제주평화연구원

Ending the Korean War and Finding Peace on Jeju   [caption id="" align="alignright" width="150"] Sung-Youn Cho
Professor, Department of Sociology, Jeju National University[/caption] The year 2018 will be remembered as a very special year for Koreans on both sides of this peninsula. Two inter-Korean summits were held at the border village of Panmunjom in April and May, and the United States-North Korea summit was held in Singapore in June. Many people were excited watching the talks. Perhaps it was because of the first ever meeting between a sitting American president and a North Korean leader, the results of which might change the course of our lives on the peninsula. President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to realize a nuclear-free Korean peninsula through complete denuclearization, improve inter-Korean relations, declare an end to the Korean War before the end of this year, and change the 1953 Armistice Agreement into a peace treaty. There were inter-Korean summits during the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, but this year’s summits have raised hopes for peace higher than ever before. We now see the dawn of a new era. For the last 70 years, we have lived under the constant threat of potential war. North Korea, as well as South Korea, had large military forces and harbored hatred and hostility towards each other. While North Korea has been under a hereditary dictatorship for 70 years, South Korean society has suffered from the authoritarian rule of Syngman Rhee and the military dictatorships of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan. Both Koreas have taken advantage of this quasi-state of war as a tool for maintaining political power. South Koreans had to live in a “garrison state,” adapting to the regimental atmosphere of society. “Barracks culture” dominated schools and even business offices. The garrison state system was the biggest obstacle standing in the way of democracy.   From the time of the nation’s liberation from Japanese occupation until the end of the 1980s, the entire world was in a state of Cold War. The advanced capitalist states, especially the United States, regarded the Soviet and other socialist countries as enemies in tense confrontation with them. The Cold War ended after the collapse of the Soviet communist regime. However, the Korean peninsula was still under the Cold War order and yet to be democratized. The conservative forces in South Korea repressed the citizens’ demands for democratization by stigmatizing them as “Commies” and maintained their dictatorship by promoting anti-communism in the purported cause of national security. Then, after the candlelight protests, or candlelight revolution, against the government, Korean society started to break away from the status quo. This change was possible because the citizenry gave its absolute support to the Moon Jae-in government.   I hope that the inter-Korean summit and the North Korea-United States talks will lead to a declaration ending the Korean War and a peace treaty. I pray for the end of the war and peace on the Korean peninsula. Of course, I know that it will not be easy and might take a long time. But I think that a narrow window to a new era of peace has just opened. So, I hope that the two Koreas will cut down on military expenditures, strengthen economic cooperation, and allow the separated families of North and South Korea to meet again. I also wait for the day when we can visit Pyongyang or Wonsan.   Jeju Island of Peace and the Military Base Amid the easing tensions, the reconciliatory mood, and growing inter-Korean exchanges, one place remains an exception to these developments: Jeju Island. Since the end of the Korean War, there had been no military presence on Jeju Island, except for certain security forces. Since the enemy of South Korea was the North Korean army, military forces and bases were concentrated along the 38th parallel. Hence Jeju Island remained a peaceful place without the threat of war. However, over time the South Korean military have started to build new military bases in the southern regions of the peninsula, and Jeju Island was one of them.   It was the Republic of Korea (ROK) Air Force that moved first. In 1988, the Air Force announced plans to build an airfield at Moseulpo Port, Daejeong, on the island. This included plans to construct new airfields and facilities, including the Altteureu Airfield, on a lot of 6,512 km². With the implementation of this plan, three villages would have disappeared. The local residents and civic organizations of Jeju Island launched a campaign against the plan and foiled it, eventually.   Then, the ROK Navy made a similar move. In 2001, the Ministry of National Defense announced that it would build a naval base at Hwasun Port, Andeok-myeon, Seogwipo City. Residents and civic organizations protested in response and the naval base plan was cancelled. But the Navy came up with a bigger plan in the spring of 2005 to build a 396 km² base with a budget of 800 billion won to station 7,500 Navy soldiers and host 20 Navy vessels, including the Aegis ship (KDX-3), the main fighter of the fleet. The controversy over the naval base led to intense debate among Jeju residents. At first, the naval base site was Hwasun Port, but it shifted to Wimi Port and again to Gangjeong in the face of strong local opposition. Each time the naval base was designated at a certain village, the village was embroiled in serious controversies that led to the disruption of the community. The community of Gangjeong was torn apart amid the confrontation between those who agreed to and opposed the naval base for over 10 years, thus leaving indelible scars in the residents’ minds.   