Peace and Music Camp to End the Korean War/ Sharing Solidarity with Tanegashima/ U.S. nuclear submarines and precarious peace/ Remembering the endangered species killed by forced move/ The construction of Gangjeong Naval Base Access Road/ The Navy’s illegally installed signboards and warning/ 3 days in Woljeong-ri, experiencing communal car/ Stop dumping nuclear-contaminated treated water into the ocean/ The Jeju governor should accept a referendum/ Space Industry and Space Alliance/ Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes/ Daejeong offshore wind power project rejected by residents/ Korean Democracy Heading Toward Totalitarianism/ Gangjeong activist ruled guilty/ April 3rd is a unification movement/ Watching Crossings in Gangjeong/ Jeju Anti-Discrimination March/ The hope of solidarity glistening in intersections/ PSI in Jeju proves Jeju is outpost for the US/ GEIA on the THAAD completed in a hasty manner/ To hold the US accountable for dropping atomic bombs/ The 24-Hour Peace Wave/ Opposition to Talisman Sabre/ Taiwan Marine Conservation Activists’ Jeju Solidarity Visit/ Sharing about Gangjeong soft corals in the US/ PNG opposition to Defense Cooperation Agreement/ Messages from Hawaii to Okinawa/ East Asia Peace Walk in Taiwan/ Remembering the Killing Fields of Sri Lanka/ Dance of the Stones, Stories of the Gangjeong Jikimi/ Thoughts about participating in ‘Something Peace’/ “From Armistice to Peace” etc.
The problem is inequality/ Cheerful Energy Brought by Sept. 24 Jeju Climate Justice March/ Scrap the Saemangeum New Airport / A year-round Jeju March for Climate and Peace begins/ Civilian-military complex port access road linear improvement construction/ Deceptive ‘Civilian-Government-Military mutually beneficial soccer tournament’/ Deceptive 2040 Jeju City Basic Plan Draft/ Repeal the National Security Law / Memories of Gureombi bring people together/ Only kindness and peace will save the world from hatred/ Woljeong overlaps with Gangjeong/ Alternative Habitats Indulging Development Desires/ Active ‘protection’ of MPAs is needed/ Strong Protest of Jeju Farmers/ Appearance of Sharks/ Dramatic Re-escalation of War Drills/ The Danger of Trilateral Alliance and Asian NATO/ Why Sailing Matters/ THAAD base normalization will never happen!/ South Korea aims to be world ’s #4 arms exporter/ The US Space Force goes to Korea/ Militarization rushes on in the Sakishima Islands/ The Guahan struggle against open burning and open detonation/ New bases for US use planned in the Philippines/ A new toxic leak in Hawaii/ Gangjeong Book Village Friends disbanded/ From Confrontation to Peacebuilding etc.
Two Wheels for the Peace Island Jeju/ Koh Gil-cheon’s “Red Gureombi” exhibition/ Gangjeong Peace Center Opening Celebration/ Joint Discussion on Conflict Areas in Jeju/ Making Jeju peaceful for human, cetacean and marine life/ Facing Off with Gendered Militarism/ South Koreans say, “No to War drills!”/ RIMPAC and What Followed/ From Armistice to Peace etc.
Blow, Spring Wind/ With RIMPAC, South Korea Expands Its Military Footprint/ World Peace University invites new energy to the village/ Women conscientious objectors’ movement keeps on/ International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament/ The Local Election and Jeju 2nd Airport project/ Illegal Dolphin Transfer from Jeju to Geoje Accused/ Woljeong-ri and Jeseong village/ Celebration and Concerns in the CNMI/ Connecting Past and Present in Okinawa/ The ROK-US-Japan alliance, NATO, and Global Alliance/ With the Nuri Rocket, South Korea heads for Space Imperialism/ In Soseong-ri, police are mobilized five times a week/ etc.
Gureombi’s Power Lives On/ International Messages Upon the 10th remembrance year of the blasting of Gureombi Rock/ Gangjeong Protectors’ Seminar Series/ Navy Base affects Soft Coral in the Gangjeong Sea/ “Spring Wind” Pilgrimage to Meet Another World/ No New Airport in Jeju, Gadeokdo or Saemangeum/ Construction for the military road comes into full swing/ The true nature of the navy base entry road straightening project/ I dreamed in prison/ Common issues for the improvement of the Jeju EIA system/ Resisting to the attempt to secure a supply line for THAAD/ For a People-led ‘Alddreu Grand Peace Park’/ Hosting International Visitors at the Alddreu Memorial/ Heading into “New Space” imperialism more and more/ Resisting to the attempt to secure a supply line for the THAAD/ Whales Will Save the World’s Climate—Unless the Military Destroys Them First (Excerpts)/ US Indo-Pacific Strategy to exacerbate regional tensions/ “Water is Life: Choosing Water Over War”/ Gangjeong has no expectations for Yoon/ Trial Updates etc.
