despite the crying of shocked women.
Because the diameter of each PVC pipe was narrow to no gap when the two hands by two people were held together inside, the shock of hammering was directly felt to activists while the broken fragments made wounds in the hands of activists. The hammering was continued despite the cry of activists who felt direct suffering.
During that unreasonable process, activists were injured small and big: the back of woman hand(s) was torn by broken PVC fragments with blood, being swollen while a man’s thumb was directly hit by hammer with a upper part of nail be torn and flesh peeled off.
Especially the riot police unit NO. 1300 [of the Seogwipo Police Station] that were in charge of arrest in the incident field pushed back even the news reporters and lawyers; folded arms of a citizen who were taking record of the situation based on the rule of the police duty on protection of human rights and even attempted to throw down him by hooking his foot for prompt arrest. Further they even made an arm of a man who protested against the police attempt to arrest the citizens outside of barricade broken by pushing him-he is now waiting for operation while his swollen arms to be soothed down. We are shocked by policemen’ such wielding merciless violence to help the illegal business (* Jeju naval base project) of Samsung and Daelim.’
As daily sit-in was continued on April 5, the people in the village had a news conference in front of the naval base business committee building complex at 10:30 am, April 5, 2012. The title of the statement by the Gangjeong village was “Are the police taking the citizens as rioters even until the 64th anniversary of 4.3? The police should try to get public trust.’ Cho Hyun-Oh, the Chief of ROK Police Agency visited the Jeju, bringing clash with the Gangjeong villagers who demanded meeting with him, in front of the Seogwipo police station (# He is to meet local officers on April 6)
In the statement, the people pointed out that:
“Like the main land policemen 64 years ago who led the massacre of the Island people on April 3rd, the police that have been led by Lee Dong-Min who came from the main land have made a record of accidents in a month since his inauguration, which is more than the whole numbers of illegal and unjust police behavior in Gangjeong village in the past.” ( # Lee Dong-Min, the new police chief is also the one who allowed the navy to blast the Gureombi rock)
“When the male policemen arrested women, the male policemen indiscriminatingly took away them touching their thigh, taking off their clothes. The police broke citizens’ fingers, arms and legs, wielding violence to them. Citizen’s hands were swollen by hammers, wrists were broken off, teeth were smashed, and chin was torn. Since the start of the blasting the Gureombi Rock, more than 90 people were arrested while 20 people, swooned, were carried in ambulance. We are living days like being slaughtered dogs and pigs.”
The numbers of 90 within less than a month are compared to 164, in the whole last year. The numbers are in detail; 19(near the naval base committee building etc on March 7), 20 (in the Gureombi Rock etc. on March 9), 16( in the Gureombi Rock on March 12), 9 (in the explosive storage etc on March 31) for example. The charges have been obstruction of business, obstruction of government affairs, general obstruction of traffic, property damage etc.
The people demanded police of open hearing regarding police mal practice of fake charges against people; halt of illegal taking camera shots of citizens that provoke citizens; and fairness.
Full translation of 3 page statement comes later. You can see the original Korean script here.
In the conference, a disable woman also testified on police’s metal harassment and physical injuries to her and on arrest of a man who protested against such violence on her.
There were two banners in the news conference: one about police violence and the other, painting by Natasha Mayers
You can also watch the news conference video here. Dungree, the video editor put the scenes of mentioned cases on March 29(when Mr. Lim Ho-Young was arrested) and April 1 (When Dr. Song Kang-Ho was arrested) beside the cases of March 19 (police hammer violence), March 25(police trampling down a villager’s garlic field and arrested citizens protesting to it) and March 26( When the Jeju island government officers forcefully demolished people’s tent to an injury of a woman head. (Video source)
