On 29th of March, the Korean Navy revealed that on the day before, it filed a complaint to Seoul Central District Court regarding the delay of the Jeju Naval Base construction, and demanded recompense.
This order was given to Gangjeong Village Association, 5 related organizations, and 120 individual personnel, all implicated in interrupting the base’s construction.
As a result, the date of infrastructural completion was delayed by 1 year and 2 months, while racking up an additional 23 million USD for the construction’s fee.
The Navy demanded the Gangjeong Villagers to take about 3 million dollars out of that 2 billion as their own burden. This order was based on the hefty loss of public tax revenue used to build the base as evidence. Using this logic, the Navy concluded the command as morally just and legally sound, and placed the activists with the legal blame that came with the supposed financial responsibility.
This obviously has stirred massive indignation among the villagers and ignited another conflict with state actors. Why using public revenue to fund the base’s construction in the first place is not a point of legal and moral concern or how demanding about 3 million USD to peace activists, mandarin farmers and fishermen is anything but rational and just are among the thousands of actual questions that are not raised.
But for now, how to address this massive financial burden is the primary question on everyone’s mind, and it’ll need another consolidated spirit to overcome one of the biggest obstacles yet that has descended upon the village.