Light Aircraft Carrier, Jeju Naval Base, US Indo-Pacific Strategy/ The 2021 Gangjeong Peace Activist March/ The release of Song Kang-ho/ Accusing the Navy Chief of Staff on Gangjeong Stream/ Ocean Action/ Update on the struggle against the 2nd airport project/ The New Space Era of South Korea with Rockets/ Opposition to AUKUS/ Rocket Lab: Privatized Militarization of Space in New Zealand/ US Militarization of Guam and the Marianas/ Updates from Henoko and Miyako/ The War Drum-beating 53rd ROK-US SCM etc.
Gangjeong Struggle Reached 4,000 Days & Beyond/ A New Era. No THAAD Base Construction! No Naval Review!/ The Night for the Memories of Vietnam and Jeju/ Kings Bay Plowshares/ Gangjeong Villagers Join Annual Okinawa Peace March/ Women of the Philippines & Jeju Talk Militarization / Gangjeong is April 3rd/ Sewol Ferry Tragedy Remembrance/ No SMA! No Money for USFK!/ Ann Wright Visits Gangjeong Village/ Mang-gi Chose Prison in Refusal to Pay Fines/ Poetry Night: No Jeju 2nd Airport/ Nullify the 2nd Jeju Airport(Air Base) Project!/ International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament/ad. On Inter-Island Solidarity Peace for the Sea Camp in Jeju 2018 etc.
In the article on Kings Bay 7 (page 3), a sentence is corrected to “They pled not guilty and expect a trial date to be set in early August.” (rather than “They pled not guilty and are awaiting trial in early August.” Pre-trial hearings are expected on Aug. 3)
Jeju Islanders Steadfast in Eight-Year Fight Against U.S.-South Korean Navy Base
Veterans For Peace Delegation Joins the Struggle
By Ellen Davidson
A daily ritual begins early in Gangjeong Village on Jeju Island, South Korea, site of a joint U.S.-South Korean deepwater naval base.
Activists surrounded by police as they make “100 Bows” in the early morning at the Jeju Island naval base entrance. Photo by ELLEN DAVIDSON
At 7 am every morning, activists at the entrance to the military base, begin a “100 bows” prayer. Police are lined up around them to make sure they don’t block construction vehicles. On this particular morning, this spiritual presence is augmented by Catholic peace workers, some of whom spent the previous night here in the raw damp. A mattress lies by the side of the road, occupied by Father Mun, one of the most famous radical priests in Korea. When he gets up, he is surrounded by an entourage of police who move with him as he walks, blocking his way if he tries to go too close to the road into the base. At one point, he shakes his cane at them, shouting in Korean that he is not a contagious disease to be quarantined this way.
Father Mun on the mattress where he spent the night outside the U.S.-South Korean naval base. Photo by ELLEN DAVIDSON
Villagers have been protesting construction of the Gangjeong facility and the attendant destruction of the surrounding environment for eight years. Every day, no matter the weather, they are out at the base entrance with their placards and banners, plastic lawn chairs, flower arrangements and carved wooden signs, with which they attempt to block vehicles from entering or exiting the site.
Veterans For Peace delegation organizer Tarak Kauff is set down at the side of the base entrance by South Korean police. Photo by ELLEN DAVIDSON
After the 100 bows are completed, protesters move into the next phase: police step back and allow them to move their chairs into the middle of the gateway, where they sit while the traffic builds up on both sides of the entrance. Every 20 minutes or so, a policeman comes out with a microphone and announces that if they do not leave, they will be removed. When they fail to move, 20-30 police move out and pick up the chairs (with their occupants) and flowers. They carefully deposit the chairs (still containing their occupants) by the side of the entrance and surround them while traffic is allowed to pass through the gate. When the lines of waiting cars, trucks, and construction equipment have all moved in or out, the police withdraw to their shelter behind the fence, and the protesters resume their positions in the middle of the entrance.
At 11 am, Mass begins. The removals of the protesters take place less frequently, as it is no longer “rush hour” to get to the construction site, but there is brisk traffic in and out of the gate throughout the entire day. For an hour and a half, the Catholic Mass is broadcast via speakers across the street. The protesters also have a cordless mic, and they chime in from time to time with a song or a portion of the service.
