Guest Speakers; Benjamin Monnet. French activist who lived in Gangjeong for eight months before being violently (and illegally) deported for defending the beautiful coastline currently being destroyed.
Yoon Young Joon: ex SOAS, peace and human rights activist, visited Gangjeong last summer, and experienced first hand police violence to peaceful protestors.
Learn about the struggle to stop the US / South Korea naval base on Jeju Island, South Korea. Benjamin Monnet gives his personal reflections on joining the amazing ‘peace makers’ of Gangjeong village. As Obama pushes for a US military ‘Asia Pivot’, South Korea steps up political arrests and human rights abuses against its citizens and denies entry to NGO officials and international supporters. Meanwhile, a renowned film critic, jailed for his opposition to the naval base, approaches the 50th day of his hunger strike to demand justice.
An Illustrated talk and discussion open to SOAS students and the public. T shirts, books and jewellery from Gangjeong village, Jeju Island will be on sale and Village newsletters available.
Source: UK Solidarity team
A Letter to Deported Benj (Video by Dungree on April 18, 2012)
Photo and caption by Fox David/ March 11th, 2012 GANGJEONG, Jeju Special Self-governing Province, South Korea
1 year has passed
March 7th, 2013 was the date commemorating one year anniversary on the navy’s blast of the Gureombi Rock despite people’s fierce opposition to it.
The people’s struggles to save the Gureombi Rock, the absolute preservation coastal area of the Gangjeong village, reached one of their highest points during the time when the blast was continued for two months since March 7, 2012.
Photo by Lee Wooki, March 6, 2012/ Just one day before the start of the blast, tension was already being formed as people made efforts to stop the explosive-loaded trucks from a gun powder factory. For more photos by Lee Wooki who reminds the atmosphere of March 6, 2012, see here.
On March 2, 2013, there was a nationwide citizens’ rally in the Gangjeong village, which commemorated it. See the days’ photos and video, here.
The below is a small recollection and is focused on the oppression on international activists. It might not fully include all the happenings. Please pardon for any missing in advance.
Why the Gureombi Rock?
It was because as a villager has laid bare his heart, “Gangjeong is the Gureombi. Gureombi is the Gangjeong.” The one-body andesite that extends about 1 km from the east and west of the coast is very rare in the dominantly basalt-formed Jeju Island that was created by volcanic activity. With its soft and smooth rock surface of which the forms are various, the fresh abundant spring water among those provides the habitats for diverse endangered species, such as red-feet crabs, Jejusaebaengii(Jeju fresh water shrimp), and narrow mouth toad. For villagers, it has been not only a life ground for making living, but for maintaining community spirit and meditation on life. It is a site where one realizes that it is the very site that one has looked for somehow: The wholeness of life.
Such common feeling and idea on the Gureombi Rock was one motivation that could strengthen people’s unity against the Government’s merciless destruction of the Gureombi Rock, the nature, the peace, and ourselves somehow.
Further, the water mattered.
Headline Jeju, March 9, 2012 (Original source: Gangjeong Village Association) / Water became soon contaminated after the Navy’s first blasting on Gureombi rock. On the day, the woman who took this photo in the Metboori, the east part of the base project area, was also arrested though released soon.
The underground water underneath the Gureombi rock is highly guessed by the villagers to be connected with the Gangjeong stream that feeds 70% of the citizens in the Seogwipo City (the southern part of the Island). Beside that, the Gangjeong Sea is known as the cleanest and most beautiful sea throughout the Jeju Island, being the only UNESCO-designated soft coral habitats and one of the most frequent sites of the Indo-Pacific bottle nose dolphins, the IUCN-listed species.
Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo who had lived in the Gureombi Rock for three years until the navy forcefully set up its fence on Sept. 2, 2011, in an effort to stop the naval base project, was being imprisoned for the 3rd time and was in the hunger strike. As the blast started on March 7, he hit his 28th fast day. He stopped even water and salt since the day until his release on March 20.
March 4, 2013. One year later. “Illegal construction site/ The construction companies eventually broke the silt protectors while they unreasonably push those. The pristine Gangjoeng Sea where soft coral and Indo-Pacific bottle nose dolphins have been dancing is being destroyed (Photo and caption by Park Incheon/ Fwd by Saltcandy Yohan)”
The blast was unjustly forced through political fraud.
For the two months, the navy blasted about 10% of the Gureombi Rock: East and west parts of it to build the caisson production area and shipment site.
The National Network of Korean Civil Society for Opposing to the Naval Base in Jeju Island stated in recollection of one year ago, on March 7, 2013. See the whole Korean statement, here:
On Feb. 14,[2012], the technical verification committee on the Civilian-Military Complex for Tour Beauty issued its last report and acknowledged the fact that: “If the current execution design for the Jeju naval base construction is [continued to be] applied as it is, the original government pledge that it would build a civilian-military complex port for 150,000 ton cruise passenger ships cannot be kept. However, Lee Myung-Bak the President, declared that he would build the Jeju naval base construction without any explanation on it. Then the Prime Minster who had written in his facebook that the civilian-military complex port for tour beauty is impossible to be realized suddenly changed his attitude and started to push the construction. The Minister of Prime Office held the related government institutes’ measure meeting joined by the National Police Agency and Coast Guard etc. to support the enforcement of construction declared by the President, followed by assertion that there is no problem in the base construction, one-sidedly accepting the simulation report presented by the Ministry of National Defense on [Feb.] 23. Then it enforced the blast of the Gureombi Rock with a rush on [March] 7, [2012].
It was such an unjust and unreasonable process even Woo Keun-Min, the Island governor and members of the ruling conservative Saenuri Party opposed. See here and here.
A second 4.3: The human rights violation reached its highest point during the blast.
For 28 days alone since the start of the blast on the Gureombi Rock, more than 90 people were arrested while 20 people, swooned, were carried in ambulance for the police violence. Still the village sirens for protest rang everyday. For more, see here.
On March 9, the 3rd day of people’s war against the blast alone, 30 people including Angie Zelter, Nobel Peace nominee, Catholic and Protestant missionaries were violently arrested. Four people were carried to hospital. See the Dungree video in the below. On the day alone, the siren rang six times.
Following the arrest of Rev. Lee Jeong-Hoon and Jesuit priest, Kim Jeong-Wook on March 11 ( imprisoned on the day and released on April 4), Dr. Song Kang-Ho was eventually imprisoned for his fierce struggle on April 3 (released on Sept. 28). As for the navy and police’s abuse of their power, Mr. Lim Ho-Young was another victim. Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo who was arrested and imprisoned since Jan. 30 could be released only on March 20, after more than 42 days’ prison fast. Fr. Mun Jeong-Hyeon who fell from the 7 m tetra pod during his protest to the reckless coast guard on April 6 would suffer from the back and waist pain for long time despite his unexpected quick release from the hospital.
The people entered into the Gureombi Rock, risking high sea waves, security-filled fences, dangerously piled up tetra pods, and police and navy threat. The people chained themselves to vehicles to stop the explosive cars, eventually being taken away of all their cars. The cars were returned back only six months later. The people connected their arms with pipes to stop the explosive cars, only to be met by police’s merciless breaking down of those pipes with hammer (March 19) and electric saw (April 16).
It was the 2nd 4.3 in the sense that the base project is pushed despite people’s opposition, by the foreign (United States)and outside power(main land). On Feb. 24, the Chief of the Seogwipo Police Station had been informally decided to be changed with Lee Dong-Min, a figure from the main land. It was coincided with an opening of the Jeju International Peace Conference (the 20th anniversary of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space)
With the start of the blast, about 700 police personnel from the main land arrived the Jeju, reminding the 4.3 incident period from 1947 to 1954 when the central Rhee Syngman government, a U.S. puppet then, dispatched military, para-military, and police of the main land to mercilessly suppress the people’s uprising in the Island.
