“Urgent call for people to go to Gangjeong this weekend as villagers brace themselves for yet another unleashing of brutal state violence. Gangjeong villagers are on tender hooks as they await the administrative execution of a demolition order by the ROK Ministry of National Defence (Saturday Jan 31) against a protest site set up to resist the building of military accommodation in the village center right next to a primary school. The navy are not content with taking over the coastline and destroy marine life with the building of the naval base they now want to irreversibly transform the village into an ugly military camp town. The administrative executive order will apparently be enforced by a bunch of hired thugs and military police from the mainland-apparently numbering up to 900 invaders in total who could descend on the village to stage a brutal show of state violence against defenseless villagers/activists. Please spare a thought for the villagers and activists who continue to resist state violence as they struggle to retain the identity of this once pristine village now blighted forever by an ugly naval base. We stand together and resist together-please help them stop the takeover of their village and the militarization of the island of Jeju!” (By Fr. Pat. )
Below is the words that Mayor Cho sent to the villagers in the afternoon of Jan. 30.
It will be very a long, cold and dark night tonight. However, people are gathering together here. Please be with us in your thoughts and prayers.
The navy has not gained the consent of Gangjeong villagers yet, refused the negotiation by the Jeju Governer and even failed to get support from Seogwipo City.
Yet, It is informed that the navy will enforce the administrative execution order to remove the sit-in tent in front of construction site of military family housing at 7 am tomorrow morning. Those guys, who don’t feel ashamed and are very rude, are going to storm into the village.
Villagers! We should not let them occupy our village. The navy are mobilizing police to close the roads into the protest site from very early morning.
Please come out and join to stay with us at the sit-in tent from tonight!
Or please come gather at the sit-in tent around 5 am tomorrow morning.
We should pass down Gangjeong Village to our descendants without feeling shameful. When we gather our hearts as one heart and flow like a river, then we can keep our village. We are proud residents of Gangjeong.
Forever the best of best Gangjeong!
Gangjeong Village Mayor, Cho Kyungcheol
(By Jungjoo)
(All the image source by a peace activist, here)
