Save Jeju Now

No War Base on the Island of Peace

  • Free Yang Yoon-Mo!: Jailed Movie Critic, Yang Yoon-Mo, Starts Hunger Strike

    Update (March 24) Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo’s oral statement ending 52 days’ prison fast

    Update (Feb. 11):  Yang Yoon-Mo will hit 15th day prison fast on Feb. 15: More on Yang Yoon-Mo

     

    poster

    Source: Paco Booyah

     

    1. Yang Yoon-Mo, a movie critic, was arrested directly from the court

     

    Yang Yoon-Mo, a movie critic and one of the prominent opponents against the Jeju naval base project was directly arrested and jailed  from the court on Feb. 1, 2013 . It is his 4th time imprisonment. He is the one who has been jailed the most numerous times during the struggle against the base project by now. (see the below for the details) He was also one of the subjects of  the individual complaints to the UN Human Rights Council in 2012.

    He is currently in prison and you may write encouraging and supporting letters to him:

    Yang Yoon-Mo(No. 301)

    Jeju Prison, 161 Ora-2dong, Jeju City, Jeju, the Peace Island, Korea

    (Another prisoner, Park Seung-Ho (No. 290) hit 142nd day in prison as of Feb. 3, 2013.  Update:  Park Seung-Ho was released on Feb. 5, after 144 days’ imprisonment. )

    The criminal department No. 4 of the higher court in Jeju (Judge: Oh Hyun-Kyu), annulling the 1st court decisions of probation etc. on him, sentenced 1 year and six months imprisonment against him who has been charged of obstruction of business etc (Refer to the Korean articles).  Such court arrest has not occurred before his case in the struggle to stop the base project.  He also became the first opponent against the base project who got an actual prison sentence. See also here.

    The  cases of the 1st trials  have been annexed in the trial sentence of appeal on Feb. 1. Those are the cases of the 1st court decisions on June 1, 2011 (After the arrest on April 16, 2011, charged of obstruction of business, violation on the punishment on the violence Act etc. The court decision on him was 1 year and six months imprisonment with two year suspension), on March 20, 2012 (After the arrest on Jan. 30, 2012, charged of obstruction of business etc. The court decision on him was 10 months imprisonment with two year suspension), and on  the charge of violation on the Public Water Act ( That was for a sit-in tent in the Gureombi Rock. He was sentenced ‘no guilty,’ in this case)

    Given that it was a decision on his appeal aginst the 1st court decision, such an unusual and harsh sentence made people confirm that it was a political retaliation not only against him whose health is already weak for the protest fasts twice in 2011 (more than 74 days) and 41 days (2012) but also the whole opposition movement people against the Jeju naval base project, especially after the government manipulated its political ground to push the base project with a false report on the government-supervised simulation ‘show’ on Jan. 31. It is also a violence that preludes merciless oppression on human rights and environmental destruction.

    profil
    Source: Paco Booyah

     

    Accidentally Feb. 1 was his birthday and all of his friends and colleagues were shocked, sad, and infuriated. Dr. Song Kang-Ho has been also arrested on his birthday on April 1, 2012 and got the court decision of imprisonment on the anniversary of 4.3, same year.

    Amazingly the notification letter by the Jeju district court on Feb. 1, 2013 is written for the reason of imprisoning him only in one line that reads that ‘the accused has a reason to run away.’ It is a serious debasement on a man who has put his fate on the Gurembi Rock and a film critic who was acknowledged with a ‘special art award’ from the Jeju People’s Artist Federation on Dec. 28, 2012, for his actual participation in history in person  (Korean article). It is also immoral and unjust attitude for the South Korean oligarchies including the court to patch up their baseless accusation on him with a line.

    Yang
    Photo by Cho Sung-Bong (Source)

    Rev. Jeong Yeon-Gil who was released on Dec. 12 after 98 days’ imprisonment criticized the court decision against Yang on Feb. 1, by citing the below, which shows the contrast between  it and Constitution.

    Oh Hyun-Kyu, the judge who sentenced Yang and imprisoned him from the court reads: “The accused has made a setback in the national policy project by his activity such as obstruction of construction etc from his own judgement that the naval base construction is a violation of law. Even though it is not a crime to take an individual interest, [the court] cannot find his will of self-examination even during the repeated process of arrests, imprisonments, and release son him. Therefore, a prison sentence is inevitable.”

     However, the article 19 of the Constitution reads: “All the citizens have the freedom of consciousness.”

     Also, the ruling by the Constitutional Court of Korea on April 25, 2002 reads:

    “The consciousness that the Constitution intends to protect means an urgent and concrete consciousness as a strong and sincere call from the heart that the value of one’s own personal existence will be destroyed if not acting as such, in judging the right and wrong on a task. Even though [a court] can legally punish an “action,” it should not force in any case to change one’s faith with the mobilization of direct or indirect forceful methods. It should not enforce one the idea on the observation of Republic of Korea law or confession on it against one’s own faith, either.”

     

    2. Yang Yoon-Mo started a hunger strike again.

    Park sukjin
    Photo collection by Park Suk-Jin/ “ I hear the scream of the Gureombi Rock, sitting beside the main gate of the construction gate.. I can’t stand myself even though that is what I can do…” Prof. Yang has sat in front of the construction gates many times after his release in 2012. He has always felt the Gureombi Rock like his own body. For more collection of his photos, see here.

    More sad news on his decision on prison hunger strike was delivered by a peace activist, Kim Young-Jae on Feb. 2, the next day:

     “We just came out from the Jeju Prison where we made a visit to Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo. 

    Prof. Yang said he would enter fast soon to claim the nullification on the government report on the result of simulation (* Jan. 31) and to revoke the Jeju naval base project.  Even though Fr. Mun Jeong-Hyeon and chairman Go Gwon-Il made every sort to stop him, he was so resolute to say he would continue fast (* He made a fast in the evening of the day of his arrest, Feb. 1). He says that he will not go out prison unless he dies. 

    He says he is no guilty and he cannot acknowledge his imprisonment because it is a compromise. 

    He and all of us were wet in the edges of the eyelids. He also said he was so sorry to all of us to make us concern about him. We so concern about his health.”

    (Kim Young-Jae, Feb. 2 around noon)

    Yang May 4 2011
    Prof. Yang Yoon-No on his 29th fast day in jail on May 4, 2011 when he held more than 74 days’ hunger strike.

     

    3. We are all Yang Yoon-Mo!

    Feb 5 candle vigil
    Source: Park Yongsung/There will be a press conference on the court decision against him on Feb. 4 and a candle vigil in front of the City hall, Jeju City,  at 7 pm on Feb. 5.

     

    By imprisoning him who is like a symbol of the Gureombi Rock and who has brought the fire of the struggle throughout the nation and world, the oligarchies intend to oppress the opposition struggle against the naval base project. They also want to block the Jeju from being the Demilitarized Peace Island but to put it under the corporation monopoly capital like Samsung and military.

    If Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo is the Gureombi Rock, we are all Yang Yoon-Mo. The oligarchies lost. We believe in that the fire of the struggle against the naval base project will grow nationwide and globally.

    Lindis Percy, a co-representative of the CAAB, UK says:

    ‘What an inspirational and courageous man – we will light a candle when we gather each Tuesday (now for 13 years) outside the main gates of …NSA Menwith Hill – here in the North of England – we are thinking of him and hold hands in solidarity with him.…’

    Navi
    Photo by Navi/ Yang Yoon-Mo with a vest written of ‘no naval base,’ in the nationwide-traveling candle light vigil in Haenam, Jeolla province, in July, 2012.

     

    In the last part of Dungree’s video, ‘Why Yang Yoon-Mo went to the Prison,’ prof. Yang says on the Gureombi Rock (translated).  The video starts with the subtitle that reads, “Yang Yoon-Mo is the Gureombi Rock, Gangjeong.” The title of the background song is ‘a beautiful man.’

    “If we can enter the Gureombi Rock again, we can pick and eat mulberry leaves and garlic. If we eat Bangpungcho (a kind of herb) and mugwort there in the new spring, our bodies become strong. Those made me strong. I can do even 100 days’ fast, beyond 70 days’ fast last year. The source of such energy is nothing but the Gureombi. But if the Gureombi is destroyed, I think my summon as a movie critic also ends. The truth is that we should stop the naval base so that the Gureombi becomes a spiritual place for the world. Please give us a chance that the Gureombi can be reevaluated as a cultural treasure. The naval base construction entering into the Island is an illegal construction destroying the spirit of Constitution and legalism.”

