Dark chapter in Jeju's history remembered in central Seoul
- 5 years ago
While Jeju Island is known as one of Korea's most popular holiday destinations,…
an incident there decades ago was one of the most tragic chapters of South Korea's turbulent modern history.
Let's connect to our Won Jung-hwan who can tell us more about April 3rd Jeju Incident, and how it's being remembered today.
Hi Ji-yoon, here at Gwanghwamun Plaza in the central Seoul, people are commemorating the April Third Jeju Incident that happened 71 years ago.
To give you just a glimpse of the history itself,… more than 10-thousand islanders are estimated to have been killed and nearly 3-thousand-6-hundred to have gone missing during clashes between the government and civilians from 1948 to 1954.
The seven years of darkness grew out of Korea's ideological division following its 1945 liberation from Japan's colonial rule.
But with the lapse of time, the incident is fading from memory.
In a recent public survey commissioned by the Jeju April 3 Peace Foundation,… only 7 in 10 respondents said they knew about the Jeju incident.
There's a lack of interest. Last year when we had a similar event here in Seoul, it was quite big as the event marked the 70th anniversary. But this year, the budget and interest is a lot lower.
In fact, government efforts to verify the truth behind the incident began only in the late 1990s.
The current government has also been seeking to improve education about the tragedy and register related records as UNESCO World Heritage.
But even with the government's efforts to help raise awareness of the incident,… there is still a long way to go as the families of victims still suffer from gruesome memories and deep trauma.
Even a few years ago, myself and my son suffered a great deal of pain as we were labeled as the offspring of "commies". We simply couldn't talk about the incident.
Decades have passed but the pain of the incident still runs deep.
But with efforts to raise awareness just like this event in Seoul,… the victims could hopefully someday uncover the truth, achieve justice and get some measure of healing from the island's dark history.
Back to you Ji-yoon.
an incident there decades ago was one of the most tragic chapters of South Korea's turbulent modern history.
Let's connect to our Won Jung-hwan who can tell us more about April 3rd Jeju Incident, and how it's being remembered today.
Hi Ji-yoon, here at Gwanghwamun Plaza in the central Seoul, people are commemorating the April Third Jeju Incident that happened 71 years ago.
To give you just a glimpse of the history itself,… more than 10-thousand islanders are estimated to have been killed and nearly 3-thousand-6-hundred to have gone missing during clashes between the government and civilians from 1948 to 1954.
The seven years of darkness grew out of Korea's ideological division following its 1945 liberation from Japan's colonial rule.
But with the lapse of time, the incident is fading from memory.
In a recent public survey commissioned by the Jeju April 3 Peace Foundation,… only 7 in 10 respondents said they knew about the Jeju incident.
There's a lack of interest. Last year when we had a similar event here in Seoul, it was quite big as the event marked the 70th anniversary. But this year, the budget and interest is a lot lower.
In fact, government efforts to verify the truth behind the incident began only in the late 1990s.
The current government has also been seeking to improve education about the tragedy and register related records as UNESCO World Heritage.
But even with the government's efforts to help raise awareness of the incident,… there is still a long way to go as the families of victims still suffer from gruesome memories and deep trauma.
Even a few years ago, myself and my son suffered a great deal of pain as we were labeled as the offspring of "commies". We simply couldn't talk about the incident.
Decades have passed but the pain of the incident still runs deep.
But with efforts to raise awareness just like this event in Seoul,… the victims could hopefully someday uncover the truth, achieve justice and get some measure of healing from the island's dark history.
Back to you Ji-yoon.