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| ▲ Prime Minister Han Duck-soo delivers a memorial speech on President Yoon Suk Yeol's behalf during a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Jeju April 3 uprising at the Peace Park on the southern island of Jeju, 465 kilometers south of Seoul, on April 3, 2023. The incident refers to a series of pro-communist uprisings and a counterinsurgency that occurred between 1948 and 1954 on the island, which resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent citizens. (Yonhap) |
Yoon-Jeju uprising
Yoon vows to restore honor of 1948 Jeju massacre victims
SEOUL, April 3 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed to restore the honor of the victims of a 1948 civilian massacre on Jeju Island as he marked the anniversary of the incident on Monday.
Yoon made the pledge in remarks read by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo at a ceremony commemorating the April 3, 1948, massacre in Jeju.
"The government will do its best to restore the honor of the victims of the April 3 incident and their families, while remembering and taking care of the suffering and pain of the surviving victims," he said.
The April 3 incident refers to an uprising of Jeju islanders against the U.S. military-led rule following Japan's 1910-45 occupation of Korea.
The then government distorted the uprising as a communist riot and massacred an estimated 14,000-30,000 civilians, or up to 10 percent of the island's population at the time, in armed crackdowns over seven years beginning in 1947, starting before the April 3 incident.
"Paying our respects to the innocent April 3 victims and soothing the pain of their families together with the people is the natural duty of a liberal democratic state pursuing freedom and human rights," Yoon said.
Yoon noted he promised to transform Jeju into a "jewel of the Republic of Korea" where culture, tourism, nature and cutting-edge technology co-exist.
The government will spare no assistance to that end, he said.
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