Save Jeju Now – Page 13 – No War Base on the Island of Peace

Declaration of Catholic Priests and Monks for peace on Jeju Island
Photo by Pang Eunmi/ The 4th year anniversary of the launch of the Catholic Church Solidarity to Make Peace On Jeju, Oct. 12, 2015

Photo by Pang Eunmi/ The 4th year anniversary of the launch of the Catholic Church Solidarity to Make Peace On Jeju, Oct. 12, 2015

Photo by Pang Eunmi/ The 4th year anniversary of the launch of the Catholic Church Solidarity to Make Peace On Jeju, Oct. 12, 2015

(Fwd by Deborah Kang Eunjoo/ the Catholic Solidarity to Make Peace on Jeju)

Revoke the Naval Base in Jeju! Stop the construction immediately!

Declaration of Catholic Priests and Monks for peace on Jeju Island
1. Under the instruction of the God of Life and of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, we oppose the construction of the Naval Base in Jeju. This is the desperate desire of the residents of Gangjeong Village, who have lost their livelihoods, the decision of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, and the unchanging wish of those citizens of Korea who love life and peace on earth.
2. First of all, we want to know why the Naval Base has be constructed by destroying Korea’s cleanest and clearest ocean, around Jeju Island, while advertising the intent to protect the natural heritage of Jeju. While they boast of Jeju’s status as a preservation area, world natural heritage, and GEO park designated by UNESCO, and even they are internationally advertising that it be selected as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, they have blasted Gureombi Rock, a gift of nature, with explosives to construct a large-scale port for navy ships, and are attempting to build a concrete bank. This is the result of punishment incurred from uncontrolled greed and ignorance.
3. The reason why we are against the construction of Naval Base starts from the illegality and non-democracy. The Government announced that they will respect opinions of residents, but this is not true. 725 residents participated in a survey on ‘Voting For or Against the Naval Base,’ and 680 (or 94%) of the total village residents are opposed to the construction of the Naval Base. Nevertheless, the Navy and Jeju government continued the construction and have suppressed the opposition of the residents with physical force.
4. The Government insists that the Naval Base is necessary to deter North Korea’s provocations, protect our marine territory, and secure the ocean route and underwater resources. However, the substantial power to reduce conflicts between countries and maintain peace comes from neither military bases nor weapons, but from wise diplomacy pursuing co-existence and the level of policy and economy. This has been continuously proved throughout the history of the world.
Many experts say that the Naval Base in Jeju will become a US base to maintain the supremacy in Northeast Asia, unlike our expectations, and it even provokes tension around the Korean peninsula. This consideration is very practical. The conflict between China and Japan in the South China Sea and the Senkaku Islands predicted the unfortunate future of Jeju.
1. The moment the construction began, artifacts from the Bronze Age were excavated. So the National Assembly and the Cultural Heritage Administration suggested that the Navy stop the construction. However, the Navy disregarded the suggestion and continued with the blasting. We cannot understand why they are in a hurry, although this is not urgent matter. In particular, the violent power exercised by the Police reminds us of that terrible historical event, ‘The 4.3 Massacre.’ We declare that if these acts of violent suppression, arrests, and captivity are repeated, then we will rise against it with an even more powerful disobedience movement.
2. Today we established the ‘Catholic Church Solidarity to Make Peace on Jeju Island’ according to the Gospels of Christ, which requests that we defend lives and peace, and we declare and require the following in the names of 4,567 Catholic priests and monks.
Declaration and Requests
1. We oppose the construction of the Naval Base which threatens the peace of the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia.
2. The Government must fully revoke the plans to construct a Naval Base on Jeju, and politely apologize to the residents of Gangjeong Village and Jeju Island for the illegal means by which the location of the Naval Base was selected!
3. The navy must immediately stop the construction according to the advice of the Cultural Heritage Administration, and actively cooperate in the excavation of cultural heritages.
4. The National Assembly must cut the budget for the construction of the Naval Base on Jeju Island.
5. The Government must consider the wounds of the residents of Jeju, worry about repeating the 4.3 massacre, and apologize for the misuse of the state power!
6. The Government must make full efforts to restore the natural environment which was been seriously damaged by the construction!
October. 31. 2011

