[Full Text] President Moon Jae-in's Commemorative Address at the 72nd Anniversary Jeju 4·3 Victims Memorial Ceremony

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] To the survivors and bereaved families of the April 3rd Incident, to the people of Jeju Island, April 3rd is a profound sorrow of Jeju. It is not only Jeju’s sorrow but a great pain in the modern history of the Republic of Korea.

Jeju dreamed of true independence beyond liberation and longed for peace and unification beyond division. The people of Jeju sought only to uphold the pride of the nation and to fully rebuild the country they had regained.

However, because Jeju dared to dream first, it faced a horrific death, and the earnest demand for the establishment of a unified government turned into an ideological trap that divided us.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

If we still dream of peace and unification today and seek reconciliation and integration, we must share in Jeju’s sorrow.

We must return to the starting point of Jeju April 3rd and thoroughly uncover what was fabricated at the scene of that massacre, what shackled us, and what led Jeju to death.

Only when we restart our modern history in this way can Jeju’s pain be truly healed, and we can be free from the strife and conflict that have tormented us for the past 72 years.

I hope that Jeju, which fell like camellia flowers for peace, will be reborn as Jeju that completes peace. I deeply engrave the values of human rights, reconciliation, and integration left by the victims.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

I pray for the souls of the April 3rd victims who were sacrificed by state violence and ideology, and I extend my gratitude and respect to the bereaved families and the people of Jeju who overcame years of suffering and built today’s Jeju.

Fellow citizens, people of Jeju, we have once again reached April 3rd during a very serious and difficult time when we must overcome COVID-19. We deeply feel the power of “solidarity and cooperation” and recognize how strongly that power is making us.

Despite being distorted and ignored, April 3rd has continuously opened the path to reconciliation and healing. In 2013, the April 3rd Victims’ Families Association and the Jeju Police Association declared reconciliation and have held joint memorial ceremonies every year, visiting the National Cemetery and the April 3rd Peace Park.

Last year, the military and police stood before the April 3rd victims’ spirits. They officially apologized to the innocent victims and bereaved families of Jeju and pledged to participate in restoring the honor of April 3rd and healing its wounds. The bereaved families and the people of Jeju also joined hands in reconciliation and coexistence.

The spirit of reconciliation and coexistence is uniting the hearts of the people even amid COVID-19.

Jeju is conducting quarantine activities at more than 27,000 multi-use facilities through a movement called “We Protect Our Neighborhood,” involving 43 towns and villages and 60 organizations.

The Saemaul Women’s Association and Volunteer Center made masks and distributed them to neighbors and the community, while the Barugesalgi Movement Council and the Provincial Youth Association manufactured portable hand sanitizers and distributed them to residents.

The people of Jeju are sharing the pain beyond their region nationwide. They have delivered masks, supplies, and donations to the Daegu and Gyeongbuk areas, and Jeju’s voluntary quarantine activities have become a model of public-private cooperation, observed and learned by other local governments such as Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Naju, Busan, and Ulsan.

I deeply thank the people of Jeju who have taken the lead in demonstrating the power of solidarity and cooperation during these difficult times.

The resolution of April 3rd is by no means a matter of politics or ideology. It is a matter of a fundamentally common-sense and humane attitude that empathizes with the pain of neighbors and respects people. It is a path of “justice and reconciliation” that clears and heals the wrongs of the past that violated life and human rights according to internationally established universal standards.

As President, I promise to do my best so that Jeju April 3rd can blossom into the universal human values of reconciliation, coexistence, peace, and human rights.

Fellow citizens, people of Jeju, truth is the foundation of forgiveness and reconciliation. Truth is the power that heals the wounds caused by ideological hostility.

In March this year, the first volume of the “Additional Investigation Report” was published 16 years after the release of the “Jeju April 3rd Incident Investigation Report.” It recorded the results of the mass massacre, the disappearance of prisoners, preliminary arrests, and the excavation of victims’ remains, and organized the damage situation by village. It revealed the damage to the education sector and students and accurately investigated the damage caused by the military, police, and right-wing groups. I thank the Jeju April 3rd Peace Foundation and related personnel who worked hard to uncover the truth.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This year’s high school Korean history textbooks include more and more detailed descriptions of April 3rd. They specify that April 3rd was a “civilian sacrifice caused by state public authority” and describe that violent means of the state were used during the suppression process. Along with the efforts of the people of Jeju to uncover the truth, the spirit of reconciliation and coexistence is also included, making it truly meaningful.