Oppressions on international activists were never precedent.
On Feb. 26, 6 Koreans and 10 international peace activists including seven Global Network members, such as Bruce Gagnon and Dave Webb were arrested while they crawled under the razor wire on the Gureombi Rock. See the report on it here.
After the blast of the Gureombi Rock started, the actions by international activists and oppression on them were remarkable. Angie Zelter who entered the Gureombi Rock on Feb. 26 was eventually arrested on March 9 when she entered the fence. The Daelim company thugs’ violence on her during the process was one of the subjects of people’s criticism on March 10 Press Conference. You can see her own account on March 9 arrest, after her release here.
It was the time that oppression on international activists started in earnest. Benjamin Monnet who first came to Gangjeong in May 2011 and had stayed for months eventually got injunction order on March 14 after his arrest on March 12 (See here). Angie Zelter who was arrested again on March 12 got exit order on March 15, as well. See the people’s statement in relation to it, hereand Angie Zelter’s here.
To be coincident, Elliot Adams (Past President of the VfP), Mike Hastie, Tarak Kauff, three members of the Veterans for Peace, US, were violently and inhumanly denied entries on March 14 while their intention was to ‘stand in solidarity with the villagers.’ See here. Bruce Gagnon states that ‘the South Korean authorities had a photo of each of them in their hands and told them they would not be allowed to enter Jeju Island.’ You can see the report here . And the statement by the VfP, here. Remarkably, it was for the first time that the members of the VfP, United States, were denied entry into South Korea, signifying that the naval base project is a highly sensitive matter for the authorities of the United States and South Korean governments.
It was not only those three VfP members. During the two months of March and April, 5 people from Okinawa and Japan were denied entries. They are Nakamura Sugae and her daughter(March 27), Ryuji Yagi ( March 31), Umisedo Yutaka (Okinawa, April 2), Tomiyama Masahiro (Okinawa, April 6). From August 26, 2011 to Oct. 16, 2012, the total people who were denied entries to Korea, in relation to the Jeju naval base issue, were at least 20, while the total numbers are 24. It is because the last three people were repeatedly denied entries during the WCC period, Sept. 6 to 15, 2012. In June, even an international Catholic priest was threatened to be deported. See here. For the whole matters on the deportation, see here.
Though, not deported, harasses on international activists were remarkable. Paco Booyah reported on the incident of March 24, 2012. See here.
The oppression on internationals especially during the time of the blast on the Gureombi Rock signified the growing international solidarity to the threat of the United States and South Korean authorities, otherwise.
The International peace activists have often gotten unjust disposal from the South Korean authorities for their peaceful protests against the war-base building in the Jeju. We so thank them and hope to share with you the urgency to protect international activists who fight to save the Peace Island.
Post by Pat Cunningham/ “Stop the Oppression on International Peace Activists” It was the sign that the village international team held on March 2 upon the 1st year anniversary of the blast on the Gureombi Rock. The oppression on internationals were in earnest with the start of the blast on the Gureombi Rock on March 7, 2012.
Remembering international peace messages. Time to strengthen solidarity for peace
Beside Benjamin Monnet who still sends his deep friendship and solidarity with Gangjeong, here is a heart-touching message from Angie Zelter who sent us a message on the 1st anniversary of the Gureombi Rock-blast:
Source: Angie Zelter in Gangjeong on March 8, 2012, 104th International Women’s Day. She held the Earth flagwith Jeong Young-Hee, chairwoman of the Village Women’s Committee to Stop the Naval Base.
Dear Jeju Friends, a year ago I was with you in Gangjeong, crying as the blasting of the sacred rocks started. I know your struggle continues and is very hard and long. You are courageous and are fighting for all of us. Our struggles are the same – to fight against war, oppression, and the abuses of corporate power. I am sorry I cannot be with you but know that I share your pain and struggle.’
Here in the UK I have just started a new direct action campaign to try to stop the replacement of our nuclear weapon system and persuade the Government to give them up. It is linked with your struggle as we must all in our own ways stop our Governments from wasting resources and lives on war preparations.
I send you much love and solidarity and will never forget you. Please send my greetings to all those whose knew me and whose emails I do not have.
Love and hugs, Angie.
( Angie Zelter on March 7, 2013)
The below video (by Yang Dong-Kyu) was taken for the 4.3-memorizing event in Jeju, just before Angie Zelter’s leave of the village where she stayed for a month. It is always great to remember all the valuable experience of international solidarity and to strengthen it. We pay our deep gratitude to all the international friends who have shown friendship and solidarity despite serious hardships that they had to suffer from, continuously reminding us that the universe and we are one.
Photo by Song Dong-Hyo/ The 2nd event for the Jeju as the Demilitarized Peace Island, Gwandeokjeong, Jeju City, March 1, 2013. For more photos and event briefing by Paco Booyah , see here.
1. Yang Yoon-Mo reminds the history and vision of the Jeju
It was exactly here in Gwandeokjeong, Jeju City, March 1, 1947 when 6 people were killed by the constabulary governed under the US Army Military Government in Korea during their parade on commemorating independence movement on March 1, 1919. It was here when Hur Du-Yong, uncle of Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo who hits his 32nd day of prison fast as of March 4, 2013, was one of those six victims. His uncle Hur was only 15 years old then, the youngest among the six. Still Prof. Yang has not said much about his personal history. The personal history must have been for him only a window that would open him toward the vision for the Jeju, as true Peace Island, demilitarized, filled with life and peace.
The 2nd event for the Jeju Demilitarized Peace Island on March 1 happened to coincide with the start of the US-ROK annual war exercise called Key Resolve/ Foal Eagle. In the Gangjeong village, people’s 24 hour protests to night time construction trucks were still going on. It was ever more significant that the active move to build the Peace Island was declared again in the historic place along with the opening of the 4.3 movie ‘Jiseul‘ in Jeju on the same day. A recent article in the Truth Out helps well our understanding on the historic background of modern Korea. See here :
“The Korean War that lasted from June 1950 to July 1953 was an enlargement of the 1948-50 struggle of Jeju Islanders to preserve their self-determination from the tyrannical rule of US-supported Rhee and his tiny cadre of wealthy constituents. Little known is that the US-imposed division of Korea in 1945 against the wishes of the vast majority of Koreans was the primary cause of the Korean War that broke out five years later. The War destroyed by bombing most cities and villages in Korea north of the 38th Parallel, and many south of it, while killing four million Koreans – three million (one-third) of the north’s residents and one million of those living in the south, in addition to killing one million Chinese. This was a staggering international crime still unrecognized that killed five million people and permanently separated 10 million Korean families.” (Source)
Two days before the 2nd event for the Jeju Demilitarized Peace Island on March 1, he wrote the two page long letter to Dr. Song Kang-Ho who being in full comradeship with prof. Yang, has led the campaign. Here is the excerpt from Yang’s letter who urged people joining the day’s event. You can see his original Korean letter, here:
As I enter a long time fast, I happened to have a phenomenon close to dyslexia because I can’t concentrate well due to not smooth brain activities. So I am just focusing my nerve and heart only on the balance of ‘body,’ all day.