The Committee of Justice & Peace Archdiocese of SEOUL / The Committee of Justice & Peace Archdiocese of DAEGU / The Committee of Justice & Peace Archdiocese of GWANGJU / The Committee of Justice & Peace Diocese of ANDONG / Justice & Peace Committee of BUSAN Diocese / The Committee of Justice & Peace Diocese CHEONGJU / The Committee of Justice & Peace Diocese of CHUNCHEON / The Committee of Justice & Peace Diocese of DAEJEON / The Committee of Justice & Peace Diocese of INCHEON / The Committee of Justice & Peace Diocese of JEJU / The Committee of Justice & Peace Diocese JEONJU / The Committee of Justice & Peace Diocese of MASAN / The Committee of Justice & Peace Diocese SUWON / The Committee of Justice & Peace Diocese of WONJU / The Solidarity of priest Diocese of UIJEONGBU / Association of Major Superiors of Women Religious in Korea / Korean Conference of Major Superiors of Men’s Religious Institutes and Societies of Apostilic Life
November 8, 2015
Gangjeong Village receives the Sean MacBride Peace Award

On October 23rd, Go Kwon Il, co-vice mayor of the Gangjeong village and co-vice chair of the Villagers’ Anti-Base Committee, traveled to Italy to receive the Sean Macbride Peace Prize awarded by the International Peace Bureau, one of the oldest foundations of peace. The award is dedicated to a “person or organization that has done outstanding work for peace, disarmament and/or human rights.” And for 2015, the Bureau awarded people of Gangjeong Village the distinguished metal of peace along with people of Lampedusa, Italy. It is truly an honor for the villagers to receive this award, a beacon of confirmation that Gangjeong struggles are being supported in the international community. It also serves as a beacon of hope and support against the troubles that are to come once the base is finished.

(Images above are provided by Go Kwon-Il)

(Three images above are by the International Peace Bureau)

October 26, 2015
The new, “Aircraft Carrier” night club – Presager of what is to come

If you have casually walked around the Seogwipo city lately, you would have mostly likely seen the new flyers about the opening of a new night club called the “Aircraft Carrier.” And how could you not? It’s literally taped in the walls of every corner around the neighborhood. Like a parasite, it invades homes, restaurants, and clothing stores with its bright, oversized letters screaming about cheap ladies that you can get for “50% off.” Every time I see it, I feel like an organism has infiltrated deep inside me as well, sickening me at the moral core. If you see the advertisement, I feel like you would feel the same way.

The association of cheap ladies and the background photo of an aircraft carrier personally triggers the image of prostitution sites right in front of docked navy ships that will plague the Gangjeong Village. Angie Zelter argued that naval bases brings these types of changes. But to have a clear, physical manifestation of it in a tacky advertisement poster drags the mind from the rhetorical to the real – the visceral. And it feels truly nauseating deep-down.

But in a interesting way, the way these third-rate posters are attached everywhere around the area is symbolic and symptomatic of naval bases themselves. Naval bases spread, they swallow everything in their sight, and poison the area with their pathogens in a way that devastates communities internally. Because these effects are real, naval bases are always under negative public scrutiny. Self-conscious, they respond by constantly mailing flyers airbrushed with photos of smiling families followed by a frail logic to somehow justify their existence as moral and just institutions. These flyers (which have surfaced recently as well) share little difference with the advertisement photo above. Both rely on gimmicky methods and feel invasive in the same way.

October 25, 2015
Gangjeong Village Story: Monthly Newsletter | September 2015 Issue

In this September Edition:

Aegis made the 1st entry to Gangjeong, Peace for the Sea to be Continued, Bishop Kang U-il address, The Real Struggle Starts from Now On, The 2nd Gangjeong Peace Conference, The Trans-Pacific Partnership, Hotpinkdolphins went to Taiji, Henoko Resistance Continues, international solidarity photos, Daelim to suffocate Gangjeong financially again, Watching Samsung, Trial Update, The Song of Gangjeong, Documentary Nomad visit, ‘No to THAAD; actions, Peace Book Cafe Now, Gangjeong people visiting Miryang, Keep Space for Peace Week, Syrian campaign etc.

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October 9, 2015
Peace for the Sea Camp at Okinawa, Finished!

On September 19th, there was a four day international peace camp held at Okinawa. This gathering succeeded the previous one held in Gangjeong of Jeju last year, and we anticipate the next one to be established in Taiwan.