    Prof. Yang Yoon Mo has not responded five police calls before his imprisonment. He seems to have decided prison life again.

    His words on the Gureombi Rock in 2011 can be heard here.

    Regis Tremblay who is  making a film on the Jeju made a film on Yang as soon as he heard the news on Yang’s arrest on Feb. 1, 2013. You can see it here.

    Here is another video by Kim Minsou, a young activist and artist who made the video upon Yang’s arrest on April 6, 2011. Kim met Prof. Yang for the first time in 2009 when Yang was living in the tent of the Gureombi Rock where he was friendly with the villagers, especially with uncle, Kim Jong-Hwan who was also imprisoned for more than three months in 2011. Yang is very gentle and child-like but he is also very resolute in the struggles.

    You can see some beauty of the Gureombi Rock and Yang’s life there in the video.
    For Kim, Yang is like a teacher and father.

    (Post information by Kim Bok-Chul who was released on Jan. 3, 2013 after 206 days in prison)

    Below is a copy of a poem that has been put in Yang’s vigil tent in the Joongduk coast, Gangjeong village. The title is “Sisterhood.” It is a poem of love between the Joongduk Sea, the land-filled-planned naval base area, and a man who wants to save the Sea. The writer is a woman who calls the man as her brother-in-law and the sea, as her sister.

    Sisterhood

    She cries whenever it is a deep night. The Joongduk Sea.

    Laying down Gangjeong in her belly who has been scratched and wounded

    The Joongduk sea cries lulling and calming down it

    Have you ever heard her crying sound

    My sister, Joongduk Sea

    With tears let inside her

    Uh-Ho-Ii Oh-Ho-Ii

    A man who has been captured by that tears

    Has successfully recognized her being in a serious illness

    Crouching his body in a small common bed

    Being happy since he is with her

    Hei Hei, my innocent brother-in-law

    I

    Offering a bowl of warm rice to them

    Wanted to honor their love

    Sisterhood
    After his arrest on April 6, 2011, the poem was handwritten in a big paper and put on the way of the Gureombi Rock. so that the tourists and even the construction workers could read the poem.

    ………………………………………………………….

    The summary of his imprisonments

     

    Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo, born in Jeju, 1956, a former President of the Korean Association of Film Critics.

    2008: Started to live in Gangjeong village after the participation in the Gangjeong villagers’ Island pilgrim for seven nights and eight days.

    2009: Started to live in the tent that would be nicknamed as the ‘Joongdeoksa(Jeongdeok temple) on the Gureombi Rock. He stays there until his arrest in 2011.

    2010: Imprisonment by the arrest of Dec. 27, 2010 and release of Jan. 9, 2011.

    On Dec. 27, 2010, there was a large size bringing-in of materials for the building of residential houses inside the naval base project building complex, which could be said to be the start of the construction in earnest. All the participants who joined the press conference denouncing it were arrested. All were released on the night, except for Yang Yoon-Mo. He had been charged of obstruction of business for the reason to stop the car of the ex-Minister of National Defense, Kim Tae-Young, on March 20, 2010 and damage on navy public information board. The court decision against him, regarding those incidents, had been 1,900,000 won fine but he did not pay. Upon his arrest on Dec. 27, he was imprisoned due to unpaid fines. Even though Yang expressed his will to compensate the fines by prison labor, villagers and some people gathering money for him, made him released on Jan. 9, 2011.

    2011: Violently arrested for the reason that he entered under the construction car, with the charge of obstruction of business. Annexed with other charges such as violence in the other incidents, he was imprisoned for 59 days’ until he was released by the court decision of one year six months imprisonment and two year suspension on June 1. At the time, he made more than 74 days’ hunger strike.

    2012: Arrested on Jan. 30. Seeing that the police getting order from the construction company thugs, allowed the construction trucks’ entry at the risk of young female activists’ lives, he was infuriated. At the time, he was very weak in health but entered under a construction truck that was illegally making turn at the corner of a bridge, for the expression of protest against illegal construction. He was arrested under the charge of obstruction of business. He made more than 40 days’ hunger strike until his release on March 20 when he got the court decision of 10 months’ imprisonment and two year suspension.

    2013: Arrested and jailed directly from the court on the trial of appeal on Feb. 1, as mentioned above.  Since the evening of the day, he began hungers strike in protest of the government’s false report on the result of simulation ‘show,’ on Jan. 31 and for the revocation of the Jeju naval base project. He is called as the Gangjeong, Gureombi itself.

    Chy
    Photo and caption by Choi Hye-Young/ On Dec. 27, 2012, with Dr. Song Kang-Ho and young activist, Kim Min-Sou with guitar. Yang’s dream is to build a ‘ farming film school,’ in the Jeju. He was so moved by the movie, ‘Les Miserable,’ and has been reading the book fully translated. He also said he wants to write a critic not with words but with his life for the remaining of his life.

  • Ocean Monitoring Reveals Consistently Illegal Construction

    P1230022 - 2013-01-23 at 15-01-36

    New in the Gallery:

    On Wednesday, January 23rd, the two members from the SOS (Save Our Seas) ocean activism and environmental monitoring team took a kayak and went out to monitor the construction in the sea and also check the silt protectors surrounding the construction site. Although they were not blocked by the coast guard, the scene was quite comedic as the whole time they were surrounded on all sides by 8 coast guard motorboats. As the coast guard boats surrounded them and recorded their every action, they stupidly, completely ignored the massive amount of environmental regulation violations going on right next to them. Once again, the coast guard has shown itself to be a completely worthless organization, failing entirely to protect the sea or the coast, and merely being blind and dumb thugs for Samsung, Daelim, and their bloodsucking friends…

    Click here for pictures and more explanation

  • Aegis: Guard of the Guardians Themselves | notonlyformyself

    Reblogged with permission from: Aegis: Guard of the Guardians Themselves | by notonlyformyself *

    There are so many issues and causes to care about in the world.

    Tigers going extinct, homeless folks, religiously motivated settlers in the West bank. And then there is world politics, armament races and wildly differently opinions, conclusions and analysis aimed at explaining how to keep the citizens of the world safe.

    Issues that the villagers of Gangjeong have been forced to care about.

    They have filed cases. They have sued. They have chained themselves to cars. They have lobbied and demonstrated. They have been beaten and put in jail. Been black listed and thrown out of convention centers and meetings. Arrested for refusing to leave when demonstrating quietly outside a SAMSUNG(one of the biggest construction companies on the base) owned hotel during a UN/ROK joint conference on disaster and nonproliferation in Jeju. The are still fighting for the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, adjacent to the proposed military port. They have been called trouble makers, communists and North Korea supporters.

    Somebody hijacked their democratic process and their votes didn’t count when they said no to the naval base.

    They even walked from Jeju up to Seoul in what turned into a 5000 person march. That is how much they care.

    In addition, the main tourist bus driving from the airport in Jeju city to nearby Saegepo was re-routed so as not to expose the bus passengers to the demonstrations during the International Union for Conservation of Nature conference in 2011 and the participants were warned not to have any contact with the activists as they were dangerous. What actually happened at that conference is another story but basically the Korean government had, in exchange for a considerable amount of money, struck a deal with the organisation not to allow talks about the environmental consequences of the naval base construction. It became known and an unwelcome but unstoppable arena was created for the Gangjeong activists.

    But this is is not a Gangjeong issue, this really does concern you. Wherever you are. And I will tell you why.

    2011 the Obama administration announced a military strategic turn around, a whooping 60 percent of US military resources being shifting from Europe and the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific region in what is called the South Asian pivot. A new frontline of defence and the enemy has a new name. The WOM discourse has not completely gone to bed with the Bush camp but Red China is now the scary man of the mouth.

    Still wondering why you should care? Well, a new battle field is in the making in one of the most heavily populated area in the world, with the US as a main actor. Regions and nation states are being courted and divided up according to the old cold war logic.

    The United States already has 219 bases on foreign soil in the Asia-Pacific; by comparison, China has none. The Jeju base would augment the Aegis-equipped systems in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and the US colony of Guam. The Pentagon has also positioned Patriot PAC-3 missile defense systems in Taiwan, Japan (where the United States has some ninety installations, plus about 47,000 troops on Okinawa) and in South Korea, which hosts more than 100 US facilities. Source

    Many military analysts are saying it, the US naval and missile defence logic is morphing and sliding into the Asian region.