So while there are numbers of letters from the overseas, nationwide, and Gangjeong, I could never reply to them. [..] (For more on his status, see the contents in No. 3)
The matter of Gnagjeong suffering illness for the naval base [project] is merely an advance notice. Our agony is that it is not a situation when we talk the “matter of Gangjeong,’ and “matter of the whole Jeju Island” separately. In a big frame, it is the time when there should appear a movement body that seriously realizes and acts considering the two matters as one together [..] Therefore I consider the appearance of the ‘declaration on the [Jeju] as the demilitarized Peace Island,’ very timely. To say strictly, the peace movement in the Jeju reached to the 2nd turning point. I think that the experience in Gangjeong should be more developed and expanded. [..]
“Let’s save Jeju!
Let’s save Jeju entering into one hundred year’s suffering!
The Jeju is now in dangerous forked road!
The Jeju Island should be no more slaves of capital and security.
It is the time to say, ‘No!’
To fully inherit the beautiful nature, environment and Island people’s war-less community to the descendants, I urgently appeal to you to join the march on the declaration rally on the Jeju ‘Demilitarized,’ Peace Island”
( Excerpt from the letter by Yang Yoon-Mo, one of the declarers on the Jeju, Demilitarized Peace Island, from the Jeju prison, Feb. 27, 2013)
You can see Yang’s interview on the Gureombi Rock in 2011, here.
Photo by Paco Booyah/ Yang Yoon-Mo’s letter read during the March 1 event program. See more event photos, here.
2. People’s statement to build the Jeju, Demilitarized Peace Island on March 1.
And here are the excerpts from the people’s statement on March 1. To see the full statement in Korean, see here:
[..] The Jeju Island has been used as a bridgehead for the Mongol to invade Japan during the period of people’s resistance against Mongol [in the 13th century].
It was used as an overseas site for the Japanese military to bomb China in the China-Japan war during the period of Japanese occupation [in 1937].
It has been strained to a breaking point as Japan built the whole Island as a military stronghold at the end of her imperialism [in 1945].
As such, the Jeju Island has often taken a role of military base because of its geopolitical importance.
During the 4.3 period (* 1947 to 1954), Rhee Seung Man, [the puppet government under the United Sates] said that he would let the United States to build a permanent base in the Jeju.
In 1970, President Park Chung-Hee, [the father of Park Geun-Hye, the new South Korean President who was inaugurated on Feb. 25, 2013] said that he would provide the Jeju Island as a new US base in replacement of Okinawa.
Since the construction of the air base, Songak Mt., Moseulpo, about 20 years ago was stranded, the government is building a naval base in Gangjeong after it attempted [but failed] it in Hwasoon and Weemee.
However, the Jeju Island is the World Peace Island!
In last 2005, the ‘Government designated the Jeju Island as the world Peace Island so that the tragedy of Jeju 4.3 can be sublimed with cooperation & co-existence and contribute to the peace of world.
The Jeju Island that has endlessly suffered and been sacrificed by the domestic and overseas power has finally become to rise into a new epicenter of peace.
However, such efforts for the Demilitarized Peace Island has gradually become collapsed as the naval base became to be driven in the Jeju.
We don’t want the Jeju positioned at the intersection point of continent and maritime to be the arena of competition between two powers.
Rather, we pray for it to become the outpost for peace as a buffer zone between the two powers.
It is to build the Peace Island in Jeju, with neither military nor military base, neither war nor violence.
It is to accomplish preservation on nature and protection on environment by clarifying opposition to all the thoughtless developments.
It is to plan for the precious lives’ native growth, opposing the terror to all the lives.
It is eventually to accomplish a self-reliant community of the permanent neutral to which no intervention by a foreign or other powers reach.
That is the essence of the Jeju Demilitarized Peace Island.
On March 1, we, here in the Gwandeokjeong being alive by the spirit of the patriotic forefathers who resisted to wicked foreign powers and tried to save the precious Jeju community,
Are to abandon collapse and destruction, the products of war and violence,
Are to accomplish resurrection and restoration, the fruits of peace and co-existence.
For that, we make resolution to realize the Demilitarized Peace Island through constant practices and peaceful efforts.
We, confirming our determination and practical will, also declare that we would step together with all the conscientious citizens in the world including Jeju.
March 1, 2013
People who make the Jeju as the Demilitarized Peace Island
3. Yang Yoon-Mo’s prison fast inspires overseas
Photo by the Village International Team. Mr. Koh Gilchun and Ms. oh Soonhee, After visiting Yang Yoon-Mo in the Jeju prison.
On Feb. 28, Mr Koh Gilchun, Jeju artist, Oh Soon-Hee, a director of a small theater, and a village international team member visited Prof yang who hit 28th prison fast as of Feb. 28.
Known later… Ms. Oh Soon-Hee is a sister of Mr Oh Myul, a movie director of Jiseul, the Sundance grand prize 4.3 movie.
Thin though, Prof. yang looked bright. He has been in a sick room of the prison for 10 days. in the sick room, he stays with two other people and was wearing a patient cloth.
He has recently begun to take enzyme as he feels powerless.
He said he is getting many support letters from the domestic and international. Even though he wants to reply to them, he feels so energy-less. So he asked to deliver his great thanks to all the domestic and international friends.
Regarding the march 1 event, he said he is pleased for two things.
First, he is pleased that the 4.3 movie ‘Jiseul’, begins to screen on March 1. He wished that at least about 30,000 people could see the movie. it is known that at least 30,000 people were sacrificed during the 4.3 period, 1947 to 1954.
Oh Soon-Hee said that she got the contact from the movie theater manager on Feb. 27 that he would increase the daily screening numbers of Jiseul from 6 to 11 as many people are more and more interested in the movie. she also said the Jiseul team is considering to screen the English subtitled once a day.
Prof yang also said that he is pleased to see a meaningful 3. 1 event , the 2nd event for Jeju demilitarized, commemorating the fuse of 3.1, 1947, when 6 people were killed by the police under the governing of the US military government and became the fuse of 4.3 incident. he said he hopes this could be a momentum for many Jeju island people to be aware of the importance of the jeju as the demilitarized and self reliant .
A postcard from Benj and Five postcards from Okinawa were delivered to Prof Yang. T shirt from Benj (photo) was shown to Yang and he was very pleased. Thanks so much, Benj and friends from Okinawa.
Otherwise, on March 4, Ishle Yi Park‘s message was sent through Benj
‘Aloha, Hope you are well and in light. I am a mother, poet and activist (Poet Laureate of Queens, 2004-2007) who is currently fasting in Hawai’i in solidarity with Professor Yang Yoon-Mo and the beloved people of Jejudo.
I am currently on my fifth day of my fast, and plan on fasting as long as Professor Yang is fasting. Would greatly appreciate an update on his status, how his health is, and if he is still fasting, how long he plans to fast.
I am a nursing mother, so this fast is a big deal for me. I’ve been to Jeju several times, have written numerous poems in praise and tribute for the island, and hold a special place in my heart for Jejudo haenyos (Sea diving women)as well. My prayers and well wishes are with you all, for caring about our beloved island and our future generations.
Thank you so much, and look forward to hearing from you very soon.