These meetings are conducted with the overall intention of solidifying the triangular line of peace among the three mentioned islands (Taiwan, Jeju, Okinawa). This act seems urgent and timely, given the current global politics that has jeopardized marine life and imperiled communities nearby the Asian seas. To protect these fragile ecosystems, over 70 concerned individuals from the three islands have gathered in Okinawa to share stories about their respective struggles, learn about current military situation in Camp Schwab, and canoe in the Henoko sea. I believe that each 70 personnels have come out of the camp with wider knowledge over the matters in Okinawa and a deeper appreciation of the Asian waters that connects all us despite the geographical divide.

September 27, 2015
No Aegis! The Day When Aegis Made First Entry in Gangjeong

Photo by Ppyongharin/ Early as 7 am on Sept. 16, an Aegis Destroyer, Sejong , the Great, made the 1st entry in the Gangjeong Sea. It met protesters’ signs.

Photo by Ppyongharin/ A kayak heading toward the 1st aegis that entered the Gangjeong Sea on Sept. 16.

On Sept. 16, Aegis destroyers made their first entries into the currently built Jeju naval base early at 7 am. The navy reasoned the entries were for the test of their coming alongside the pier. There were two aegis destroyers on the day- named Sejong, the Great and Yang Man-Choon, which were accompanied by a connvoy and a rescue ship. On the day, a military helicopter flew low with heavy noise. It was the next day that the last remaining Sejong, the Great finally left.

It is told that the navy is planning to send total 22 military ships by the mid October for safe mooring test etc. Is it for the 47th ROK-US Security Consultative meeting in mid-October? Or a kind of missile defense test with the excuse of North Korea rocket launch supposedly on Oct. 10? Whatever, we felt really tragic on the day… and determined.

No Missile defense!
No ROK-US-Japan trilateral military alliance!
No War base in the Peace Island!

See the days’ video here.

Related article is here.

Photo by Park Jijo, Yonhap news/ a kayak countering an aegis

Photo by Park Jiho, Yanhap News, Sept. 16/ The media reporters could see and hear the protesters above a breakwater which is distant from the pier

Photo by No Base Stories of Korea, 2011/ An art work by Choi Byung-Soo in 2007. The Aegis-shaped cut steel plate used to stand on the Gureombi Rock which was closed for naval base construction on September 2, 2011.

September 20, 2015
[Emergency] Aegis is coming to Gangjeong for test, early Sept. 16!

The below was reported on the night of Sept. 15-16.

We just got the news above tonight. The source is mainly from Inchun Mpark who has daily monitored navy’s illegal construction on the sea near for three years by now. It is told that an Aegis (of Republic of Korea) is to enter into the almost completed harbor of currently being built Jeju naval base, early morning of Sept. 16. The reason is told that it is for the aegis to test coming alongside the pier. If you remember, there stood on the Gureombi Rock in 2007 a sculpture of Aegis-shape relief-cut on a steel plate which watched over the Gangjeong Sea. It was a kind of warning for today eight years ago. The ROK-US-Japan trilateral military alliance cannot be built without missile defense. The appearance of aegis on the Gangjeong Sea, a part of missile defense system, means Gangjeng would stand in the center of such disastrous trilateral alliance. We say no!

No Aegis in the Gangjeong Sea!
No missile defense!
No ROK-US-Japan military alliance!
Jeju is not the toy of the US military!

Photo by Park Inchun/ A kind of preparatory military ship, Haenam, a day before the entry of the aegis on Sept. 16

Photo by Park Inchun/ A kind of preparatory military ship, Haenam, a day before the entry of the aegis on Sept. 16

photos by Inchun MPark

September 16, 2015
The Real Struggle Starts from Now On

Jeju Island Catholic Bishop Kang U-Il / A photo by Oum Mun-Hee

Fr. Mun Jeong-Hyeon/ A photo by Oum Mun-Hee

The overflow crowd outside of the grand opening of the St. Francis Peace Center in Gangjeong village/ Photo by Choi Sung-Hee

Re-blogged from here

Sung-Hee Choi reports from Gangjeong village on Jeju Island, South Korea:

[Sept. 5] Bishop Kang U-Il says, “The real struggle starts from now on.”

