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No War Base on the Island of Peace

Tag: Chang Ha-Na

  • Village mayor’s lawsuit against the Prime Minister to demand 0.9 cent solatium

    Photo by Jang Hyun-Woo/ On Nov. 23, village mayor Kang Dong-Kyun filed a lawsuit against the Prime Minister to demand on 0.9 cent solatium for betraying citizens.

     

    On Nov. 23, 2012, Kang Dong-Kyun, Gangjeong village mayor, filed a lawsuit against the Prime Minister, Kim Hwang-Sik, to demand 1 won solatium. 1 won is 0.9 cent by the US currency standard. Why? The below translation explains the purpose of the lawsuit that is hoped to be extended into citizens’ campaign to demand the Prime Minister to make an official apology, stop construction and cut all budgets on the Jeju naval base project.

    Prof. Shin Yong-In, Professor of the Law School of the Jeju University and legal advisory to the Village Association mentions in relation to it:

    “With the exposure by Jang Hana, National Assembly woman, on the technical verification committee meeting minutes and testimony by Prof. Kim Gil-Sou, member of the technical verification committee, in the Island Council inspection, it became completely clear that the Civilian-Military Complex Port for Tour Beauty is a fabrication. Therefore any justifications for construction drive and budget allocation have become disappeared [..] If that part becomes certainly AN ISSUE, our struggle will have tremendous power to bring construction to be stopped and whole budget to be cut [..] We should demand the Prime Minister to make an official apology for his deception to people and to stop construction (destruction). And the Presidential candidates should make public their positions on the Government that cheats  people”

    ( Korean language source: Click here)

    The Prime Minister should make an official apology to the people for his deceiving of them!

    Stop construction (destruction)!

    Cut all budgets on the Jeju naval base project!

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    Mayor’s statement

    : Filing a lawsuit against the Prime Minister, Kim Hwang-Sik, to demand 0.9 cent solatium

     

    1. On Feb. 29, 2012, ‘the result and measure plan on the technical verification on the port-entry & exit by cruise,’ related to the Jeju Civilian-Military Complex Port for Tour Beauty, was discussed in the National Policy Control meeting that Kim Hwangsik, Prime Minister, presided over. As the result of meeting, the participants in the meeting told to confirm that it is possible by and large for 150,000 ton cruise to enter and exit port of the the Jeju Civilian-Military Complex Port for Tour Beauty, decided to drive the construction such as dredging in earnest, to complete construction by 2015 as planned.

    2. Since then, the site of Gangjeong was transformed into a situation being alike a battle field where endless daily clashes occur between the navy that enforces construction (destruction) with the mobilization of police and peace activists that make efforts to stop it. For a year of 2012 alone, about 390 people have been arrested.

    3. However, on Nov. 19, 2012, it was exposed through the inspection by the Administration and Self-Governing Committee of the Jeju Island Council that the report by the technical verification committee meeting supervised by the Office of Prime Minister was framed on the condition that the Government doctored the meeting result to avoid layout alteration and construction stop, which was through the testimony by Prof. Kim Gil-Sou, Korea Maritime University, who has joined the technical verification committee meeting. It has  turned out that Government personnel [in the meetings of technical verification committee] raised [different opinion of] whether there is a firm need to change a harbor and bay design when as much as 150 billion won is more needed for the layout change for cruise to enter the port. It also turned out that the chairman of the technical verification committee meeting induced conclusion into the way that no construction stop is to be realized, he saying in person that it is the basic measure of the Government to conclude the verification matter, when various matters such as the talk that even the entry of military vessels are difficult, not to mention cruise ships, were raised in the meetings. It is also told that the Government changed the 2nd simulation result report by the Ministry of National defense as if it is the report that the technical verification committee has officially acknowledged even though it was a mere reference material. Prof. Kim Gil-Sou told in conclusion that he considers the base design was not for the civilian-military complex port from the beginning.

    4. Otherwise, according to the movie that Park Won-Chul, Island Provincial Council member, obtained, it turned out that the simulation was done with the use of four not two tug boats, different from the Government assertion. The government lied from the beginning to the end. As a result, it has become clear that the Civilian-Military Complex Port that the Government and navy have made so much propaganda is merely a fraud play against their citizens.