God bless, and Peace to Jeju,
Ishle Yi Park’
4. Struggle for Gangjeong and Jeju is one matter.
Photo by Saltcandy Yohan on Feb. 27. The sign reads, “We declare that the Jeju Is the Demilitarized Peace Island.”Photo by Saltcandy Yohan/ 01:57 am, March 1, 2013. The sign reads, ‘Cruise Special District with 1 million tourists? The 1 million tourists will avoid if for the naval base!’Photo by Saltcandy Yohan/ 04:37 am, March 1, 2013. The signs read , ‘Civil Disobedience,’ ‘The Gangjeong Naval Base is a sub-contract base for the US. No War!’Photo by U-Jin Kang / During the day, March 1. The signs read, ”Stop the construction of the civilian-military complex port for tour beauty which is only a sugar-coating cover!’ ‘The Gangjeong Naval base is the sub-contract base for the US. No War!’/ ‘Fr Kim Sung Hwan SJ and Pat Cunningham SSC at the gate in Gangjeong on Independence Movement Day (삼일절) protesting against the occupation of the village by modern day forces preparing for war under the banner of ‘national security’ while all the while jeopardizing the future of lasting peace and security on the Island of Peace! The building of the naval base only serves to dishonor the memory of all who sacrificed their lives for peace and freedom and increases tension and insecurity among people on the island and in the wider region! ( script by Pat Cunningham )
Source: SPARK/ The large size annual US-ROK war exercise started on March 1. The SPARK (Solidarity for Peace And Reunification of Korea) said. “The biggest problem of the Key Resolve/ Foal Eagle this time is that it could bring the Korean peninsula being at the risk of war. The war exercise this time is more aggressive than ever…After the North Korea conducted nuclear test, the ROK-US ministries of defense made an agreement that the ROK-US war excise could be an actual pressure against North Korea by expanding and strengthening it.. All the aggressive arms are mobilized; such as the George Washington, US nuclear aircraft carrier, F-22, B-52 that were not mobilized last year… President Obama declared on strengthening MD against North Korea and the Ministry of National Defense said it would establish ‘Kill Chain,’ a preemptive attack strategy. That shows the military exercise is to openly become an aggressive military strategy… The Korean peninsula was laid at the risk of war crisis even in days after a new President, Park Geun-Hye was inaugurated. If she wants peace, she should stop the Key Resolve war exercise and start dialogue.” See more photos here.
# About Key Resolve/ Foal Eagle War exercise
The Foal Eagle exercises are scheduled to continue until Apr. 30. The Key Resolve command post exercises (CPX) are also scheduled to take place over a two-week period from Mar. 11 to 21. (Source)
The Foal Eagle exercise is composed of 20 coalition and joint outdoor training such as large size landing training and ROK-US munitions support, air, maritime, special operation training. About 200,000 South Korean personnel from the army corps, fleet command headquarter, flight units and 10,000 US military personnel from the army, navy, air, marine units mostly reinforced from the overseas could join. (Source)
Statement Opposing U.S.-South Korea Joint Military Exercises Key Resolve Foal Eagle
Stop War Games, Start Peace Talks
The Korean War, known in the United States as “The Forgotten War,” has never ended. Every year, the United States stages a series of massive joint war games with its ally, South Korea (ROK). These coordinated exercises are both virtual and real. Among other things, they practice live fire drills and simulate the invasion of North Korea—including first-strike options.
While we – peace, human rights, faith-based, environmental, and Korean solidarity activists– are deeply concerned about North Korea’s third nuclear weapons test, we also oppose the U.S.-ROK joint war games as adding to the dangerous cycle of escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea views these war games as an act of provocation and threat of invasion like that which we have witnessed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya and routinely condemns these maneuvers as aimed at “bring[ing] down the DPRK by force” and forcing it to“bolster up the war deterrent physically.” South Korean activists also decry the role of these war games in the hostile perpetuation of the division of the Korean peninsula and are often persecuted for their protests under South Korea’s draconian National Security Law.
The U.S.-ROK “Key Resolve” and “Foal Eagle” annual war games, usually staged in March, and “Ulchi Freedom Guardian” in August, typically last for months and involve tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea and deployed from the United States, as well as hundreds of thousands of their ROK counterparts. U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, and Space Command forces will participate in these exercises and practice scenarios including the removal of North Korea’s leadership, occupation of Pyeongyang, and reunification of the peninsula under U.S. and South Korean control.
In South Korea, peace and reunification groups have long opposed these war games. They have called for peninsula-wide demilitarization entailing the eventual removal of U.S. troops. As one organization puts it, “Unless and until US forces are completely and permanently withdrawn from South Korea, it will be impossible to establish peace on the Korean peninsula.”
We call upon the U.S. and South Korean governments to stop the costly and provocative war games and take proactive steps to deescalate the current tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The Perils of the U.S. Pivot
In the past five years, hard-won efforts by the Korean people to ease North-South tensions have been reversed. Through its massive military buildup across the region, the United States has amplified regional tensions. Recent years have been witness to North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, increasing nationalism and militarism in Japan (the world’s sixth greatest military spender), and a host of increasingly militarized territorial disputes. The global Cold War may have ended 20 years ago, but as the recent round of U.S.-led sanctions on the DPRK and threat of a third DPRK nuclear weapons “test” illustrate, the anachronism remains alive and well on the Korean peninsula.
Crisis on the Korean peninsula furnishes a rationale for U.S. militarization of the region, and the Pentagon has committed to deploy 60% of its air and naval forces to Asia and the Pacific to reinforce its air sea battle doctrine. Announced as the “pivot” of U.S. military resources to Asia and the Pacific, President Obama’s policy, which necessitates more training areas, runways, ports of call, and barracks for the massive shift of U.S. military forces, disregards the impact of militarization on the lives of ordinary people in the region.
The disastrous ecological and human costs of this “pivot” are acutely apparent in the current construction of a naval base on Jeju, an “island of peace” in South Korea known for having the planet’s densest concentration of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Once celebrated for its pristine beauty and sea-based culture, Gangjeong, a 450-year-old fishing and farming village is being torn to shreds by the South Korean government in collaboration with the United States, which can freely use any ROK military installation. Base construction crews are dredging acres of world-class, bio-diverse coral habitats and covering them with concrete. The obliteration of these coastal ecosystems also destroys the millennia-old livelihoods of the villagers, 94% of whom voted against the base in a local referendum. Gangjeong villagers are watching their heritage, economy, vibrant local culture, spiritual center, and very core of their identity collapse into rubble.
This same multi-facted people’s struggle is being played out in many places across the Asia-Pacific. Within President Obama’s “pivot” policy, U.S. bases in South Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Hawaii, and Guam are ever more important. Moreover, his administration has been pressing hard to open up previously closed U.S. bases in geostrategically vital nations such as Vietnam and the Philippines.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the July 27, 1953 Armistice Agreement that brought the combat phase of the Korean War to a temporary halt but did not end the war. The Armistice Agreement stipulated that a peace agreement be realized within three months and that negotiations take place for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Korea. Over the past several decades, North Korea, often portrayed in mainstream media as an irrational rogue state, has repeatedly requested peace negotiations with the United States. Yet today, we station nearly 30,000 military personnel and operate over 40 military bases on the Korean peninsula. We have spent the past 60 years living not in a post-war era, but under a ceasefire whose consequences are borne most acutely by the Korean people. On this anniversary of the irresolution of the Korean War, the longest conflict the United States has been involved in, we as human rights, Korean solidarity, faith-based, peace, and environmental organizations call for attention to the human and ecological costs of permanent war as the modus vivendi of U.S.-Korean relations. Efforts that promote increased militarization and conflict and the destruction of the rich biodiversity in Korea are immoral and go against universally shared values of building peace, caring for Earth, and respecting the human dignity and worth of every person.
Resolution for Peace
We, the undersigned peace, human rights, faith-based, environmental, and Korean solidarity activists, call upon the U.S.-ROK governments to cancel their dangerous and costly war games against North Korea.
