President Moon attend Jeju April 3 Incident commemorative ceremony
- 6 years ago
In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of a massacre that took place in Jeju Island, President Moon Jae-in attended a memorial ceremony this morning.
For more, we now connect to our Blue House correspondent Hwang Hojun who's on the phone.
Hojun, so President Moon Jae-in attended the commemoration ceremony of the April 3rd Incident,... which is pretty unusual?
That's right Mark.
President Moon is the first sitting President to attend such a ceremony,... since April 3rd was designated as a national commemorative day in 2014.
Since then, a state-organized memorial ceremony has taken place every year.
As you said, Mark, the April 3 incident refers to the massacre of about ten percent of Jeju's population ― an estimated 30,000 men, women, and children were killed during a government-backed anti-communist suppression campaign between 1948 and 1954.
Soon after their arrival, the South Korean President and his wife, First Lady Kim Jung-sook, dedicated a wreath made of camellias,... a flower that symbolizes the incident; they also wore a camellia-shaped badge.
After a series of performances, President Moon delivered his speech to the audience, which included about 15-thousand surviving family members of the victims,... extending his condolences and apologizing on behalf of the Korean government.
He also pledged to continue the legacy of former liberal presidents, late Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun,.. who enacted a special act to unveil the truth about the massacre,... and acknowledged the nation's liability for the April 3rd incident.
"Today, based on such principles, I vow that I will continue to head towards a complete solving of the April 3rd incident. No more will there be any setbacks or delays in uncovering the truth behind the tragedy and restoring the victims' honor."
He also promised to provide state compensation for the families and continue to make efforts to retrieve the remains of the missing as well as support their families through passing legislative measures for the establishment of a state trauma treatment center.
During his speech, President Moon also stressed that the nation must face the government-sanctioned massacre as part of its history.
He insisted that the country must transcend old ideologies and focus on establishing justice and fairness in Korea based on truth.
"Now, Korea must become a country where conservatives and liberals compete for justice.
Now is the time when conservatives and liberals will be evaluated by their fairness."
Such a comment came because for a very long time, some right-wing conservatives defended the government's crackdown on Jeju Island during the early Cold War period as a campaign to quote "exterminate communist sympathizers."
Mark.
For more, we now connect to our Blue House correspondent Hwang Hojun who's on the phone.
Hojun, so President Moon Jae-in attended the commemoration ceremony of the April 3rd Incident,... which is pretty unusual?
That's right Mark.
President Moon is the first sitting President to attend such a ceremony,... since April 3rd was designated as a national commemorative day in 2014.
Since then, a state-organized memorial ceremony has taken place every year.
As you said, Mark, the April 3 incident refers to the massacre of about ten percent of Jeju's population ― an estimated 30,000 men, women, and children were killed during a government-backed anti-communist suppression campaign between 1948 and 1954.
Soon after their arrival, the South Korean President and his wife, First Lady Kim Jung-sook, dedicated a wreath made of camellias,... a flower that symbolizes the incident; they also wore a camellia-shaped badge.
After a series of performances, President Moon delivered his speech to the audience, which included about 15-thousand surviving family members of the victims,... extending his condolences and apologizing on behalf of the Korean government.
He also pledged to continue the legacy of former liberal presidents, late Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun,.. who enacted a special act to unveil the truth about the massacre,... and acknowledged the nation's liability for the April 3rd incident.
"Today, based on such principles, I vow that I will continue to head towards a complete solving of the April 3rd incident. No more will there be any setbacks or delays in uncovering the truth behind the tragedy and restoring the victims' honor."
He also promised to provide state compensation for the families and continue to make efforts to retrieve the remains of the missing as well as support their families through passing legislative measures for the establishment of a state trauma treatment center.
During his speech, President Moon also stressed that the nation must face the government-sanctioned massacre as part of its history.
He insisted that the country must transcend old ideologies and focus on establishing justice and fairness in Korea based on truth.
"Now, Korea must become a country where conservatives and liberals compete for justice.
Now is the time when conservatives and liberals will be evaluated by their fairness."
Such a comment came because for a very long time, some right-wing conservatives defended the government's crackdown on Jeju Island during the early Cold War period as a campaign to quote "exterminate communist sympathizers."
Mark.