    5. In the old age of history, Confucius has told that three elements of security, economy and people’s trust are important in doing politics. He has also said if one should unavidably abandon one, the first should be security, second is economy, then the last one is people’s trust. The people’s trust to Government is the most important element for the Republic of Korea to exist. The Government cannot exist if it is not be trusted by people. Still the Government has thoroughly betrayed people as if it is the Jeju civilian-military complex port while it is in fact Jeju naval base. How can you trust the Government that betrays people. It should be an example that the Government who betrays its people is thoroughly punished so that Government cannot betray its people again.

    6. Since the decision by the National Policy Control meeting supervised by Kim Hwang Sik, Prime Minister, is based on the result of the inducement and manipulation of the result from the technical verification by the technical verification committee, Kim Hwang-Sik, the Prime Minister cannot avoid his responsibility for his intention or fault on it.

    7. Since I have been forced to take speechless mental suffering due to the decision of construction drive by the intention or fault like above, Kim Hwang-Sik, Prime Minister, is responsible for the compensation of solatium for my mental suffering.

    8. Now I became to make decision to demand solatium to Kim Hwang-Sik, Prime Minister, on my mental suffering. Even though I long to demand hundreds millions of solatium to him, as I, upon the naval base construction, became to have more than 150,000,000 won debt since I have had no time to spare to care for my household, my health has become worse, physically, too, and I suffer for insomnia, I made decision to demand only 0.9 cent to him in the hope that all the citizens join this lawsuit for solatium, and in symbolic sense as well.

    9. I demand Kim Hwang-Sik, Prime Minister officially apologize to deceive people even now and cancell the decision on the resumption of construction, based on the falsified technical verification report. If Kim Hwang-Sik, Prime Minister neglect my demand and continuously ridicule citizens, I will extend my lawsuit to demad 0.9 cent solatium into all citizens’ movement.

     

    Nov. 23, 2012

    Kang Dong-Kyun, Mayor of the Gangjeong village, as the starting runner for the lawsuit to demand 0.9 cent solatium

    (Korean language source: Click here)

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    See also the Jeju Weekly, regrading the decision by the Office of Prime Minister on Feb. 29, 2012 and blast of the Gureombi Rock on March 7, 2012.

    http://www.jejuweekly.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=2444

    Seoul plans 1.7 trillion won investment in Gangjeong

    Naval base contractor gets police go-ahead for explosives use

    Friday, March 09, 2012, 09:21:06

     

    See also here on the  villagers’ refusal to accept the proposal by the Office of Prime Minister

    http://savejejunow.org/you-cannot-buy-us-with-money/
    “You cannot buy us with money!” Villagers dissipated the Prime Minister Office presentation again.

    Oct. 26, 2012

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    People’s 24 hour protest and completion of the 3rd caisson

    Meanwhile, people’s 24 hour protest to stop construction vehicles went on. The night time entry/exit of cement mixer trucks resumed on Nov. 19 after 10 days ‘ absence. The 24 hour mobilization of police and people’s 24 hour protest resumed again, too.  Despite the weekend break, the whole scene will restart on Monday, Nov. 26, again.

    Photo by Lee Woo Ki/ People carry stones over night to stop the night time entry/exit of trucks . For more photos on night time protest by Lee Woo Ki, see here.

     

    Scene of violent oppression on protesters in the night of  Nov. 20.

    Video by Yange Gon (Source: Click here)

     

     

    Scene of the caisson production area on the Gureombi Rock, Gangjeong village , around 7am, Nov. 24, 2012, Saturday

    Video by Navi (Source: click here)

    The 3rd 3,300 ton caisson has been recently completed and is in the condition of being dried at the cost of human rights violation and environmental destruction during 24 hour construction that started on Oct. 25.

  • Evidence Shows Government Ordered Data Doctored on Jeju Naval Base

    Image: Hankyoreh

    Base opponents now have concrete and irrefutable evidence to back up what they have suspected and declared for a long time. Assembly Woman Chang Ha-na has found and disclosed the full record of the meetings between the Prime Minister’s office and the Technical Committee, revealing publicly the complete lie of the so-called “civilian military dual use port”, as well as the general deception, and poor and hurried planning behind the Jeju Naval Base Project.