We strongly urge the United States to turn to diplomacy for common and human security rather than militarization, which will only undermine regional and U.S. security. We further request that the Obama administration focus its strategic shift to the Asia region on finding diplomatic and peaceful solutions to conflict, and building cooperation with all nations in the region, including China, DPRK, and Russia.
On this anniversary of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice Agreement, which several decades ago called for a peaceful resolution to the Korean War, we join with our peace-minded brothers and sisters in Korea and call on the Obama administration to deescalate the current tensions and do its part in realizing “Year One of Peace” on the Korean Peninsula.
Working Group for Peace and Demilitarization in Asia and the Pacific
Christine Ahn, Gretchen Alther, Rev. Levi Bautista, Jackie Cabasso, Herbert Docena, John Feffer, Bruce Gagnon, Joseph Gerson, Subrata Goshoroy, Mark Harrison, Christine Hong, Kyle Kajihiro, Peter Kuznick, Hyun Lee, Ramsay Liem, Andrew Lichterman, John Lindsay-Poland, Ngo Vinh Long, Stephen McNeil, Nguyet Nguyen, Satoko Norimatsu, Koohan Paik, Mike Prokosh, Juyeon JC Rhee, Arnie Sakai, Tim Shorrock, Alice Slater, David Vine, Sofia Wolman, Kevin Martin, Amy Woolam Echeverria
Additional Signers:
– Paki Wieland, Committee to Stop War(s), Western Mass CodePink, Northampton, Massachusetts
– Lindis Percy, Laila Packer, Christine Dean, Anni Rainbow of Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases, Yorkshire, England
– Jill Gough, National Secretary, CND Cymru (Wales), UK
– Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Social Justice Committee, California
– Pax Christi Florida
– Alice Leney, Coromandel, New Zealand
– Georgiann Cooper, PeaceWorks, Freeport, Maine
– Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, New York, New York
– Philip Gilligan, Chair, Greater Manchester Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
– Susan V. Walker, Lake Arrowhead, California
– H. J. Camet, Jr., Seattle, Washington
– Helen Travis, Denver, Colorado
– David Swanson, WarIsACrime.org, Charlottesville, Virginia
– Jane Sanford, Belfast, Maine
– Christine Roane, Springfield, Massachusetts
– Natasha Mayers, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Whitefield, Maine
– Lee Loe, Houston, Texas
– Amy Harlib, New York, New York
– Roger Leisner, Radio Free Maine, Augusta, Maine
– Joyce Smith, Tucson, Arizona
– Christine Ahn, Korea Policy Institute and Global Fund for Women, Oakland, California
– Angie Zelter, Trident Ploughshares, UK
– Tim Rinne, State Coordinator, Nebraskans for Peace
– Ellen Murphy, Veterans for Peace Ch. 111, Bellingham, Washington
– Jerry Mander, Founder & Distinguished Fellow, International Forum on Globalization,
San Francisco, California
– JT Takagi, New York, New York
– David Smith, Belfast, Maine
– Jon Olsen, Jefferson, Maine
– Ernest Goitein and Claire Feder, Atherton, California
– Roger Dittmann, Ph.D., Scientists without Borders, Fullerton, California
– Jenny Maxwell, Secretary, Hereford Peace Council, UK
– Anita Coolidge, Americans for Department of Peace, Cardiff, California
– David Diamond, Dover, New Hampshire
– Jennifer Kwon Dobbs, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota
– Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, The Nuclear Resister, Tucson, Arizona
– Jacques Boucher, Chambly, Canada
– Pax Christi Long Island, New York
– Robert Dale, Veterans For Peace, Brunswick, Maine
– Stephanie Son, Livermore, California
– Kevin and Maggie Hall, Dunedin, Florida
– Betty McElhill, Tucson, Arizona
– Don Richardson, Brevard, North Carolina
– Filson H. Glanz, Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of NH, Durham, New Hampshire
– Sasha Davis, Hilo, Hawaii
– Leah R. Karpen, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Asheville, North Carolina
– Sung-Hee Choi, Gangjeong Village International team, Jeju Island, Korea
– Wil Van Natta, Riviera Beach, Florida
– Luis Gutierrez-Esparza, President Latin American Circle of International Studies, Barrio San Lucas Coyoacan, Mexico
– Harry van der Linden, Indianapolis, Indiana
– Lydia Garvey, Public Health Nurse, Clinton, Oklahoma
– Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
– Joan Costello, Omaha, Nebraska
– Maine Campaign to Bring Our War $$ Home
– Tony Henderson, Lantau, Hong Kong
– Herbert J. Hoffman, Veterans For Peace, Ogunquit, Maine
– Gladys Schmitz, SSND, Mankato. Minnesota
– Loyal C. Park, President Nebraska Peace Foundation, Lincoln, Nebraska
– Jane Milliken, Riverside, Connecticut
– Peter Woodruff, Arrowsic, Maine
– Jeanne Green, CodePink Taos, El Prado, New Mexico
– Maine Green Party
– Peace Action Maine
– Jacqui Deveneau, Old Orchard Beach, Maine
– James Deutsch, M.D., Ph.D., Toronto, Canada
– Judith Deutsch, M.S.W., Toronto, Canada
– Gene Keyes, Berwick, Nova Scotia, Canada
– Norma J F Harrison, Central Committee Member, Peace & Freedom Party, Berkeley, California
– Sandy Herndon, Kauai, Hawaii
– Lillia Langreck, SSND, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
– Gerson and Debbie Lesser, Bronx, New York
– Patricia J. Patterson, United Methodist Asia Executive retired, Claremont, California
– George and Dorothy Ogle, Lafayette, Colorado
– Jewel Payne, Davis, California
– Alice Slater, New York, New York
– Harold J. Suderman, Registry of World Citizens-Canada, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
– John Stewart, Pax Christi Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, Florida
– Ronald and Caterina Swanson-Bosch, RN, MPH, Mt Snow, Vermont
– Sarah Lasenby, Oxford, UK
– CODEPINK State of Maine
– Lisa Savage, Solon, Maine
– Hye-Jung Park, La Paz, Bolivia
– Fred Jakobcic, Marquette, Michigan
– Makiko Sato, Oita, Japan
– Sister Valerie Heinonen, o.s.u., Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk for Justice and Peace, New York, New York
– Terao Terumi, Yashio, Saitama, Japan
– Ken Ashe, Veterans for Peace, Marshall, North Carolina
– Kathy Ging, Eugene, Oregon
– Benjamin Monnet, No war base on Jeju Island, France
– Penny Oyama, Burnaby, B. C., Canada
– Tarak Kauff, Board member, Veterans For Peace, Woodstock, New York
– Sergio Monteiro, Los Angeles, California
– Paul Cunningham and Jen Joaquin, South Portland, Maine
– Mary Beth Sullivan, Social Worker, Bath, Maine
– Glen Anderson, Lacey, Washington
– Ron Engel, Professor Emeritus, Meadville/Lombard Theological School, Chicago, Illinois
– Occupy Damsels in Distress, Palm Springs, California
– Nikohl Vandel, Palm Springs, California
– Katherine Muzik, Kauai, Hawaii
– Carolyn S. Scarr, Program Coordinator Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC, Berkeley, California
– Don Lathrop, Canaan, New York
– Karen Boyer, CodePink Portland, Oregon
– Joan McCoy, Home for Peace and Justice, Saginaw, Michigan
– Douglas Hong, Stony Brook, New York
– Alice Zachmann, SSND, Mankato, Minnesota
– Sandra Frank, Toledo, Ohio
– Jeanne Gallo, North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice, Gloucester, Massachusetts
– Martha Shelley, CodePink, Portland, Oregon
– Kevin Zeese, October2011.org, Baltimore, Maryland
– Margaret Flowers, October2011.org, Baltimore, Maryland
– Alfred L. Marder, President, US Peace Council, New Haven, Connecticut
– Charlotte Koons, CODEPINK Long Island, Northport, New York
– Jodi Kim, Associate Professor, University of California-Riverside
– Granny Peace Brigade, New York, New York
– Art Laffin, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Washington DC
– Jean Sommer, Performers and Artists for Nuclear Disarmament, Cleveland, Ohio
– Lee Siu Hin, national coordinator of National Immigrant Solidarity Network, South Pasadena, California
– Robert Palmer, Rosemount, Minnesota
– Yoshiko Ikuta, Cleveland, Ohio
– Dr Kate Hudson, General Secretary, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, UK
– Professor Dave Webb, Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, UK
– Helen Caldicott, the Helen Caldicott Foundation, Australia
– Coleen Rowley, Women Against Military Madness, Apple Valley, Minnesota
– Marylia Kelley, Tri-Valley CAREs, Livermore, California
– Rebecca Barker, Los Angeles, California
– Rosalie Riegle, author of Crossing the Line: Nonviolent Resisters Speak out for Peace, Evanston, Illinois
– Amy Chung, Diamond Bar, California
– Theodore Chung, Diamond Bar, California
– Dale Nesbitt, Berkeley, California
– Sally-Alice Thompson, Veterans For Peace, Albuquerque, New Mexico
– Cynthia Howard, Biddeford Pool, Maine
– Paul Liem, Berkeley, California
– Dr. Bill Warrick, Veterans For Peace, Gainesville, Florida
Update: See the photos on the candle vigil for Yang Yoon-Mo in front of the Jeju prison, here, here and here
Update: See the photos of solidarity for Yang Yoon-Mo in Okinawa, see here.
