Documenting the Truth: Jeju 4.3
The events which unfolded on Jeju between 1947 and 1954 served as a horrific precursor to the Korean War and for years were omitted from the post colonial narrative of modern Korea. Idyllic Jeju, an island known as the Hawaii of Korea and a weekend get-away from caffeine-driven, workaholic Seoul, was once ravaged by a bloody conflict. Mass arrests and civilian killings became commonplace as military police waged violent counterinsurgency campaigns across the island. The killings were indiscriminate in nature and majority of the 14,382 people killed lacked political agendas or ideologies (Jeju Peace Institute). Why did these gruesome atrocities occur and how did they go so long without recognition?