    As far as Gangjeong goes, about 6000+ US/ROK navy personal are moving in if the construction goes as planned. And Aegis is coming with them.

    They also bring:

    2 submarines

    20 large destroyers, equipped with the above mentioned sea-based Aegis ballistic defence system

    2 aircraft carriers

    What are we really talking about here? Well, there are numerous types of these warships. One type looks like this:

    The AEGIS is an integrated combat naval weapons system which uses powerful computers and radars to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets. Japan already have three of them, as do Spain and Norway. And the US of course who had them first. Looking at the technique behind it, this is basically how it works:

    The Aegis Combat System is controlled by an advanced, automatic detect-and-track, multi-function three-dimensional radar (the AN/SPY-1). Known as “the Shield of the Fleet”, the SPY high-powered radar is able to perform search, tracking, and missile guidance functions simultaneously with a track capacity of well over 100 targets at more than 100 nautical miles (190 km).

    The Aegis system communicates with the Standard missiles through a radio frequency (RF) uplink, but still requires the AN/SPG-62 radar for terminal guidance. This means that with proper scheduling of intercepts, a large number of targets can be engaged simultaneously.

    In other words, this system is both able to track as well as engage a massive number of targets at the same time. Their radar systems work independently even though they are sometimes referred to as Aegis class cruisers.

    Remember yesterdays blog entry. The simulation that was supposed to take place inside the base. Bringing cruise liners into the harbor. Not very likely.

    The activists here tell me that submarines that are coming to town are armed with nuclear missiles.

    The villagers may know this. Some do. But really. You don’t need to know the tech info. Exactly what kind of Destroyer is coming in or how the Aegis ballistic missile defense (ABMD)was started by President Reagan in the 80s and how it initially was supposed to be use in space.

    What it comes down to is this, do we really want another place in the world massively invaded by war ships and missile systems? There are other ways to deal with conflict and fear, like an improved level of communication.

    By the way, the blog title refers to the motto written in latin on the emblem. A guard for whom?

    *Reblogged posts do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Save Jeju Now

     

  • D-63: People’s picketing in protest to the navy and police who ignore the National Assembly condition on 70 days’ construction stop

    Jan. 7 was a busy day for the Gangjeong Village. The Gangjeong Village Association warned to the police through its official letter to Jang Jeon-Bae, Chief of the Jeju Provincial Police Agency, titled, “The police should immediately take off their hands from the Jeju naval base project of illegal construction,’ saying that “if the police continue to repress our just claims and activities with their mobilization of state power, we cannot but file for the judiciary disposal against  the related personnel.” (You can see the original Korean statement, here and related article here.)

    Otherwise, the village representatives meeting with Woo Keun-Min, Island governor, for about an hour in the Island government hall in the Jeju City at 5 pm, delivered a villagers’ opinion letter to him. The letter included the contents on the demand on the construction stop during the 70 days’ verification period and on the thorough verification on the simulation on 150,000 ton cruises planned within this month and ‘civilian-military complex port for tour beauty-the National Assembly subsidiary conditions attached to its passing of 2013 Jeju naval base budget. It is told that the Island governor Woo, showing positive attitude on the villagers’ demands, expressed his will to deliver the villagers’ opinions to the Office of prime Minister. (Please refer to a Korean article here.)

    In the evening at 8 pm, there was a general meeting by the villagers and activists who, fully filling the meeting room, discussed about the tasks and plans of the struggle in the future. Various discussion on how to unify centered on the villagers, how to inform the truth to the Island people and how to express our will etc. The details of content will be known through the future struggles in time.

    The below is a collection of photos  taken by many people from the morning of Jan. 7 to the early dawn of Jan. 8. They are the photos on the people’s picketings against illegal construction despite the National assembly demand on 70 days’ construction stop. Many young activists contributed to make the pickets on Jan. 7.

    Web-2013-01-07-09.38.48
    Around 9:30 am, the company thugs removed all the timbers of the barricade for the entry of construction trucks. Meanwhile, people’s 100 bows went on.
    Web-2013-01-07-10.23.50
    Around 10:23 am: The company thugs and security guys remove the trucks whenever there are little people in front of the gates, not necessarily for the entry for trucks. It is the talk with one security man (not the man in the photo). “Sir, why do you remove our stuffs. Are you properly getting wages for your works? We hear that the Government did not allocate construction costs from Jan. 1 because of the National assembly subsidiary condition on 70 days.” “It is a voluntary work.” “Are you serious? You don’t have your family members whom you should feed?” A peace activist uses his body to protect timbers.
    Web-2013-01-07-10.30.17
    Around 10:30 am, Jan. 7/ Various construction vehicles come and go. Where did the bidgets for those come from?
    Web-2013-01-07-10.31.24
    Around 10:30 am, Jan. 7/ Suspicious automobiles..
    catholic mass
    Around 11:10 am. Jan. 7, 2013/ During the Catholic mass, a construction truck is waiting for exit inside the gate of the construction area.

    Web-013-01-07-12.47.17

    Web2013-01-07-12.55.09
    Around 12:55 pm, Jan. 7: The police threaten people that they would arrest the young man and a Catholic priest under the charge of obstruction of business. The Catholic priest is holding a sign that reads, “Stop the illegal construction that is being enforced without allocation of budget since Jan. 1, 2013!” The young man is holding a sign, “Here is the Gangjeong village. Here is our village that we have to save to the end.”

    Director Cho Sung-Bong has the praising remark on the young man. “Love you, Dauri”. . .Young photographer, Dauri, is in direct peace action at the main gate of Jeju naval base building site. . .He has been arrested 6 times. . . has been on trials on charges of trespassing Gureombi rock three times and on charges of obstruction of business three times. . . Gangjeong is the school of Human rights, peace. ..and arts for him who has come as an 18 year old young man. He is now 20 years old. . .Photo essay by Cho Sung-bong, click here. (Regina Pyon)

    Web-2013-01-07-12.59.22
    Jan. 7, around 12:59pm: Despite illegal construction, police illegal detaining of people is continuously going on.
    Web-2013-01-07-12.59.33
    Jan. 7, around 12:59pm: We want to ask the policeman, “What will be if it is your hometown.” The young man is holding a sign, “Here is the Gangjeong village. Here is our village that we have to save to the end.”
    Web-2013-01-07-13.02.19
    Jan. 7, around 1pm: A young woman activist made a testimony, “ While a giant size vehicle hit me who was taking a record on the sidewalk, the police, letting alone the vehicle, illegally detained me.” You can see the Dungree video on the giant vehicle passing on the side walk and damaging it. (Click here, around 01:15-01:59)
    Jan-7-construction
    Jan. 7, around 2pm: About 10 dredge ships on the sea.. where did the construction budget come from? The navy has said it has left only 1.5 billion won at the time of National Assembly examination on budget.. Also the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it allocated only 16.2 billion won, which is applicable only for management cost and 20 days (90 days of the 1st quarter fiscal period minus 70 days). Several photos taken at similar time were linked together. Do you know that there are people who cannot sleep because of night time construction? Somone who lives far from the coast says it has been twice that she could not sleep at all because of night time construction noise on the sea from Jan. 1 to 7.
    7 20
    Jan. 7, around 7:20 pm: Three cement mixer trucks, a dump truck, a crane entered. A lightening car for the night time construction was turned on. The police continuously encircle people while saying it is for people’s safety. Are the police, government employee saying that they are not aware it is an illegal construction? Are they really the government employees who get wages from our tax? It was uncommon when a chief of police women, upon the protest by people, ordered her policewomen to release their arms that they tied together to detain a woman activist. Are the police hesitantly acknowledging that they could be punished under the charge of illegal detention? (maximum 7 years’ imprisonment and 10 years’ qualification pose)
    1 23
    Photo by Saltcandy Yohan/ Jan. 8, around 01:23 am The peace keepers are making all the efforts to stop the illegal construction.
    Novie Na 3 15
    Photo by Park Inchun, post by Novie Na/ Jan. 8, around 3:15 am

     

    See also
    TO HONOR OUR DESCENDANTS

     

    Hallo, is this the police?