………………………………………………….
International Solidarity Messages for Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo
(Feb. 11 to 14, 2013)
The Gangjeong Village International Team has requested the peacemakers in the world to send the solidarity message for Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo with about 100words, through the website and facebooks. Here are the messages collected from Feb. 11 to 14. You can see the Korean translations here. Thanks so much, friends to send the messages.Thanks, Mr. Kang Dong-Seok, and Ms. Park Youn-Ae, for translation.
# Alphabet order by last name
Catherine Christie
Dear Professor Yang,
From the U.N. Environmental Sabbath Program:
We join with the earth and with each other, To bring new life to the land To restore the waters To refresh the air
We join with the earth and with each other, To renew the fields To care for the plants To protect the creatures
We join with the earth and with each other, To celebrate the seas To rejoice in the sunlight To sing the song of the stars
We join with the earth and with each other, To recreate the human community To promote peace and justice To remember our children of the earth
We join with the earth and with each other We join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery: For the healing of the earth and the renewal of all life.
Professor Yang – you have showed us this prayer in your living and acting for Gangjeong land and sea. Thank you. –
Catherine Christie, Seoul
Coco (Peninsula Peace & Justice of Blue Hill, Maine, United States)
We invite you to sing these lightly revised words from Les Miserables as Mr. Yang liked the movie and the book so much:
Will you join with us today? Who will be strong and stand with me? Somewhere beyond the barricade Is there a world you long to see? Do you hear the people sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums? It is the future that they bring When tomorrow comes…
Peninsula Peace & Justice of Blue Hill, Maine, sings with you as we hold Mr. Yang in our thoughts during his courageous hunger strike. May his release from his unjust imprisonment be swift.
(Coco on behalf of the Peninsula Peace & Justice of Blue Hill, Maine, USA)
Ron Engel
‘Dear Professor Yang Yoon-Mo,
We have never met in person but it is clear that we have met in spirit.
When you say your faith is to save the things of beauty in the world we understand and share this with you.
We visited Gangjeong Village last September and we beheld there a thing of beauty that should be preserved.
We tried to bring this to the attention of the world through the World Conservation Congress with the help of wonderful people like.
We revere your courage and commitment on behalf of the beauty of the people and place of Gangjeong Village and stand in solidarity with you.
Ron and Joan’
# Ron Engel has greatly supported the Gangjeong village and made a beautiful speech for Gagjeong on Sept. 15 during the 2012 WCC Jeju. You can hear Ron’s speech on Sept. 15, here.
Bruce Gagnon
‘Professor Yang:
I am once again deeply touched by your determined stand to hunger strike while in jail to call attention to the illegal and unjust “laws” that protect the destruction of nature so an insane and provocative Navy base in Gangjeong can be built. How can good people go to jail for trying to protect nature while people who destroy the future are not charged with any crimes?
I can assure you that I will do all that I can to help educate people in the US and around the world about the struggle to stop the Navy base.
Please know that you are not alone in your effort. Please take good care of yourself. You are important to all of us.
Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. ~Henry David Thoreau’
Andrew Jackson
I can’t think of a more perfect example of an ‘unharmful gentle soul misplaced inside a jail’ than Yang Yoon Mo. He has already been imprisoned for the struggle for peace and nature on Jeju, and has suffered greatly due to his hunger strikes in prison. The ridiculous South Korean law against ‘obstructing business’ is designed to frustrate legitimate protest, and in Gangjeong peacemakers can be picked off at will for huge fines or spells in prison.
One of my favourite videos about the Gangjeong struggle is Yang Yoon Mo interviewed at The Gurumbi rock. In this long interview his words are full of intelligence, wisdom, morality, justice and love. He is overflowing with the human qualities that can not even be traced among the greedy, the blind, the ignorant and the corrupt who are bringing this disaster to Jeju. His return to jail, following appealing the terms of his probation, is the result of spite, and possibly insanity, in one judge. The decision must be reversed.
Last year I was fortunate to visit Gangjeong for a few days in summer. I can’t count the number of wonderful, kind, loving people I met. I also met Yang Yoon Mo, but it was not until my last night in Gangjeong that I realised this quiet, dignified, seemingly elderly man, who I had greeted daily at the destruction site gates and who had sat silently as we drank rice wine outdoors with villagers in the evening, was the youthful-looking middle aged guy in the Gurumbi interview. His 70 day hunger strike seemed to have changed his physique and appearance. I was pleased I could express my admiration to him and receive words of kindness from this wonderful man.
The news of Yang Yoon Mo’s imprisonment is simply terrible. His renewed hunger strike is something I wish was not happening. But one can only respect his decision and pray that liberty and health is restored swiftly to this ‘unharmful gentle soul’.
FREE YANG YOON MO!!
Andrew Jackson
London
Masami Kawamura
Message from Okinawa to Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo
The Okinawan islanders’ hearts are broken to hear that you are in prison again.
We send our solidarity to you, Prof. Yang Yoo-Mo, brave activist, struggling for the peace, environment and justice of Jeju.
While we light candles in Okinawa together with Gangeong people on February 15, we believe, Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo, you yourself are the candle which shows us the right direction to move on to.
You are not alone. We stand with you.
Masami Kawamura
Okinawa Outreach
Renie Wong Lindley
‘Dear Yang Yoon-Mo,
I understand why the Gureombi Rock is so beautiful to you. I too love rocks. In California I have hiked far above the timberline where there is only sun, rock and water and where the energy between those simple forces make a profusion of life happen. Our lives belong to these forces. You are not misled. You are led by your heart, your soul.
I will think of you every day and hold you in the Light.
Judy Robbins, Peninsula Peace & Justice of Blue Hill, Maine, USA
To the people of Gangjeong Village and Jeju, Island of Peace.
