73rd Anniversary Joint Memorial Ceremony of the Yeosun Uprising This Year... Should Be Held as a Place of Harmony

"According to the Rotation System, This Year the Event Must Be Held in Gwangyang-si"
It Should Have Nationwide Expansion Beyond the Local Area

[Suncheon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] On the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the Yeosun Uprising this year, the Yeosun 10·10 Pan-National Solidarity stated in a commentary on the 16th, “Considering the special significance of the joint memorial ceremony, this joint memorial ceremony should become a venue for regional harmony.”

This year is significant as it marks the first year of fruition, 20 years after 20 civic groups in the eastern Jeonnam region?including the Suncheon Eastern Community Research Institute, Yeosu Community Research Institute, Suncheon Citizens' Solidarity for Reconciliation and Peace, and People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy?formed a joint countermeasure committee to promote the enactment of a special law.

They added, “In 2018, on the 70th anniversary of the Yeosun Uprising, eastern region civic groups and bereaved families agreed to hold a joint memorial service while touring each region from Yeosu,” and “Originally, last year’s venue was Gwangyang City, but due to insufficient preparation such as organizing the bereaved families’ association, the joint memorial ceremony was inevitably held in Gurye County,” emphasizing, “This year, holding the memorial ceremony in Gwangyang City, the venue from last year, is the most reasonable decision.”

In particular, Gwangyang is evaluated as a region where deep divisions remain between the left and right wings centered around Baegunsan Mountain, with retaliatory killings continuing until the Korean War, making it a region that more than any other needs to foster an atmosphere of reconciliation and coexistence through the joint memorial ceremony.

The Pan-National Solidarity stated, “The special law defines the region to include parts of Jeonbuk and Gyeongnam, aiming to expand the Yeosun Uprising beyond the region to a nationwide scale,” and added, “We hope that Yeosu City and other local governments, as well as the bereaved families’ association, will cooperate in principle so that the eastern Jeonnam community will no longer be divided over this year’s joint memorial ceremony.”