     

     

     

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  • History

    an introduction to jeju

    One Island Village’s Struggle for Land, Life and Peace

    By Anders Riel Müller* | April 19, 2011

    In early April I had the chance to visit one of the most beautiful areas in South Korea. Gangjeong Village on the island of Jeju is a small farming and fishing community on the island’s southern coast. Entering the village you see citrus groves and greenhouses on all sides. On the main street, women were sitting on the sidewalk cleaning fish and selling them to the locals. The cherry trees lining the main street were just beginning to bloom. It was a welcome break from congested and crowded Seoul where I live. In many ways it reminds me of the island in Denmark where I grew up. Nothing special seems to be going on, and that’s the beauty of it. But this community of approximately 1,500 farmers and fishermen is in the midst of a struggle against the South Korean government’s attempt to build a major naval base right in the middle of their village. The Navy and the Korean government claim that the base will have minimum impact on the environment and that it will create jobs and attract new tourists to the area. The villagers will have none of it. They see that the base will destroy their way of life, their village and the peace that Jeju islanders strive for. But the navy continues to raze farms and fishing grounds despite their protests.

    Jeju’s Geo-strategic Curse

    The island of Jeju is as far away from Seoul as you can get geographically and mentally. This autonomous island province, located south/southwest of the Korean peninsula is in many ways distinct from mainland Korea. It’s relative geographic isolation, volcanic geological history, and warmer climate has formed a people whose traditions, food, and culture is as distinct as the islands natural features. Because of this, Jeju is also the biggest single tourist destination in Korea often named “Honeymoon Island” as it is a favored destination for newlywed Korean couples. The island economy is also distinct. Agriculture, tourism, and fishing are the three main economic sectors, helping the island preserve its natural beauty and traditional way of life. Development in Jeju can be said to have followed a pace in which it was possible to modernize without having to completely compromise the island’s environment, traditions and culture. This is not to say that Jeju is an untouched island paradise. Luxury tourist resorts, golf courses, and tacky tourist attractions can be found in many places, but once you venture a bit off the beaten path you will find the Jeju that makes it a special place.

    Nevertheless, Jeju’s curse is its strategic location between South Korea and Japan, and its close proximity to China. It is only 300 miles from the Chinese mainland and Shanghai. For centuries, Jeju has been the battleground for conflicts that had little to do with the islanders themselves. In modern times, Jeju was annexed along with the rest of the Korean Empire by Japan in 1910. Thousands of island men were sent to work in mines and factories in Japan and Manchuria, while women were forced into prostitution to service the Japanese Imperial Army. Towards the end of World War II, the Japanese heavily fortified the island, deployed 70,000 soldiers, and forced the islanders to construct coastal defenses in anticipation of a U.S. invasion. When Japan surrendered in 1945, Jeju joined the rest of Korea to celebrate the end of decades of colonial rule and exploitation. But for the people of Jeju, the horrors experienced under Japanese rule were nothing compared to what was to come.

    The Jeju Massacres

    The division of the Korean Peninsula by the United States and the Soviet Union turned Jeju into a battlefield for subsequent cold war conflicts on the peninsula. In 1948, with U.S. and U.N. support, South Korea held elections that established a separate state in the south, thus solidifying Korea’s division. In response, 30,000 islanders in Jeju went out to protest the elections, which was abruptly ended when police opened fire and killed eight protesters. This prompted riots throughout the island and the boycott of the South Korean elections by Jeju islanders. Unfortunately, the United States overseers annulled the Jeju election results due to their lack of participation, and Syngman Rhee was elected without the votes from Jeju counted. But that wasn’t all. Korean right wing nationalists labeled the entire island as Communists sympathizers. When U.S. backed leader Syngman Rhee took power following the elections, he initiated a massive “Red” cleansing campaign targeted the Jeju general population. Using the South Korean military and ultra rightist paramilitary groups from the Northwest Korean Youth Association, the Rhee government employed a scorched earth strategy of repression resulting in the indiscriminate raping of women and burning of villages. Thousands of people were killed. It is estimated that 70 percent of entire villages were razed to the ground and 30,000 people—ten percent of the island’s population—were murdered. It was a brutal precursor to what the mainland would experience during the Korean War.

    At the newly constructed Peace Park Museum and Memorial for the massacre, one can take a few moments to reflect on Jeju’s fate as a battleground for imperial and ideological conflicts and the meaningless loss of lives that people here have suffered. I went there on April 4th for the commemoration of “Sasam” as the massacre is called locally. From the thousands of people who were gathered for the memorial ceremony, it is clear that the massacre has left deep scars in Jeju society. For years, any mention of the massacre could lead to imprisonment and torture. Relatives of those who had been labeled as Communists were prevented from taking public service positions or jobs in many companies. Many are still afraid to talk about what happened.

    It was not until 2006 that the late President Roh Moo-Hyun officially apologized for the massacre and designated Jeju “Island of World Peace”. For 50 years, successive governments in Seoul silenced the Korean people’s memories of systematic murder, rape and torture. As one exits the museum, a sign reads: “Jeju April 3rd Incident will be remembered as a symbol of the preciousness of peace, unity and human rights.” But the government’s memory is short. Plans for a major naval base on Jeju had been in the works since 2002 at different locations, but opposition from local residents halted construction several times.

    The Plight of Gangjeong Village

    In Gangjeong however, the navy and the South Korean government seem determined to construct the base by any means necessary. I met an artist and activist Sung-Hee Choi is living in Gangjeong to support the struggle of the villagers. Gangjeong means the “Village of Water,” she says, referring to the abundance of surface fresh water in the area, a rarity on this island of porous volcanic rock. The clean water from the Gangjeong stream is what makes the farmland some of the most fertile on the island. Greenhouse after greenhouse and miles of citrus orchards confirm that farming here is a good way of life for the residents. Much of this will soon be paved over if the Navy and central government get their way. As we walk down to the beach, we pass bulldozed fields with chopped down wilted citrus trees and collapsed green houses. The Navy contractors from Samsung and Daerim are not wasting any time. It is quite obvious that such physical destruction is part of the Navy’s strategy to silence resistance in the village. Some residents have already given up the fight and sold their land fearing that they will be fined if they did not sell. The government alleges that the construction is legal, that the residents have been offered fair compensation, but many locals feel pressured and cajoled into selling their land.

    Down at the beach one quickly recognizes that this is a uniquely beautiful coastal stretch. The volcanic rocks, many coves and unique fresh water tidal pools provide habitats for a wealth of animal and plant life. Underneath the water, endangered soft corals provide habitat for an abundance of sea life. The importance of these ecosystems have been officially recognized by UNESCO as part of its designation of the Jeju biosphere reserve and the provincial government is currently seeking nomination as one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. But again the government seems to care little about these designations. Construction companies have already destroyed large areas of volcanic rock formations with their bulldozers and trucks.

    As we walk along the cliffs and lava rock formations, we have a moment to stop at a few of the fresh water tide pools filled with marine life. “I never noticed these pools before,” Sunghee says. “I have been too busy watching the navy watching us.” She points to the navy headquarters a few hundred yards away from where they track and monitor all movement on the coast. Except for a few women gathering shellfish, we are alone. Sunghee tells me that usually spies working for Samsung or the Navy disguised as sport fishers watch them. I can see that the constant monitoring is taking its toll on both activists and villagers. Each time I saw Sunghee over the few days, she always looked exhausted. From the perspective of villagers and activists, the navy is playing a game of psychological warfare with those who oppose base construction. We walk back to where we entered the beach. Artworks, posters and boards tell visitors about the unique ecosystems of this coastal stretch and how all of it will be destroyed by the base construction.

    On the rocks we meet well-known movie critic Professor Yang Yoon-Mo. A Jeju native, Mr. Yang has lived in a tent on the rocks for four years to protest the base construction. I ask for a brief interview but Mr. Yang declines. “There is no more to be said or explained,” says Yang. “Now I just want to enjoy the beauty of this place.” It is a beautiful and quiet spring day and the coast is almost deserted besides a few tourists. The peace is disturbed only when two minivans come down to the beach. Sunghee’s and Mr. Yang’s faces light up. The minivans have transported solidarity delegations from Okinawa and Gwangju to Gangjeong to support the villagers. Both delegations have experienced the consequences of being victims of larger geopolitical and ideological conflicts. Okinawans have protested U.S. military presence for decades and Gwangju delegates are relatives of the victims of the brutal Gwangju massacre in 1980.