On a gently rainy day, about 500 priests, sisters, laymen, villagers, and peace activists gathered to celebrate the opening of the St. Francis Peace Center in the village. The event organizers had expected about 200 crowd.

The four story building, of which the idea was first initiated by Fr. Mun Jeong-Hyeon and Bishop Kang U-il, is hoped to be ‘an outpost for the peace of Northeast Asia’ (Bishop Kang)

On the day, the words by Bishop Kang, the Board President of the Center, was resolute, touching and inspiring.

The Jeju Sori, a local media, excerpted some of his long speech. Thanks to it, here I also translate some of his words as well.

……………………………………………………

“There are people who ask whether the struggle has finished with the naval base [that will port US warships aimed at China] being almost completed. No. It has not finished. The real struggle starts from now on.”

“In April 2005, I expressed my opinions, for the first time, against naval base construction. There are five reasons following the public teachings.”

“Firstly, war is disaster. It cannot be a solution between nations. It is because such thing did not happen in the past and would not happen in the future, either.”

“Secondly, when a state power takes arms force, it can be justified and get citizens’ sympathy only by strict conditions. The mobilization of state power against the struggle in opposition to the Gangjeong naval base can never be a self-defense. “

“Thirdly, modern arms are weapons of massive mankind-killing. The increment of arms cannot be connected to peace.”

“Fourthly, we are dumping tremendous budgets into arms production. What if it is used for the nation progress, for the poor..?”

“Lastly, why there should be a military base in Jeju, the far-most from the Korean truce line and the tainted by the wounds of the April 3rd incident? Jeju is the Peace Island designated by the government. The relationship between any military base and the Peace Island is like water and oil.”

“With the construction of the naval base, the death of the April 3rd spirits has become meaningless…”

“Sixty-seven years ago, more than 30,000 people, more than 10% of the whole population of the Jeju Island people lost their lives for the April 3rd incident. [A massacre of Jeju peasants directed by the US military.] They were mostly innocent Island people nothing to do with ideology conflicts. They died without knowing the reasons of their deaths.”

“There are people who say that there is no more need of struggle since the Gangjeong base has been almost completed. No, the real struggle starts from now on.”

“The people we counter is not those who covered the Gureombi Rock with concrete. Nor the youths who come to the naval base to fulfill their duty for national defense. It is those who consider war positively.”

“It is the struggle against those who justify war preparation disguising their violent spirit with the logic of national security. On any basis, war is not right.”

The overflow crowd outside of the grand opening of the St. Francis Peace Center in Gangjeong village/ Photo by Choi Sung-Hee

The overflow crowd outside of the grand opening of the St. Francis Peace Center in Gangjeong village/ Photo by Choi Sung-Hee

September 12, 2015
Gangjeong Village Story: Monthly Newsletter | July and August 2015 Double Issue

In this this July and August Special Edition:
Reflections on 2015 Gangjeong March (domestic and international/ writings and photos), Gangjeong as the co-recipients of the IPB award, U.S. Ships and Fighter Jets are are here, the 23rd Global Network conference in Kyoto, Connecting Bath and Jeju, Returning to Jeju, Taiwan anti-nuclear activist’s solidarity with Gangjeong, The Ghost of Yasukuni Cancelled by Jeju City, a miracle in relation to the Sewol Ferry incident, trial updates, anti-naval base struggle shown in numbers, Peace for the Sea international Sea Camp in Okinawa, 2015 , navy’s outrageous move, Captive dolphins return to Jeju Sea, Jeju’s soft coral suffering from damage, ‘Black Eagle’ Airshow invades village, international solidarity, and more!

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Here is a clear view of the table in the page 7.

September 12, 2015
Gangjeong, One of the Co-Recipients of the Sean MacBride Award!
What a wonderful news! The International Peace Bureau(IPB) decided to have Gangjeong, Jeju, and Lampedusa, Italy, as the co-recipients of the precious Sean MacBride award for 2015. On Aug. 25, 1 page official letter was sent to the village, along with other two related documents as the below. Please look at those for further details. It is truly the honor of the village to receive this award and to stand firm with the people in the world on the path for peace, justice, and democracy.
1. An official IPB letter to the Gangjeong village on Aug. 25, 2015
2. IPB documents on the two Island communities: Lampedusa and Gangjeong, Jeju

3. Peace Paths: Annual IPB Conference program_On the 70th anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter
August 30, 2015