The Peninsula Peace & Justice Committee of Blue Hill, Maine, USA, sends greetings and solidarity for your struggle for justice and peace. The courage and love of Mr. Yang inspires the world to be strong and to sustain. We light a candle for you in the 15th day of your fast. Thank you.
Peter Simpson
My name is Peter Simpson, and I am an associate professor at Okinawa International University. As a teacher, and a responsible human being, I feel it is my duty to raise awareness of the environmental crisis facing our planet, and to make sure that we leave a legacy of peace, equal rights and environmental justice. For this reason I support Professor Yang Yoon-Mo’s responsible action in trying to prevent the destruction of Gureombi and support the campaign for his immediate release from jail.
Last year, I visited the island of Jeju.
I know all of you facing the problem Jeju U.S. military base there.
You also do not need to strain the U.S. military base in East Asia, I want to cherish the nature of Jeju.
Please free up and Mr. Yang Yoon-Mo.
田中 雄二
Yuzi Tanaka
Regis Tremblay
‘Dear Professor Yang;
You have my great admiration for your principled stand against the construction of this base in Gangjeong Village.
I met you while I was in Gangjeong during September of last year. I was there to film a documentary about Jeju and have many images and video clips of you. At the present, I am in post-production of my film and hoping to receive funding from the Sundance Film Fund.
It was only at the end of my stay that I was able to visit the April 3rd Peace Museum. Our mutual friend, Gilchun Koh accompanied me. Until then, I could not understand why everyone, including Bishop Peter Kang were telling me I had to visit the museum in order to understand the protest. Gilchun’s exhibit overwhelmed me with sadness and grief.
I was angry, ashamed, and tearful at what I learned and came home determined to tell the whole story of the American complicity in Jeju and Korea since 1945. The film places the protests against the base in the broader context of the American military expansion in its attempt to encircle China and dominate and control the Pacific Ocean. The protest in Gangjeong represents the modern-day struggle of people around the world against militarism, violence, and the destruction of the environment, no to mention the total disregard for self-determination, human rights, and social justice.
The curator of the museum, with Gilchun’s help, provided me with 8 DVDs packed with archival film, photos, and documents that I will use in my film, including interviews with some of the survivors. I am also using film and photos from the U.S. National Archives and from the Associated Press.
I have already filmed interviews with Bruce Cumings, and Charles Hanley who wrote the book, The Bridge at No Gun Ri. These are very powerful and will add a great deal of credibility to the film. Also, Bruce Gagnon was interviewed about America’s real plans for world domination. It is an expose of the supposed Pax Americana.
I have created a 38 minute rough-cut of the film to apply for a grant from the Sundance Film Fund and to raise money by showing it to small Peace & Justice groups. The reaction is always the same. Some people cry, some express disbelief that their government could be guilty of these crimes, most are angry to learn, and nearly all ask what can they do. That is my hope for the film, that it will motivate people to take action.
Finally, I believe you have become a powerful symbol of the protest through your imprisonments and fasts and I thank you for the example you have set for the entire world.
Hardly a day goes by when I don’t think about you and the people of Gangjeong Village.
Peace to you, Professor Yang and thank you for your witness to peace and justice in the world,
Regis Tremblay
Maine, United States‘
Ana Traynin
‘Dear Prof. Yang,
I was so privileged to join a tour of Gangjeong village with you,
just a few days before they took you away.
Your peaceful yet strong and resilient character, recognition of real
beauty, love of nature and unbending struggle to save both will stay with me forever.
As Utah Phillips said “the degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free.”
Prof. Yang, your courageous and self-transcending actions in the name of peace, even as the state steals your physical freedom, show the freedom you hold inside. You are a visionary and inspiration to us all.
I send you light and endless positive energy from this crazy world.
In solidarity,
Ana Traynin’
Hideki Yoshikawa
Solidarity Message to Prof. Yang Yoo-Mo from Okinawa:
Outraged by the repeated imprisonment of Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo,
Dismayed by the Korean government’s disregard for human rights and environmental justice,
Still encouraged by Prof. Yang Yoo-Mo’s determination to fight to keep Jeju Island as “the Island of Peace,”
I am sending my solidarity message to Prof. Yang Yoo-Mo and my friends in Jeju.
Hideki Yoshikawa
Citizens’ Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa
Save the Dugong Campaign Center
This issue of the CCAO e-bulletin we are focusing on the Jeju Island off of South Korea. Known for its incredible biodiversity, God’s Creation on Jeju Island is threatened with plans to build a military base that will most likely destroy the fragile coral reef ecosystem, contaminate food and water sources in the Gangjeong community, and harm their local economy and livelihoods. Pollution from toxic chemicals, destruction of fragile ecosystems, and a large presence of military personnel are the biggest concerns. Gangjeong, the site of the proposed base, is surrounded by a biosphere reserve and three UNESCO World Heritage Sites due to the ecological significance of the region. Big interests from corporations, foreign and domestic militaries, and politicians have high stakes in seeing this project go forward.
Columbans, in particular Fr. Pat Cunningham, have been involved with this struggle for some time now- as have other Catholic orders, faith traditions, environmentalists, and peace activists through the Save Jeju Now Coalition. The coalition has been organizing the last six years to oppose the naval base construction. Read more about the coalition efforts and the big interests behind the base.
Take Action to Protect Jeju Island- The Island of Peace
As people of faith we are called to protect God’s precious gift of Creation and respect the human dignity and worth of every person. The Jeju Island Naval Base construction threatens unique and fragile ecosystems, the traditional life of Gangjeong villagers, and peace in South Korea’s “Island of Peace.” Click here to learn more and find a sample letter to send to the Korean Ambassador.
The Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach (CCAO) coordinates the Columban Fathers’ Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Ministry in the United States and is responsible for the content of this monthly e-bulletin. For comments and questions, we can be reached at: ccaoprograms@columban.org or 301-565-4547/301-565-4547
*Fwd by Chloe Schwabe. Reblogged posts do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Save Jeju Now
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!
We pray to the gods of heaven and earth, and our ancestors, with our earnest hearts.
We, the villagers, are aware of the preciousness of life and peace that our ancestors have built with numerous bloods and sweats, no little than any other else. That is why we, having declared our village as the Life and Peace village, stated that we would transform it into the hometown for all the human beings in the world to look for, by uniting and co-existing based on the good revival of the tradition of Sooneuleum spirit in which we have helped one another and lived together. And based on such experience, we started march here in the Gangjeong village, and walked again and again, together with the grassroots in the various fields of the nationwide, appealing “Let’s live together, all is the sky’ to all the people in the nationwide and world. Finally arriving in the Daehanmoon, the center of Seoul, many of us are still fighting against inequality, injustice, anti-democracy, anti-human rights, anti-life and anti-peace of this land, which are more unbearable than the weather of the coldest period of snowy winter.
The reason that we have fought against the naval base, taking down all the things we have, was not for the advancement for one’s life or advantage. To conserve our village well as in the past is to save the beautiful nature and community of the village, to save the Jeju economy, to strengthen the national security, and to save the world peace. However, the state power that should protect the residents’ lives has arrested more than 690 villagers and peace activists, imprisoned 22 people, and took indiscriminate judicial disposal on more than 480 people. Therefore a village that has lived peacefully for hundreds years is being ghastly destroyed and peace activists who are with us are falling down, broken and crying shedding bloody-tears.
However, there are the people who have turned their backs on, tearing for the reason that they feel the opposition movement against the naval base is tiresome but later returned back and stand here again. There are the people who teach us hope not sadness and despair. Therefore, we will not say any more that we are sad or the struggle is hard. We will make an effort for the little fire of life, peace, and human rights not to die but light again in our village and whole world, like a slogan that ‘we can do, we do and accomplish, we did, we win, and the persistent will win.’
