President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is seen paying respects and bowing his head in silence after offering incense at the 74th Jeju 4·3 Victims Memorial Ceremony held at the Jeju 4·3 Peace Park on the 3rd. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol expressed his intention to strive for the full restoration of honor for the victims and bereaved families of the April 3 Incident.
On the 3rd, President-elect Yoon attended the 74th anniversary memorial ceremony for the April 3 victims held at Jeju 4·3 Peace Park and conveyed this message in his memorial address. This is the first time a president or president-elect from a conservative party has attended the April 3 memorial ceremony.
During his candidacy, on February 5th, when he visited Jeju, he promised to return once he became president-elect. Yoon said, "Healing the pain of April 3 and tending to its scars is our responsibility as those who remember April 3, and it is Korea's role to pursue reconciliation, coexistence, and move toward the future."
He continued, "The state will responsibly comfort the lives and pains of the surviving victims and bereaved families who have overcome difficult times."
President-elect Yoon emphasized, "Warmly embracing the innocent victims together with the people and sharing their pain is a natural duty of a liberal democratic country that upholds universal values such as freedom and human rights," adding, "The will not to repeat the tragedies of the past continues here today, 74 years later, and will persist in the future."
He said, "We cannot change the past, but I believe the future is something we can create together, which is the power of the April 3 history that moved from tragedy to peace," and added, "The values of peace and human rights embodied in this Jeju 4·3 Peace Park will be widely spread and meet the world, and the new government will also strive for this."
President-elect Yoon said, "We remember the painful history of April 3 and each innocent victim," and added, "I am solemn before the people of Jeju and Jeju’s history, who have endured the grief of losing their precious loved ones without even being able to say a word of injustice."
He continued, "I express my deep condolences to the victims’ spirits. I also offer words of comfort to the bereaved families who have shared the years of suffering and cultivated Jeju, the island of peace."
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