hankyoreh

Jeju Island

By Huh Ho-joon, Jeju Correspondent

In addition to the residents battling the Jeju naval base construction, there are other peace activists staying at Gangjeong village in Seogwipo, Jeju. These are the activists the conservative media refer to as “outside forces.” They have played a crucial role in alerting the world to the blasting of Gureombi Rock and the situation in the village through Twitter and other social media. They have united spontaneously, without anyone’s direction, each with a different reason for opposing the naval base.

Catholic priest Moon Jeong-hyeon is the central figure among the “outside forces” working in Gangjeong. He stands at the front of the demonstration with his sun-darkened face, receding white hair, bushy white beard, and modified hanbok outfit, holding a cane in one hand. Moon is now a villager himself, having moved to Gangjeong over the course of the naval base battle.

“Just like in Maehyang Village [the site of a USFK firing range] and Daechu Village [location of the Pyeongtaek US military base], they are using all sorts of illegal tactics and buyoffs to build the naval base in Gangjeong village,” Moon said.

“I just wanted to help the residents in some way,” he added.

Park Seong-su, a 39-year-old from Gunsan, North Jeolla province, who is better known in Gangjeong by the nickname “Dongguri,” has been residing in the village since July 15 of last year.

“I came here to meet Father Moon, and it ended up being the day when three residents were arrested, including Go Gwon-il, the head of the committee to oppose the naval base,” Park recalled.

“I‘ve stayed because I was enraged at the disappearance of law and justice,” Park said.

Bang Eun-mi, 52, came to Gangjeong around the same time from a career in theater. She worked for over ten years as head of the Arirang theater company in Seoul’s Daehangno neighborhood. With the Nabi theater company, she did theater that focused on the issue of the “comfort women” drafted as sexual slaves for the Japanese military during the colonial occupation of Korea.

Bang became an “outside force” after a chance visit to Gangjeong.

“I haven‘t left because it seemed to me a dereliction of human love and conscience to do so when I knew how Gangjeong village residents were suffering at the hands of state authorities,” Bang explained.

The peace activists of Gangjeong village said they were not “outside forces,” but “forces for peace,” The eye-catching banner that waves at the junction in their current home reads, “You may be the smallest village in Korea, Gangjeong, but the peace that starts with you will reach the whole country!”

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