For us, the last six years were like a war everyday. Gods of heaven and earth, and our ancestors! Please protect our village that has been well succeeded for hundreds years. Please protect our generous and virtuous villagers. Please protect the lives and health of all the people who are with us. Please protect life, peace, and human rights of this land. Please give us power to save this sea, land, and sky. Please help us to return back to our original beautiful and peaceful appearance in our life.
Sincerely praying to the gods of heaven and earth, and our ancestors:
Please help us to establish a dignified world where every human being and life of this land live peacefully together! Please help us to join the common actions of ‘let’s live together, all is the sky, by which all the people who have made the first steps in our Gangjeong village can cry, laugh and feel sympathy together, making a joyful and pleasing solidarity. Please help us to be willing to be together with the suffering people in the low places of South Korea. Please help our country where the people can be truly the masters and our village to be the epicenter of the world peace.
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!
On Oct. 27, Sat., it heavily rained during the daytime in Gangjeong, following the daytime rain on Oct. 26. Sometimes even the lightening. Still the construction (destruction) did not stop. So the suffering of protesters went on, too.
Photo by Cho Sung-Bong/ protestors tightened themselves together to block the construction trucks. See more on his photos, click here.Photo by Cho Sung-Bong/ Mr. Oh Chul-Geun who has done three steps one bow for months during last winter recently started it again from the gate to the port. Mr. Oh Chul-Geun continues the practice even in the heavy rain.
Though the rain stopped in the evening, overnight construction went on so 24 hour protest in shift went on, too. It was 2ndtime that people’s daily peaceful bow at 7am was interrupted by the police on Oct. 28, following Oct. 26. See the below.
The below is the brief record from 9:20 pm, Oct. 27 to 7:15 pm, Oct 28.
Around9pm, Oct. 27, Sat.
Around 9:20 pm, Oct 27: About 500 policemen just to block tens of protesters. Whenever the police appear in the night, it is like a lightened stage. The 500 policemen ate told to come from Seoul and Busan ( policewomen). To the waste of our tax, the navy mobilized 500 policemen for the exit of only two trucks, entry of two trucks and an automobile.Around 9:20 pm, Oct 27: Mayor Kang protests to the police
Around 11pm, Oct. 27, Sat.
Around 11 pm, Oct 27: Police are mobilized againAround 11 pm, Oct 27: Police, we are ready to welcome you.Around 11 pm, Oct 27: Police you may do your best to take apart each of us.Around 11;50pm, Oct. 27: Mr. Kim Jong Hwan, a villager and cook thankfully brought brief food of instant noodle and Kimchee. Everyone’s joyful time.
Around 1 am, Oct. 28, Sun.
Around 1 am, Oct. 28, Sun. Another police roughing out. But everyone is in great positive and determined spirit-yes team spirit.Around 1 am, Oct 28: People were infuriated during the police roughing out since some policemen were especially provoking. Those kinds of policemen love to hit and even pinch isolated protester. They also pretend to mistake woman as man. You should shout them that you are a woman then! (In Korea, men is supposed to be dealt by the male policemen while women, by the policewoman)
Around 3:10 am, Oct. 28, Sun
Around 3:10 am, Oct. 28: To a policeman who said he belongs to the Jeju provincial police agency, Mr. Kim Jong Hwan, a villager, shouts, “Bastards, recover the Gureombi rock!”Around 3:10 am, Oct. 28: When a male peacekeeper who had been with female peace keepers when the police came, he had to shout to them, ‘ I am a man.’ (In Korea, it is supposed that males are dealt by the policemen while female are by the policewomen). But as soon as he said it, the police grabbed his neck from the behind and twisted his arm. Otherwise, people protested to the police on the lights that the police intentionally shined to people inside the detention circle.
Around 5am, Oct. 28, Sun
Around 5 am, Oct. 28: Cement mixer trucks come out again. Peacekeepers that had a short sleep on the tents and cars etc. appeared again with tiredness. Violent police roughing out began again. A young male peacekeeper appealed later. When the police carried out him, they happened to drop his head so he had to elect his upper body himself. When he appealed his pain to the policemen, the police dragged one of his leg.. And after he was detained inside a police circle, isolated, the police grabbing the front and backside of his jumper in the neck made him breathless. Further, even though it might be just accidental, he felt as if some policemen are hitting him with their fists. The thin and small young male peacekeeper could not understand why the policemen inhumanly dealt with him as such as he wasn’t doing little resistance to them. There were only three trucks coming in and two trucks coming out. What a mad construction! What a waste of people’s money to mobilize 500 policemen and to commit human right violation.Around 5:30am, Oct. 28: People are still keeping the gate amidst cold and strong wind.Around 6am, Oct. 28: It was seen that workers enter the gate from 6: 30 am amidst cold wind and darkness. Can you imagine 24 hour/ 7 days construction (destruction)? It means people here can seldom rest.
Around 7:15am, Oct. 28, Sun.
Around 7:15am, Oct. 28: The police even interrupted 100 peace bows that is held daily. The police have interrupted bows for the 1st time on Oct 26, with the start of 24hour constructionAround 7:15 am, Oct. 28: When even the peace bows were interrupted, two female peacekeepers who stayed overnight for struggle tried to block the two cement mixer trucks with their bodies in the gate.Around 7:15 am, Oct. 28: Still the peace bows go on: The graffiti on the gate reads, “Peace to Gangjeong, Love you, Gureombi,”Around 7:15 am, Oct. 28: After the police disturbance, the 100 peace bows were continued in front of the naval base project committee building complex. Recently the Jeju local court made a decision on ‘no-guilt,’ on a young peacekeeper who was accused to bite the shoulder of a policemen during his resistance against illegal police roughing out of people. The judge said that the police performance at the time cannot be considered as the fair carrying of government affairs so the charge against him cannot be established. See here. The people made copies of the court decision document and put them on the fence.
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Otherwise Rebecca Kim posted on her and her friends’ protest in Seoul at 11 am, Oct. 27. See the note on the protest at the bottom of here.
‘8 people got together today in Gwanghwamun Square to protest the 24-hour sheer madness happening in Gangjeong. (Tom Smith, Fielding Hong, Adit Satrya, Alfian Tahir, Akihiro Togashi, Jonghwa Rhee, Jung Jo, and me.)’
This issue of the CCAO e-bulletin we are focusing on the Jeju Island off of South Korea. Known for its incredible biodiversity, God’s Creation on Jeju Island is threatened with plans to build a military base that will most likely destroy the fragile coral reef ecosystem, contaminate food and water sources in the Gangjeong community, and harm their local economy and livelihoods. Pollution from toxic chemicals, destruction of fragile ecosystems, and a large presence of military personnel are the biggest concerns. Gangjeong, the site of the proposed base, is surrounded by a biosphere reserve and three UNESCO World Heritage Sites due to the ecological significance of the region. Big interests from corporations, foreign and domestic militaries, and politicians have high stakes in seeing this project go forward.
Columbans, in particular Fr. Pat Cunningham, have been involved with this struggle for some time now- as have other Catholic orders, faith traditions, environmentalists, and peace activists through the Save Jeju Now Coalition. The coalition has been organizing the last six years to oppose the naval base construction. 
As people of faith we are called to protect God’s precious gift of Creation and respect the human dignity and worth of every person. The Jeju Island Naval Base construction threatens unique and fragile ecosystems, the traditional life of Gangjeong villagers, and peace in South Korea’s “Island of Peace.” 