Following the Mass, the protest gets a little rowdier, with Korean pop music and dancing. Usually, this ends the daily vigil, but today the protesters stay until all the vehicles exited the gate, well past dark. This is because they were especially motivated by the previous day’s events, when a protester had been hit by a construction truck. She was taken to the hospital, where she required surgery to reconstruct her foot, which was crushed, and two other demonstrators had been arrested and taken to Jeju City. Upset by this escalation, Father Mun and others stayed the night, and Father Mun has vowed to fast until the two are released.
Veterans For Peace delegation stands with banner while giant construction vehicles leave the site. Photo by ELLEN DAVIDSON
Another aspect that made this day different was the arrival of a delegation of members of Veterans For Peace. The group of 13 includes one Korean War veteran and two others who were stationed in Korea during their military service. They joined in the protest at the gate in late afternoon, unfurling a banner that said “VFP Supports Ganjeong Village! No Navy Base!” They met with a warm welcome as they took their place among those sitting in the chairs and were carried off to the side by police. “I am thrilled that a Veterans For Peace delegation is here in strength in Jeju ,” said Bruce Gagnon, who first visited Gangjeong six years ago and has been supporting the struggle ever since. “I felt proud while we were standing in front of the gate holding our banner.”
Iraq War veteran Mike Hanes is carried out of the base entrance by South Korean police. Photo by ELLEN DAVIDSON
“I’m excited that two great post-911 veterans are with us,” said Tarak Kauff, one of the delegation organizers. “These younger veterans bring fresh energy and insight to our movement, and they are a critical part of building and strengthening the organization.”
The delegation will be on Jeju for a week, before traveling to Okinawa to join protests against expansion of U.S. military bases there. “We are here to learn more about and stand in solidarity with those feeling the direct ecological and human impact of U.S. base expansion as part of Obama’s pivot to surround and provocatively encircle China,” said Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space.
Sung Hee Choi, a leader of the Gangjeong international team. Photo by ELLEN DAVIDSON
And for the people of Gangjeong, a village of 1900 that depends on the ocean for its economic survival, the impact is already evident, as they see the destruction wrought by the base construction on their sacred rocky Gureombi coastline and the endangered coral forests off their shore.
In this this July and August Special Edition:
Reflections on 2015 Gangjeong March (domestic and international/ writings and photos), Gangjeong as the co-recipients of the IPB award, U.S. Ships and Fighter Jets are are here, the 23rd Global Network conference in Kyoto, Connecting Bath and Jeju, Returning to Jeju, Taiwan anti-nuclear activist’s solidarity with Gangjeong, The Ghost of Yasukuni Cancelled by Jeju City, a miracle in relation to the Sewol Ferry incident, trial updates, anti-naval base struggle shown in numbers, Peace for the Sea international Sea Camp in Okinawa, 2015 , navy’s outrageous move, Captive dolphins return to Jeju Sea, Jeju’s soft coral suffering from damage, ‘Black Eagle’ Airshow invades village, international solidarity, and more!
The writer Frank Cordaro and his companion Jessica Reznicek have lately stayed in Gangjeong for two months, joining every day’s 100 bows and mass in front of gate. Their reports on Gangjeong can be much found here.
Photo by Pang Eunmi/ Fr. Kim Sung-Hwan gives the Eucharist to Frank Cordaro and Jessica Reznicek in a daily mass in front of the naval base construction gate.
by Frank Cordaro – Mass at Jeju Navy Base entrance, June 27, 2015
Dear friends,
I wish to thank Father Kim for allowing me to talk to you today, as a farewell message after my two month stay with you.
I want you to know that your daily presence here at the main entrance of this U.S. /South Korean Navy Base, doing the 100 Bow Prayer at 7 a.m. and the Mass, rosary, singing and dancing at 11 a.m. has been one of the most powerful and spiritual experiences of my entire adult life as a Catholic peace and justice activist.
As a U.S. Catholic Christian I must confess the U.S. Catholic Church lives in a great spiritual darkness under the influence of the American Imperial culture and the great wealth and properties the Institutional Church owns and our bishops manage. Proof of this spiritual darkness can be seen in all the immoral, unjust, and illegal wars and military interventions the U.S. has inflicted on millions of peoples all over the world, including Korea, in my lifetime, with an almost complete capitulation and cooperation from our bishops and Catholic institutions.
In a country where Catholics have confused the modern crucifiers of Jesus with the Crucified Lord, our sacred liturgies are greatly compromised. We are missing some basic Gospel elements that go beyond the bread and wine, the official spoken words and the ordained priest. I have experienced those missing elements every day, here when we celebrate Mass at the entrance of this Navy Base.