    Sunghee explains that construction machines are usually there, but that they were probably withdrawn for fear of conflict with protestors during the weekend of the Sasam commemoration and the solidarity demonstration announced by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). Several villagers, including the mayor, have been injured and arrested from skirmishes with the police. It seems that this day the Navy and construction companies have decided it is wisest to withdraw given all the media attention during Sasam.

    Why the Naval Base on Jeju

    The Korean Navy claims that the new “eco-friendly” naval base will create jobs and increased security for the island. But it is difficult to imagine an eco-friendly 50-hectare naval base that will house 8,000 marines, up to 20 destroyers, several submarines and two 150,000-ton luxury cruise liners. Considering that each destroyer has up to a 100,000 horsepower engine it is difficult to see how the base can be considered safe for an ecologically sensitive environment, not to mention that most of the volcanic rock formation will be paved over with cement and concrete. The second argument is that the new base will provide an economic boost for the island. But what kind of jobs will be created? People in Gangjeong are farmers and fishers living off the wealth of land and sea. The jobs that usually accompany military bases are more likely to be in service industries such as bars, brothels and souvenir shops. The sheer size of the naval base will inevitably lead to the complete erasure of this community, and the villagers know it.

    The final argument for the base is that it will provide vital security for the island. But history shows otherwise. Any time a major military force has been present on the island it has led to death, displacement, and destruction of the local population. Jeju islanders experienced atrocities from the Japanese during the occupation and later by their own countrymen during the Jeju massacre. The real issue here is not about the security of Jeju, but rather the strategic placement of a new naval base tasked with securing shipping lanes which are the lifeline of South Korea’s resource intensive corporations. This new strategically located fleet will also take on an increasingly offensive role in the East China and South China Sea.

    In a recent article Christine Ahn and Sukjong Hong reveal how the base will play a strategic role in efforts by the U.S.-South Korea-Japan alliance to reign in Chinese naval expansion. While South Korea claims that the base is not intended for use by the United States, the likelihood that the U.S. Navy would utilize the base in any military conflict in the region is obvious given U.S. operational control over Korea’s military. The base is also viewed by some in the military establishment as symbolic of South Korea’s emergence as a world power in which the navy will play a central role. In an interview with the conservative paper JoongAng Daily Admiral Jung Ok-keun of the ROK Navy said, “The establishment of the flotilla is a sign that we are becoming one of the powerful navies in the world, the goal we have been dreamed of.” There can hardly be any doubt that this new 953 billion Won naval base will serve as a strategic offensive outpost for South Korea and its allies. In this context it is difficult to understand how a base in Gangjeong will increase security for Jeju residents. In a potential military conflict with China, Gangjeong will be an important strategic target, just as Pearl Harbor was for the Japanese in WWII.

    Still Hope

    Sunghee and I walk back to the village. She is clearly encouraged by the arrival of the Gwangju and Okinawa delegations, and re-energized by the peaceful and beautiful coastline. After teaching an English class to some local students, we walk over to one of the local restaurants for dinner before joining a solidarity demonstration organized by KCTU later that evening. We have to give up finding food in the center of the village because most of the restaurant owners have left for the demonstration. Sunghee tells me that the village has been torn apart by the struggle – neighbor against neighbor, and relatives and against relatives. Many have given up, exhausted and fearful of the Navy. Not all, however, have thrown in the towel.

    We arrive at the community soccer field situated right across the road from the main gate to the Navy headquarters. We greet the dog that activists, in a gesture of humor, have placed to watch the Navy headquarters, and join the 1,300 protesters who have come from all over Korea to support the villagers. It is already dark when we arrive, but the hundreds of candles held by the protesters provide a comforting atmosphere. Protesters are of all ages and walks of life: families with children, villagers, workers and activists. Watching the crowd sing songs for peace and reunification, it is hard to believe the government’s claim that the protest is the work of a handful of extreme activists.

    Sitting in the bus on the way back to my hotel, I reflect on the last few days in Jeju and how if this naval base is not stopped, the Gangjeong villagers’ livelihoods, histories and traditions may soon be erased from memory, all because of strategic geo-political ambitions that have nothing to do with them or their way of life. On April 6th, two days after my visit to Gangjeong, the navy began construction again. Sunghee Choi and Yoon-mo Yang were arrested and detained by the police. Sunghee was released the following day, but Mr. Yang was not released until April 8th. Meanwhile the villagers continue to block the construction of the base. To stay updated, follow Sunghee Choi’s blog.

    This UNESCO World Heritage designated island stands to lose much of what makes it part of our world heritage. The transformation of Jeju into a military base also shows that much has yet to change in South Korea before a true democracy is established. The strategies of subtle coercion and lack of transparency by both the Navy and the South Korean government against its own people are discouraging to any person concerned about democracy and the rights of people. The struggle of Gangjeong villagers for land, life, and peace should concern us all.

    *Anders Riel Müller is a fellow with the Korea Policy Institute who is living in South Korea.

  • About

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    The Save Jeju Now website is an up-to-date record of the ongoing nonviolent struggle to stop the Jeju naval base construction project currently being forced upon Gangjeong Village, a tiny town located on the southern tip of Jeju, the Peace Island, in Korea. Since 2007, The South Korean government has been oppressively trying to build a war base, falsely and absurdly named the “Civilian-Military Complex Tour Beauty Port”, on top of the village and its precious environment despite the opposition of a strong majority of the villagers (94% of voters). The base will be used by the U.S. military in its strategy to contain China in the Asia-Pacific through aggressive US missile defense system equipped destroyers.

    Jeju Island was designated as “The Peace Island” by the Korean government on Jan. 27, 2005 as part of a formal apology  for the 1948 “4.3 Massacres”, in which government forces and rightwing thugs slaughtered 30,000 Jeju civilians and burned 70% of the the island’s villages to the ground as the people rose up against the U.S. lead move towards the division of Korea. Now the forced base construction is bringing renewed state violence on the people of Jeju in what some consider a 2nd “4.3”. The people of Jeju and Korea aspire for Jeju to be a true peace island, with no war base, to set an example for the establishment of a truly peaceful Asia Pacific.

    Situation updates, calls for action, pictures, videos, and news are posted regularly in English and sometimes in Mandarin and Japanese. Through this site we hope to battle the lies and misinformation spread by the Korean Government, the Korean Navy leadership, and Samsung and Daelim, the primary construction companies which are illegally operating. We hope to spread the real truth about the deception, violence, and cruelty which the residents of Gangjeong Village and thier supporters have faced since 2007.

     

  • Gangjeong Village Story: Monthly News from the Struggle

    Every month the Gangjeong International Team produces a monthly newsletter called, “Gangjeong Village Story”. It is available as in both print and digital form (PDF). Below you will find the archived links to all the past newsletters available for download. If you would like to receive and distribute physical print copies, please contact gangjeongintl@gmail.com

    January 2013 Issue

    In this month’s issue:
    Struggle outlook after the presidential election and in the new year, a new support group forms, similarities of Gaza and Gangjeong, more prisoner releases, Buddhist unity ceremony, voting problems for villagers and more!

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    December 2012 Issue

    In this month’s issue:
    A message from Chomsky to Gangjeong, a new civil disobedience movement, prison letters, prisoner releases, construction accidents, art activism and more!

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    November Issue

    In this month’s issue:
    National Grand March for Life and Peace Comes to a close, outrageous findings in National Assembly inspections, Jesuit priest imprisoned, illegal security company hired to guard the construction site, 24-Hour construction begins and much more!

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    October Issue

    In this month’s issue:

    Gangjeong and the Naval Base Issue stir up the IUCN’s WCC 2012, New U.S. Links to the Naval Base found, ROK Government ignores the UN on Gangjeong, Interviews with Prisoner Kim Bok-Chul and a WCC participant, Articles from several Veterans for Peace visitors to Gangjeong, and more!

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    September Issue

    In this month’s issue:

    Thousands join Grand Peace March and Peace Concert, IUCN Rejects Gangjeong Booth, Typhoon Bolaven Damages the Construction Site, Interviews with Mayor Kang & Women’s Committee Chair Jeong, Articles from Prison by Dr. Song and Kim Dong-Won, and more!