Jeju is no longer alone. The truth and sorrow of April 3rd, and the efforts for reconciliation and coexistence, will be passed on to new generations and never forgotten. April 3rd will become a compass of human rights, life, peace, and integration for future generations moving toward a better world.

It is the state’s duty to embrace the pain of the April 3rd victims and bereaved families and restore their lives and honor on the basis of truth.

Truth connects to reconciliation and coexistence only when it meets justice. It is the state’s essential duty to realize truth not only as historical justice but also as legal justice.

Providing relief to citizens who were unjustly sacrificed is a fundamental question that asks the reason for the existence of the state.

The “April 3rd Special Act Amendment,” including compensation and restitution issues that form the foundation for the complete resolution of April 3rd, still remains in the National Assembly.

Jeju April 3rd victims have only received partial compensation through individual lawsuits or government medical and living support funds, but compensation and restitution by law have yet to be realized. As President, I feel truly heavy-hearted about this slow progress.

However, April 3rd is also advancing step by step toward legal justice. Last year, eighteen surviving April 3rd prisoners won all retrial and criminal compensation lawsuits they filed, claiming the unfairness of the April 3rd military trials. Cheers of “We are now innocent people” erupted in Courtroom 201 of Jeju District Court. Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae, who attended this event, revealed the prisoner list she discovered at the National Archives during her time as a member of the National Assembly, which proved the innocence of the April 3rd prisoners.

In the past year, among them, elders Hyun Chang-yong, Kim Kyung-in, Kim Soon-hwa, and Song Seok-jin passed away, but the state has yet to fulfill its duty and responsibility to the most important surviving victims and bereaved families.

Not only the surviving victims but also the first-generation bereaved families are over seventy years old, and eyewitnesses who remember the situation at the time are elderly, so there is no more time to delay.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Justice delayed too long is justice denied.”

Because there were many painful past histories to resolve and overcome in the process from liberation to division and war, it is difficult, but we will continue to strive to realize substantial compensation and restitution as basic justice while the victims and bereaved families are still alive.

I ask the political circles and the National Assembly for special interest and support for the “April 3rd Special Act Amendment.” Along with legislative efforts, the government will promptly carry out what it can do.

In 2018, the government resumed the additional registration project for April 3rd victims and bereaved families, which had been suspended. The “Jeju April 3rd Incident Truth Investigation and Victims’ Honor Restoration Committee” reviewed the additionally registered victims and bereaved families during the “6th registration period” and newly recognized 90 victims and 7,606 bereaved family members.

In particular, it is very meaningful that Ms. Song Jeong-soon, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing her father’s sacrifice, was recognized as the first April 3rd victim to be acknowledged as a victim due to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Going forward, we will provide opportunities for additional registration so that not a single victim is omitted and continue to support the excavation of remains and genetic analysis to return victims’ remains to their families.

From April this year, the “April 3rd Trauma Center” will be piloted to heal the wounds and pain of surviving victims and bereaved families. We will actively support the people of Jeju to shake off the burdens and scars in their hearts. When related laws are legislated, we will prepare to upgrade it to a national trauma center.

To the surviving victims and bereaved families of April 3rd, and to all citizens, April 3rd is both the past and our future. Efforts for national reconciliation and peace began on that day of April 3rd. The dream Jeju dreamed in the past is now our dream.

Though sorrow continued like falling camellia flowers, today exists because we endured the sorrow. I will not yet say to forget the sorrow. I will say let us open the tomorrow Jeju dreamed of together amid the sorrow.

The government will advance step by step toward reconciliation, coexistence, peace, and human rights together with the people of Jeju, bereaved families, and citizens.

The story of truth, justice, and reconciliation that began with April 3rd will remain as a moving history that salvaged hope from sorrow for our descendants.

Thank you.