In all four Gospels, the location of where the story of the Pascal Mystery takes place is central to its meaning. In the Gospels the Jesus story takes place in 1st century occupied Palestine. Here in Gangjeong Village, your Mass, the rosary, singing and dancing take place in an occupied country too — Korea.
In all four Gospels the city of Jerusalem and its Temple are made contested space when Jesus and his disciples organize a street demonstration – what we call ‘Palm Sunday’ – and Jesus does his direct action witness in the Temple, what we call the ‘Cleansing of the Temple’. Here in Gangjeong Village, you make this Navy Base contested space every time you celebrate Mass, pray the rosary, sing and dance here at the gate.
In all four Gospels, there is a measure of risk that Jesus and his disciple take for confronting the Imperial culture of their times. This accounts for the secrecy that took place with the Holy Thursday gathering in the upper room that ended with Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion.
Every time the police carry us off this drive way, they tell us to move voluntarily. They tell us we are breaking the law and that we can be arrested. And this is no empty threat. Over the years of your resisting the building of this Navy Base, many of you have been arrested, some of you have done jail time, sometimes for months, even years.
When speaking of the real presence of Christ in our Catholic Mass the elements of location, contested space and risk taking are just as important as the bread and wine, the words spoken and an ordained priest. You have all these essential elements every day at the gate and I sense the real presence of Jesus here more than any Mass I have attended in a U.S. parish or Cathedral.
In today’s first reading from the book of Genesis (Gn 18:1-15), Abraham and Sarah offer hospitality to three strangers. And in act of offering hospitality, they are told something about themselves they did not know, that within a year Sarah will give birth to a son. May I be so bold as one who has enjoyed your hospitality to share with you what I see happening in your ‘Save Jeju Now’ community.
Your beloved Gureombi Rock that Father Mun and many of you sing so lovingly and longingly about at the gate every day is destroyed, ripped apart under tons and tons of cement. And despite your best efforts, this Navy Base is being built. In fact it is close to completion.
Your Bishop, Peter Kang said it best, “The destruction of Gureombi Rock is a challenge to the human Civilization and the Creation of God”. And I say, the Navy Base that sits on its broken body is an abomination!
These days, your community is in deep grief for your loss of the Gureombi Rock and the inevitable completion of the Navy Base and the changes it will bring in its wake.
Know that grief is the basis for the Prophets’ prophetic imagination found in our scriptures. And it was from the grief of disciples’ loss of Jesus on the cross that their eyes and hearts were open to the resurrection of Jesus and their Easter experience that followed.
Know also that your struggle is known to many around the world and though you did not save the Gureombi Rock and stop the building of this Navy Base, your continued faithful nonviolent resistance to this god-awful base inspires many peace and justice activists around the world.
You should know the death of Gureombi Rock need not mean its end, any more than the death of Jesus was the end of his story. You can find a new beginning of what Gureombi Rock means through your continued nonviolent Faithful resistance to this Navy Base.
My prayer for you is that through the grief you are suffering today, you will move from a community that failed to stop the building of this god-awful Navy Base to a community determined to continue your nonviolent resistance to this Navy Base with the goal of converting the culture of death and Empire that sustains this Navy Base and all the military bases that occupy your country. That you will not stop until all US military bases are gone from your lands and the divide that separates South Korea and North Korea will no longer exist.
In today’s Gospel reading from Mathew (Mt 8:5-17), a Roman centurion comes to Jesus asking that his servant be healed of a paralyzing, dreadful illness. Today with you, in these last two months I am that Roman centurion asking Jesus to heal my fellow U.S. Christians back home of a paralyzing, dreadful illness!
I come from the belly of the Beast. The U.S. Empire spends on its military almost as much as the total amount of money all other countries in the world spends on a yearly bases. We have over 600 military bases in over 100 counties in the world. In 1968, Martin Luther King said, “The U.S. is the greatest purveyor of violence in the World”. Since then, it has only gotten worse. This violent and destructive way of living is built on the legacy of the genocide of our Native American peoples and the enslavement of African Americans.
In my lifetime we have destroyed hundreds of “Gureombi Rocks” beginning with the ongoing pollution of our own lands, air and waters. We are the leading force behind a destructive way of living on the planet that is putting all life at risk. We need to be stopped!
You can help us heal the paralyzing, dreadful illness that we U.S. Christians suffer by continuing your nonviolent Faithful resistance to this Navy Base and help lead the world in the needed task of disarmament and peace making.
I assure you, when I return home to the U.S. I will sing of your praises and urge my Catholic Worker and peace activist friends to come to Jeju Island and witness with you, here at the entrance of this god awful Navy Base where the real presence of Jesus can be found and the hope for a disarmed world is made possible.
(The writing above was a little edited by sunny, a member of village international team)