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    WCC Special Edition Issue

    Specially published for those attending the IUCN’s World Conservation Congress 2012, held on Jeju from September 6-15 or for those visiting Gangjeong during that time. Contents Include:

    Summary of the struggle against environmental destruction and human rights violations in Gangjeong, Jeju, schedule of Gangjeong related events during the WCC 2012, information on visiting Gangjeong, information about historical relics discovered inside the naval base construction site, fact vs. hype refutation of ROK government myths, and more! 

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    August Issue

    In this month’s issue:

    The villagers fight illegal dredging, base pollution destroys crops, and activists point out the irony of IUCN’s choice of Samsung as one of its leading sponsors.

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    July Issue

    In this month’s issue:

    The navy pushes to steal more land, water issues, London Samsung Boycott, Construction Mocks Environmental Standards, Prison Letter from Dr. Song Kang-Ho and more!

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    June Issue

    In this month’s issue:

    6000 bows for peace in front of the Governor’s building, special international solidarity feature, harassement of village elderly, Father Mun wins the 5.18 Human Rights Prize, a letter from Guam and more!

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    More Back Issues Coming Soon!

  • ‘The Nation’ article on the Struggle against the Jeju Naval Base Project

    The Nation, one of the biggest progressive media in the United States recently published a story on the struggle against the Jeju naval base in its internet. Its magazine version will come in January. Please spread widely!

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    Website snap photo by Paco Booyah

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    http://www.thenation.com/article/171767/front-lines-new-pacific-war

    On the Front Lines of a New Pacific War

    Koohan Paik and Jerry Mander | December 14, 2012


    In Seoul, 5,000 anti-base protestors joined Gangjeong villagers who had marched, over a four-week period, up the length of the nation to the capitol. Credit: Fielding Hong

    On the small, spectacular island of Jeju, off the southern tip of Korea, indigenous villagers have been putting their bodies in the way of construction of a joint South Korean-US naval base that would be an environmental, cultural and political disaster. If completed, the base would hold more than 7,000 navy personnel, plus twenty warships including US aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and destroyers carrying the latest Aegis missiles–all aimed at China, only 300 miles away.

     

    Since 2007, when the $970 million project was first announced, the outraged Tamna people of Gangjeong village have exhausted every legal and peaceful means to stop it. They filed lawsuits. They held a referendum in which 94 percent of the electorate voted against construction–a vote the central government ignored. They chained themselves for months to a shipping container parked on the main access road, built blockades of boulders at the construction gate and occupied coral-reef dredging cranes. They have been arrested by the hundreds. Mayor Kang Dong-Kyun, who was jailed for three months, said, “If the villagers have committed any crime, it is the crime of aspiring to pass their beautiful village to their descendants.”

     

    Jeju is just one island in a growing constellation of geostrategic points that are being militarized as part of President Obama’s “Pacific Pivot,” a major initiative announced late in 2011 to counter a rising China. According to separate statements by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, 60 percent of US military resources are swiftly shifting from Europe and the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific region. (The United States already has 219 bases on foreign soil in the Asia-Pacific; by comparison, China has none.) The Jeju base would augment the Aegis-equipped systems in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and the US colony of Guam. The Pentagon has also positioned Patriot PAC-3 missile defense systems in Taiwan, Japan (where the United States has some ninety installations, plus about 47,000 troops on Okinawa) and in South Korea (which hosts more than 100 US facilities).

     


    Police arrest Jesuit priests protesting military-base construction. Credit: Jung Da-Woo-Ri

     

    The United States has also begun rotating troops to Australia and has announced plans to build a drone base on Australia’s remote Cocos Islands. (Also targeted is the gorgeous Palawan Island in the Philippines and the resource-rich Northern Mariana Islands, to name only a few on a long list.) In a whistle-stop tour of the region intended to shore up more allies last September, Panetta said the United States hopes to station troops in New Zealand as well, though approval for that has not been granted. Obama made his own tour just after re-election, courting Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand as potential trade partners and military allies in the encirclement of China. The United States has even reopened discussions with the brutal Indonesian military–collaboration had been suspended for several years because of human rights issues–in an attempt to influence this key trading partner with China.

     

    Adm. Robert Willard, head of the US Pacific Command (PACOM), gave context to these maneuverings in September 2011. In a speech at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco, he labeled the entire Asia-Pacific region–which contains 52 percent of the earth and two-thirds of the human population–as a “commons” to be “protected” by the United States. Normally, the word “commons” refers to resources commonly shared and controlled by contiguous parties. But Willard seemed to have in mind a massive “US commons” that extends nearly 8,000 miles from the Indian Ocean to the west coast of North America.

     

    Willard’s imperial rhetoric recently became concrete when PACOM reacted to disputes between Japan and China over islands in the geostrategically vital East China Sea. From its Pearl Harbor headquarters in Hawaii, Willard initiated joint military exercises involving 37,000 Japanese and 10,000 American troops. And last October, PACOM sent a Navy aircraft carrier strike group to Manila to show force in the Philippines’ dispute with China over the Spratly Islands.

     


    Members of Gangjeong’s “Save Our Seas” direct-action kayak team check for environmental violations committed at the base construction site, despite the recently instituted fine of $10,000 for “recreational boating.”

     

    Less well known is that PACOM activity includes overseeing the South Korean military. This condition dates back to the signing of the 1953 ROK-US Mutual Defense Treaty, which is still in effect. In fact, US hegemony over the entire region has remained unchanged for more than half a century, locked into an anachronistic cold-war landscape marked by similar bilateral agreements with Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines and a wide scattering of island nations. The rationale behind this “empire of bases” was once “containment” of communism. Obama’s Pacific Pivot is a turbo-charged update, not to contain communism but to contain China–economically, politically, militarily. China has responded by accelerating production of armaments, including a new aircraft carrier, while courting its own regional allies–especially among ASEAN countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, and others including Russia–in addition to reasserting control of shipping lanes in the South China Sea. As these two global behemoths shape a new geostrategic rivalry and arms race, tensions are dangerously escalating, and smaller nations and peoples are pressured to choose sides. As one activist said, “When the elephants battle, the ants get crushed.”

     

    Local Impacts

     

    On the island of Jeju, the consequences of the Pacific Pivot are cataclysmic. The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, adjacent to the proposed military port, would be traversed by aircraft carriers and contaminated by other military ships. Base activity would wipe out one of the most spectacular remaining soft-coral forests in the world. It would kill Korea’s last pod of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins and contaminate some of the purest, most abundant spring water on the planet. It would also destroy the habitats of thousands of species of plants and animals–many of which, such as the narrow-mouthed frog and the red-footed crab, are gravely endangered already. Indigenous, sustainable livelihoods–including oyster diving and local farming methods that have thrived for thousands of years–would cease to exist, and many fear that traditional village life would be sacrificed to bars, restaurants and brothels for military personnel.

     

    Gangjeong villagers also worry that twentieth-century history will repeat itself, turning their small village into a first-strike military target, as had happened there during World War II and the Korean War. The base protesters want never again to get caught in the cross-fire of global powers.

     

    The villagers’ struggle has been difficult. Dissidents in South Korea are quickly labeled “pro–North Korean,” blacklisted and often imprisoned. In Gangjeong, they’ve faced continual police violence but have continued to battle daily for five years. They do this despite the fact that most of their efforts have gone unreported by the highly controlled Korean press and an oblivious US media–at least, until this past September.

     

    A miraculous break presented itself when the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)–the world’s largest mainstream environmental group, which claims dedication to “a just world that values and conserves nature”–announced it would hold its quadrennial World Conservation Congress for 8,000 participants on Jeju September 6–15, only four miles up the road from the destruction and increasingly bloody confrontations.

     


    Some of the remaining endangered soft corals threatened by military-base development off the Gangjeong coast, Jeju Island, Korea. 

     

    The villagers rejoiced at the prospect of reporting their story to this gathering of world environmental leaders. However, they were soon shocked to find out that IUCN leaders planned to ignore the nearby catastrophe. What happened? It turned out that a horrendous deal had been struck, unbeknownst to NGO-member organizations, between IUCN’s top leaders and the South Korean government. The government had budgeted $21 million to support the convention. In return, the IUCN had agreed it would not allow discussion of the naval base during the convention without government approval, nor would it permit any of the villagers to participate in, or even get near, the proceedings. Additional financial support came from several giant corporations, including Samsung, the lead contractor in the base construction. It was only when an internal revolt erupted from within IUCN’s membership that the dubious deal was challenged and the struggle against the military base catapulted onto the international stage.

