제주평화연구원

The 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration ​of Human Rights and the Jeju April 3rd Incident

  [caption id="" align="alignright" width="150"] Cho Baek-Ki
Policy consultative commissioner for the Jeju Special Self-governing Province Council[/caption] The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris, France, on Dec. 10, 1948. The declaration is considered to be mankind’s most exemplary pledge as it embodies the spirit of the United Nations Charter of 1945, which urged humanity to reflect on the atrocities of both world wars as well as civilian massacres represented by the Holocaust and to respect the fundamental rights of all human beings.   Then consisting of 58 member states with diverse ideological, political, religious and cultural backgrounds as well as further differentiated by their stages of economic development, the United Nations established the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without discrimination on the basis of race, sex, language or religion. The commission then organized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Drafting Committee, composed of eight member states in consideration of regional and cultural arrangements. The founding members from each region of the world held 1,400 votes on the draft over two years to ensure that the declaration be applied equally to people everywhere by reflecting the world’s different cultures and uniting the common values inherent in its major legal, religious and philosophical traditions.   At the time when the world delegates were engrossed in heated discussion on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, indiscriminate atrocities and civilian massacres were perpetrated on Jeju Island in the periphery of the Korean Peninsula and other parts of the world. After the Korean Peninsula regained its independence from Japanese colonial rule, U.S. and Soviet troops occupied Korea, dividing the country along the 38th parallel. Domestic political leaders were divided into leftists and rightists, amid the Cold War confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Three years after the nation’s liberation, general elections were only held on the southern half of the peninsula in accordance with the resolutions of the UN, thus establishing the government of the “Republic of Korea.” Shortly after, the North installed the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, cementing the national division.   The residents of Jeju Island rejected the general elections that would establish a separate government in the South, becoming the only region to do so, and paid a dear cost for it. The Jeju April 3rd Incident was that cost.   Socio-economic unrest on the island, further exasperated by a sudden and drastic increase in population following the nation’s liberation increased an already high unemployment rate and worsened the severity of a food shortage due to the U.S. military government’s failed rice collection policy, on top of the spread of cholera and the ideological and political turmoil on the island all culminated in the catastrophic Jeju April 3rd Incident.   The March 1 Movement commemoration ceremony in 1947 became the trigger point of the Jeju April 3rd Incident, as six people were killed and another six wounded by police fire during the ceremony on the island. The general strike joined by the officialdom and civil society to call for the punishment of those responsible for the shooting and a promise to make efforts to prevent any recurrence of similar tragedies was joined by the entire population of the island. The U.S. military government responded with a harsh crackdown on the protests, even resorting to unlawful arrest, detention and torture of demonstrators. It went on to mobilize the right-wing terrorist group called the Northwest Youth League, in addition to police and military troops. In the end, on April 3, 1948, the Jeju residents revolted against the brutal crackdown.   While the UN, along with the U.S. and Soviet Union, was working on the international Magna Carta in the name of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to call on the human race to reject war and respect human rights, tragic civilian massacres by the state were being repeated in the periphery of the world — Jeju Island (April 3rd Incident), Taiwan (Feb. 28 incident) and Okinawa — amid the Cold War order dominated by the U.S. The dignity and equal, inalienable rights of the East Asian people were brutally trampled on by the state. They had to endure years of brutal state violence and the survivors have been forced to keep silence for decades. Though the violence ceased half a century ago, the survivors have yet to enjoy genuine peace and human rights. Fact-finding work has started, but the past still haunts the Korean Peninsula and East Asia, interfering with peace and co-prosperity in the region. As the April 3rd Incident is not a matter confined to Jeju Island alone, so the tragic incidents of Taiwan and Okinawa are human rights issues that call on not only East Asia but the entire world to ponder the pain endured and seek to resolve it.   Jeju, the “island of revolt,” is drawing more attention this year than ever before. Memorial altars are set up at 20 regions across the nation, including at the Gwanghwamun Plaza, in downtown Seoul, as well as in Jeju Island, with memorial and cultural events to remember the incident being scheduled nationwide. Timed with the 2018 Visit Jeju Island Year and the 70th Anniversary of the Jeju April 3rd Incident, Jeju Island organized 135 programs in five main themes of remembrance and condolence culture and arts academic research exchanges and cooperation and inheritance of tradition. They are designed to uphold the values of reconciliation, coexistence, peace and human rights in the spirit of the Jeju April 3rd Incident. Led by the Memorial Committee for the 70th Anniversary of the Jeju April 3rd Uprising and Massacre, which was joined by 69 organizations associated with the incident on the island, the civil society of the island provides memorial programs for the 70th anniversary jointly with NGOs, art and cultural institutions and labor, academic and women’s organizations across the nation. The anniversary programs aim to resolve remaining issues stemming from the incident with concerted efforts of the entire Jeju population.   However, the organizers should never neglect the mission to find facts, reinstate the honor of the victims and compensate the bereaved lest the memorial programs come to naught. The fact-finding work and reinstatement of the victims’ honor should be more than an admission of past transgressions. To heal the historical scars and bring truth to light, it is imperative to help the victims and their families break the long silence and share without fear their sorrow and pain so that they might regain their dignity as human beings in solidarity with others who are willing to listen to their stories and share in their tragedy.   Can we a beautiful world that guarantees human dignity and respects human rights as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights promised to fulfill? The Declaration, which came 70 years ago, has many historical limitations, judging from today’s perspectives. The dignity of human beings and human rights still remains vulnerable because of poverty and inequality and the wars and massacres in Syria, Myanmar and other parts of the world. Nevertheless, we should endeavor to improve our society with the optimistic belief that history makes progress. One of the ways to do so is to learn from the past. History class should not be about ossified knowledge of the historical incidents or concepts. Learning about history is to a future with proper knowledge of the past and the present.   The Jeju naval base in Gangjeong village, which was established after destroying the Gureombi rock, residents’ houses and the local community, is more evidence of state violence perpetrated on nature and villagers. Talk about the values of reconciliation, coexistence, peace and human rights while overlooking the continued militarization of Jeju Island and the project to open a second airport here would ring hollow. As the preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.” With their experience of the Jeju April 3rd Incident, the Jeju Islanders know better than anyone that it is righteous to resist and fight against power and the injustices interfering with basic freedom and human dignity. It is the mission of all never to let a tragedy such as the Jeju April 3rd Incident be repeated on the Korean Peninsula or in East Asia. The Jeju April 3rd Incident should not only be remembered as part of the history of the Republic of Korea, but also as the history of the world.