    The following article appeared on the Hankyoreh website on Oct. 10 and was the headline article on the front page of the Korean print edition on Oct. 11. Click to see original article.

    Evidence Shows Government Ordered Data Doctored on Jeju Naval Base; Committee recommended simulation tests, but construction was rushed ahead

    By Heo Ho-joon, Hankyoreh Jeju correspondent

    Evidence suggests that the government ordered data to be doctored to allow for the construction of a controversial naval base on Jeju Island without conducting simulation safety tests for cruise ships entering and exiting the base.

    Accounts from members of the technical committee examining the base, ostensibly a joint civilian-military “tourism harbor,” suggest it was designed as a military port, with the simulations planned only to give the appearance that it would also be accessible to 150,000-ton cruise ships.

    Democratic United Party Rep. Chang Ha-na, who sits on the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee, disclosed full records on Oct. 10 from four meetings of a technical committee under the Office of the Prime Minister that convened in January and February to examine the port’s suitability cruise ship entry and departure. The six-member committee had six members recommended by the ruling New Frontier Party, the opposition, the administration, and the province of Jeju.

    At the fourth meeting on Feb. 14, one committee member hinted at government doctoring of the data for a simulation on the port’s safety for 150,000-ton cruise ships.

    “The government’s telling us to come up with data that would allow construction to begin right away without a simulation,” read the records of the technical committee’s meetings.

    Also, at the first meeting on Jan. 26, members of the committee made statements to suggest that the port was originally designed as a naval base, with no design changes to make it suitable for use as a civilian harbor.

    Statements made at the second meeting on Jan. 30 indicate that the design changes in question were not made, showing the government’s pledge to have been false.

    One committee member said, “I have no idea why [President Lee Myung-bak] gave that wild figure of 150,000 tons.”

    “You would need to make the boats smaller,” a second responded. “It doesn’t work for that region. The problem is that they had to go claim it could accommodate two 150,000-ton boats and design it around that.”

    A third said, “So the government was building a naval base and it went ahead and made the pledge [for a civil-military harbor capable of accommodating two 150,000-ton cruise ships] without examining the design at all. If they’d looked closely enough, then maybe this 150,000-ton stuff would never have been said.”

    A fourth said, “If you’re building a cruise dock, the first thing you need is harbor facilities. . . . They’ve got boats that size [150,000 tons] coming in here, and nothing’s changed with the surface. . . . And the reason is there’s an underlying assumption nothing’s going to be changed.”
    The committee was chaired by Sogang University professor Jeon Joon-soo and included Korea Maritime University professors Park Jin-soo, Kim Se-won, and Kim Gil-soo, Cheju (Jeju) National University professor Lee Byung-gul, and DY Engineering executive director Yu Byeong-hwa. The secretary was Im Seok-gyu, Jeju policy officer for the Office of the Prime Minister.

    After four meetings, the committee concluded with the recommendation that a vessel simulation was needed to take into account the repositioning of harbor structures and placement of tugboats without major changes to the existing harbor design, and was then disbanded.

    Since the committee’s fruitless discussions and non-binding conclusion, the government and Navy have pushed ahead with the construction, conducting no simulations and making no design changes to date. The project is currently 22% complete, according to the Navy.

    Other evidence surfaced to suggest the committee members were told that the construction would continue and there would be no design changes.
    One member said, “Ever since they set this [committee up], there has been the assumption that the construction would be going ahead all the while. They’re asking us to find some kind of technical alternative that wouldn’t require any design change.”

    Another member responded, “Right now, the government’s worried that the construction is going to be delayed” by a simulation.

    The same member said, “We advised [the Office of the Prime Minister] that a simulation was needed, and they said, ‘Can’t you just put a little phrase in there or something without messing up the construction timetable?’”

    Chang declared that the meeting records bore out suspicions that the government and military planned the harbor as a military port and looked for a way around the 150,000-ton cruise ship issue after the President made his remarks.

    “They need to halt the naval base construction and reexamine [the port] from square one,” she added.

    Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

    Front Page of the Korean Print Edition of Hankyoreh.