    Apparently, greenwashing the navy base was not the only reason the Korean government had paid so dearly to host the 2012 Congress in Jeju. It also wanted to promote a long list of what it calls “Green Growth” projects to a skeptical Korean public. The term is a grievous misnomer. These hugely profitable, environmentally devastating initiatives are driven by Korea’s chaebol–family-run monopolies such as Samsung, Hyundai and LG, which have interests in construction, defense and electronics, among other things. Recent Green Growth projects have included the manufacture, promotion and export of “clean nuclear energy.” The most notorious of the Green Growth boondoggles was the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, which was not a restoration project at all. It involved the construction of concrete channels to straighten Korea’s beloved winding rivers for commercial shipping. The project displaced farmers, caused floods, contaminated drinking water and slashed populations of migratory birds, and it continues to wreak havoc on the collective psyche of people in the area. At the 2012 Ramsar Convention, the World Wetlands Network named it one of the five worst wetlands projects in the world.

     

    After this debacle and in the face of the growing navy-base controversy, the Korean power elite needed the 2012 IUCN Congress in Jeju as a PR boost to appease heartsick citizens. It didn’t work out that way.

     

    IUCN Revolt

     

    Once they figured out what was going on, IUCN’s members were appalled. They were astonished that the Secretariat had so drastically compromised its values by partnering with the Republic of Korea. They should not have been surprised, though. Four years earlier, in Barcelona, IUCN members had decried a partnership between IUCN leadership and Shell Oil. And this year’s plenary panels were equally revealing: although the Gangjeong villagers were refused entry, Shell president Marvin Odum was invited to speak as an authority on climate change. On another panel, the CEO of GMO-breeder Syngenta, spoke on sustainable agriculture.

     

    Many disgusted IUCN members quickly joined in solidarity with the Jeju Emergency Action Committee, a group of anti-base/pro-Gangjeong activists that featured supporters like Vandana Shiva, Robert Redford, Gloria Steinem, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Noam Chomsky, Joseph Gerson, Christine Ahn and dozens of prominent scientists and environmentalists. During the convention, the committee sent a series of fiery protest emails to the membership, while promoting meetings and interaction with the villagers.

     

    Meanwhile, conference participants were getting a great lesson in Korean Civics 101: SWAT teams were roving the building, Koreans were racially profiled and searched at the door for anti-base literature, and four young women were ejected from the premises for wearing yellow anti-base T-shirts. When Gangjeong activist Sung-Hee Choi was spotted entering the convention center, she was rushed by twenty policewomen who denied her entry and snatched away her admission badge, for which she had paid $600. One IUCN member said, “I’ve never been to a Congress like this, where the state Ministry of Defense is at every meeting, putting on the pressure.”

     

    The turning point came when People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a Seoul-based NGO, disseminated a just-acquired report from the Ministry of Defense that had been submitted to the National Assembly. The report indicated that ships would regularly pass through the core of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, dooming all life in that area. Capt. Yoon Seok-Han, chief of base construction, promised during a press conference that no ships would travel through the core except in the case of bad weather (which is common in that area).

     

    IUCN members began to loudly denounce the Secretariat’s “deal with the devil.” The Secretariat backpedaled furiously to mitigate the rift that was rapidly materializing within its ranks. Suddenly, the organization encouraged anti-base presentations and allowed pamphleteering inside the convention center. The Gangjeong villagers found themselves the star attraction of the conference. They seized the moment and sold yellow T-shirts, and even held a concert that drew hundreds of spectators. Young villagers dressed as endangered species sprawled on the floor in tortured positions and held signs that said, “Please let me live!” The Korean sponsors were horrified.

     

    By Day Five of the conference, government officials were watching their exorbitant PR investment blow up in their faces. A Chicago-based NGO, the Center for Humans and Nature, introduced a surprise emergency motion to halt the navy-base construction. Within forty-eight hours, a record thirty-four other NGOs had signed on as co-sponsors.

    In the end, the motion won a huge majority of all votes cast by IUCN member organizations, though it didn’t pass because of a peculiar bias in how the IUCN tallies votes–nation-state-member votes weigh far more heavily than NGO-member votes. The Korean media dutifully reported that the “eco-friendly navy base” and “green growth” had prevailed. But for the Gangjeong villagers, the vote didn’t matter much. In their struggle for recognition, the 2012 IUCN “Battle of Jeju” counted as a tremendous victory. New light was shed on the dire consequences of the Pacific Pivot. As one villager said on the last day of the convention, “We are not lonely anymore.”

     

    Immediately following the convention, hundreds of villagers, joined by Buddhist and Christian leaders, led a one-month march to Seoul, picking up local supporters en route. When they arrived at the capital for a giant rally (which went unreported by the Korean media), the protesters were 5,000 strong. But back home on Jeju, the government had ramped up base construction to go 24/7, forcing villagers to extend their protest vigil at the construction gate around the clock, through cold, rainy nights and continual police attacks. Thus, the Gangjeong villagers’ life-or-death battle continues. One key upcoming date is the Korean presidential election. Activists hope that if center-left candidate Moon Jae-in is elected over right-winger Park Geun-hye on December 19, the base situation will be reassessed.

     

    New Resistance: Moana Nui

     

    As the Pacific Pivot advances across the region, local resistance movements like Jeju’s are also rapidly growing. Communities are increasingly refusing to be sacrificed by their governments as tribute to a superpower benefactor. For example, in Okinawa, 100,000 protesters have repeatedly taken to the streets, fed up after decades of “bearing Japan’s burden” of the US military presence, including rapes and violence on local citizens. Now, the people are protesting deployment of loud and menacing Osprey hybrid aircraft, which fly low over neighborhoods and are famous for crashing. In the Philippines, protests are building against the increasing US military presence, particularly over toxic dumping. Similar resistance is developing among smaller Pacific island nations–especially from indigenous populations in Melanesia, and in the Marshall Islands, where US missile tests are proceeding. (Marshall Islanders feel that the US nuclear bombing of Bikini and other atolls in the 1940s and ’50s sacrificed enough.) The latest blowback comes from the far-southerly, pastoral Japanese island of Yonaguni, only sixty-nine miles from Taiwan. The United States is pressuring Japan to build a China-threatening base there, but local resistance is mounting.

     


    Anti-base protest by Gangjeong women farmers.

     

    Now something really new has developed: the heretofore disparate peoples of the Asia-Pacific are unifying into larger coalitions for mutual aid and action. Fourteen months ago, when nineteen heads of state (including Obama) gathered in Honolulu for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations, an unprecedented parallel event was also under way across town at the University of Hawaii. Some 300 anti-militarism, anti-globalization, and environmental and indigenous-rights activists from across the region met for the first Moana Nui (Polynesian for “Big Ocean”) gathering. They collaborated for three days of private planning, coalition building and public meetings, concluding with a spirited march through Waikiki, and a large protest demonstration outside the TPP negotiations. It was widely reported in the Pacific, but not on the US mainland. The second Moana Nui is being organized for San Francisco next spring. Its first goal will be to awaken mainland Americans to all that’s at stake in the Pacific.

     

    The question, finally, is this: at a time of economic and ecological crisis, do Americans really want to ramp up costly and dangerous cold-war programs in hundreds of places, thousands of miles away, nearly always against the popular will of those who live there and with awful environmental effects? If not, then now’s the time for wide debate on the Pacific Pivot and all its ramifications.

     

    (Fwd by Bruce Gagnon and Kyle Kajihiro)

  • Jeju Naval Base Budget Cut, Construction Stop and Peace

    mas tree
    Photo by Lee Woo Ki/ People set up a Christmas tree on which they put their aspiration for peace, democracy, Government change,  and whole budget cut on the Jeju naval base project etc. For more photos by Lee Woo Ki on the ‘Let’s live together,’ sit-in camp  in the center of Seoul, see here.

     

    The writing below by Oh Hye-Ran was originally written for the Gangjeong Village Story: Monthly News from the Struggle | Decemeber Issue. (See the 1st page). The original Korean writing was translated by the Save Jeju Now and proofread by Uni Park.