In March 2017, shortly after the completion of the Gangjeong naval base, the Air Force announced its plan to establish a strategic base on Jeju Island. It was to resume the earlier plan that had been suspended when the Air Force failed to implement the plan in 1988. Subsequently, the plan was included in the 1997 Mid-Term Defense Plan but was postponed due to the naval base construction. Mindful of the residents’ opposition to a military base, the Air Force renamed the base as the Southern Search and Rescue Task Force. The Air Force is also planning to start construction of the strategic base in 2021 at the site of the second Civil-Air Force airport around Seongsan. The plan has not been publicly announced, but the new airport has already been agreed upon by the government ministries in the planning stage. So, it is only a matter of time before an Air Force base will be established on Jeju Island. If the second airport is used by the Air Force and the private sector, within a decade Jeju Island will become the most important military base in Korea with both Navy and Air Force facilities. If that happens, the island of peace is likely to turn into a military base that poses threats to East Asia.   Jeju Islanders and Island of Peace   Starting with the Gangjeong naval base, the construction of the military bases on Jeju?now underway amid the thaw in inter-Korean relations?is expected to successfully lead to the establishment of an Air Force base at the second airport in Seongsan. However, the military base is not welcomed by Jeju residents. There was fierce opposition to the naval base, and the soldiers and their family members stationed at the base do not mingle with Gangjeong villagers. The children of the Navy servicemen, who settled in the village during the confrontation over the base, now attend schools far away from Gangjeong because they are concerned about possible conflicts with Gangjeong residents. This is what the ROK Navy has done on Jeju Island.   The Ministry of Defense, the Navy, and the Jeju Provincial Government did not take heed of the pain of the residents. They ignored it. The Navy even went on to demand Gangjeong residents and representatives of civic organizations compensate the Navy for billions of won in damages incurred due to delayed construction. As long as the Navy sticks to this position, it is impossible for the servicemen to reconcile and mingle with the residents.   Jeju Islanders, drafted by the Japanese Army during the Second World War, have long been subject to mass atrocities. After national liberation from Japanese colonial rule, they were massacred by Korean troops and police during the “April 3 Incident”, which occurred amid the leftist-rightist confrontation. Most of the victims were stigmatized as Communists. The victims’ families have lived with the stigma and those who witnessed the massacre were forced into silence for fear of being branded Communists. For Jeju residents, the April 3 Incident remains a source of trauma. Seventy years later, Japanese colonial rule and the April 3 Incident are still painful memories for them, and they have a fear of military troops who are associated with war and genocide. In 1997, President Kim Dae-jung said that Jeju Island should be an “Island of Peace”. Then, a group of intellectuals, including professors from Jeju National University, suggested a measure to designate the island as such, and the Jeju provincial government asked the central government to do so. In 2005, President Roh Moo-hyun officially designated Jeju as the “Island of World Peace.” It was a measure to respond to the wishes of Jeju residents to make Jeju a “place of international exchange and peace to establish a peace regime on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia.” In this respect, the greatest goal of Jeju Island in the 21st century is to become “Peace Island Jeju” and to establish a “peaceful Jeju beyond the pain of the April 3 Incident.”   The Korean government and the Jeju provincial authorities failed to recognize that the naval base contradicts the island’s policy of peace. They have occasionally claimed that there is no problem in becoming an island of peace even if the naval base exists on Jeju Island. They also insisted that the construction of the naval base would help improve the economy of the island. While the Ministry of Defense tried to convince residents by relying on economic arguments, the citizens were more interested in making Jeju Island an island of peace than in economic gains. The long-running anti-naval base campaign of Gangjeong residents, civic groups, and Catholic and other religious groups, to safeguard their villages and preserve the nature of the island is now changing into a movement for the island of peace. Here, we may foresee the future of the peace movement of Jeju.   The Navy announced that it will host the International Fleet Review at the Gangjeong naval base this October. More than 30 countries’ naval fleets will gather for the colorful festival held under the official slogan of “Sea of Jeju Embraces World Peace.” Could the Navy, which antagonizes and tries to coerce residents, become the subject of world peace? It might rather hurt the Gangjeong village again, which has suffered ordeals for over 10 years. Gangjeong villagers and Jeju residents now ask, for whom does the Navy host the fleet review? Could the Navy and Korean troops truly be called the people’s troops who protect their lives and property? I doubt that an event rejected by Jeju residents can promise peace.