     

    Jeju naval Base Budget Cut, Construction Stop and Peace

    The cut on the naval base is a core link that can actually stop naval base construction

    By Oh Hye-Ran, Co-convener, National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the Naval Base in Jeju Island

     

    The National Assembly cut 96 % of the Jeju naval base budget in December of 2011. The budget cut was a reprimand on the slapdash base layout, strongly expressing that construction must stop with verification on the flawed layout to be the first priority. In truth, the sub-investigation committee on the Jeju naval base project of the Budget and Balance Committee of the National Assembly demanded the Government to verify the matter of safe entry and exit for cruise ships in the Jeju Civilian-Military Complex Port (Jeju naval base) and to report the results.

    A year later, it was disclosed that it is difficult for a cruise weighing 150,000 ton to safely enter and exit the port because the turning field and navigation route in the layout are short of legal standards. It was also disclosed that there are many problems even for the large military vessels to enter and exit the port. Another disclosed fact different from the Government explanation that it is a ROK base, is that the Jeju naval base is being built following the standards demanded by the CNFK (Commander of US Navy Forces of Korea) for the US aircraft carrier Flotilla to be able to enter the port.

    Also disclosed was that the Government executed outside pressure in operation on the ‘Technical Verification Committee on the Cruise Entry and Exit of Port,’formed following the National Assembly recommendation, and in adaptation of the report. It was disclosed as well that the National Policy Control meeting (Feb. 19, 2012) in which the Government decided resumption on the construction drive was also based on incorrect simulation.

    Only with the facts exposed during the technical verification process and without all other matters, the Jeju naval base construction must be stopped. However, the Lee Myung-Bak Government is enforcing construction by ignoring the National Assembly recommendation and by hiding, distorting and manipulating related facts, from the position of the navy. It is known that the biggest power supporting the Lee Myung-Bak Government is the military, Samsung, civil engineering and building contractors, and armament expansionists who have expanded their power relying on division and the Korean War.

     The Jeju naval base budget cut was the hottest issue in the preparatory review of the defense budget in the National Assembly this year. The ruling Saenuri Party and opposition Democratic United Party (DP) countered each other in claims: Approval on the total budget as the Government proposal vs. cut on the whole amount of 201 billion won budget. The Seanuri Party used the Jeju naval base issue as the tool for the concentration of the conservative votes and for the attack on the DP. On Nov. 28, the Seanuri Party passed the Jeju naval base budget in snatched way, trampling down, by itself, the National Assembly recommendation presented in agreement with the opposition party a year ago.

    The position of Park Geun-Hye and her Sanuri Party is that the Jeju naval base is inevitably necessary and that she would build the Jeju naval base as a world-famous civilian-military complex port much like the one in Hawaii. Moon Jae-In, candidate of the DP made a pledge that he would stop the Jeju naval base construction and re-examine the project if he is elected. If candidate, Park Geun-Hye is elected President on the Presidential Election Day on Dec. 19, the 24 hour construction will be enforced and the dynamic force of the opposition movement will rapidly fall. On the contrary, if candidate Moon Jae-In is elected, there is a possibility that he would take a measure to stop construction and the opposition movement against the naval base project would be sprung upward.

    The Gangjeong villagers and peace-keepers have delayed construction by halting the entry of vehicles at the entrance times seven to ten times daily for at least 5- 10 minutes each. The efforts have resulted in about 50 billion won that the navy could not execute in construction work. If by encouraging citizens actions to oppose paying taxes on this unreasonable, unreliable security project and the entire 2013 Jeju naval base budget is cut in the Budget and Balance Committee of the National Assembly which is to be held after the Presidential election, the construction budget that the navy retains will run out around March or April of next year.  Even though they will want to continue the 24 hour construction, it cannot be possible without the budget.

    Given that, to cut the entire budget on the Jeju naval base is in fact a core link stopping the construction. Even though Moon Jae-In may be elected in the Presidential Election there is little things he can do until after his Presidential inauguration, planned date of Feb. 25, 2012. The Saenuri Party will gear up to pass the entire Jeju naval base budget not only in the case that Park Geun-Hye is elected but even if she fails in the presidency. The National Assembly’s examination of the Jeju naval base budget to be held right after the Presidential election, would be a very important watershed for the struggle, and could decide the prospect of the struggle against the naval base project.

    Through the construction of the Jeju naval base in Gangjeong village is, the United States will exploit this beautiful  and heaven-blessed Jeju to make it outpost to contain China. The Jeju history of suffering as a former war base under Japanese imperialism and the painful scars from the 4.3 massacres shortly after liberation from Japan must not be repeated in Gangjeong village today. Next year marks the 60th commemorating year of the cession of the Korean War. The Cease Fire Agreement must be replaced with a Peace Agreement to permanently prevent war and to systematize peace.

    I dream of the day when the peace of North East Asia starts with the peace in Gangjeong village and on the Korean peninsula, by engaging international solidarity to Gangjeong village for the Jeju naval base budget cut and to stop construction, and with the establishment of the Government through regime change that would realize inter-Korean conciliation and cooperation, concluding with a peace agreement in Korea.

     

    .

     

     

  • A Christmans tree stands but violence occurred from the Monday morning

    A peace keeper, Park Yong-Sung, who stayed in the sit-in tent across the construction gate overnight wrote in the morning of Dec. 17.

    tree
    Photo by Park Yong-Sung

    ‘The tree of peace was made near the Gangjeong stream thanks to uncles and peace keepers in Gangjeong who cut and brought trees. The religious elders also helped to make the tree.

    However, from the morning, there were construction workers’ physical and mental violence onto us. And the police responded late to such violence, while continuing circling of people with verbal violence.

    As the Jejus Christ who was persecuted has become the symbol of peace and love, I hope Gangjeong would be overflowed with peace and love…’

     

    Another peace keepers, Jang Hyun-Woo wrote on the details of violence in the morning of Dec. 17.

    Dec 17
    Photo by Jang Hyun-Woo. For more photos by Jang Hyun-Woo on Dec. 17, see here.

    By Jang Hyun-woo (translated/ for the original site, click here)
    Around 6:30am, this morning, cement mixer and general work trucks began to gather one by one in front of the Poonglim resort building (* near the Gangjeong stream and construction gates)

    Around 7am, the bows for life and peace began then around 7:35 am, workers came out in front of the naval base construction gate, 5 minutes after their gathering inside the construction site.

    They began to remove the lumbers (that the peace keepers had put as barricade) in front of the naval base project committee building complex, while the construction vehicles began to slowly move.. The peace keepers stopped the trucks to come inside the gate of the naval base project building complex. When the trucks were to turn their way to the main gate of construction site, they blocked them in the crossing road.

    Among five large and general vehicles, two vehicles entered into the main construction gate while the other three could not make entry but had to return back to the front of the Poonglim resort, waiting for another chance.

    It occurred that we were circled by the construction workers, fell down and were injured in four or five places during the process of stopping the vehicles to the main construction gate. It even happened that a male construction worker strangled a neck and pushed the chest of a female peace keeper.

    Even though there was no peace keeper who was greatly injured, the Samsung and Daelim construction workers, confirming that the peace keepers had no camera, dared to kick them.

    The workers  should be inquired for the charges.

     

    ……………………………………………………………………….

    [Dec. 16] Companies install caissons before simulation, which a thorough ignoring of even Island governor’s demand

    caisson installation
    Photo by Jang Hyun-Woo/ See more photos by Jang Hyun-Woo on Dec. 16, here

    Following the Samsung’s input of 8800 ton caisson last night, the Daelim stationed its 3~4,000 ton caisson into the sea this morning.

    Despite the Island governor’s demand to the navy on Oct. 30 to stop the input of caisson on the sea until the finish of simulation on 150,000 ton cruise, the navy thoroughly ignores that.

    On Oct. 18, 2012, Governor Woo has declared to the villagers in the talk meeting with them that he would ‘stop the breakwater construction in the Gangjeong Sea without fail’ even though it is difficult for him to order construction stop before simulation.”

    On May 1, 2012, even Park Geun-Hye, the daughter of military dictatorship and Presidential runner of the ruling conservative Saenuri Paty said that simulation verification has to be prior to construction on break water.

    For more, see here.

    …………………………………………………………………………………..

    See also Christian Karl’s blog

     

    [12.17] ‘SKY’ Sit-in Struggle Village @Daehanmun

    [12.15] Workers’ Presidential candidate was beaten