[Digging Travel] Jeju Had Five Airports

The Tragedy of Seotal Oreum Told by Black Rubber Shoes
The Hidden History of Alteureu Airfield
From Military Base to Site of Massacre... The Shadow of the Jeju April 3rd Incident

Jeju Island, known today as the 'Island of Peace.' However, it is not widely known that there were five military airfields on this island. The runways that once decorated Jeju's skies were not merely military facilities. They were Japan's invasion forward bases, and just before defeat, they were places where kamikaze planes prepared to take off under the name of 'homeland decisive battle.'

After liberation, some parts of the airfields transformed into civilian airports, but others became sites of further tragedy during the Korean War. The land of Jeju, marked by airfields, was connected to the scars of the April 3rd Incident (Jeju 4·3).

Aerial view of Alteul Airfield. The area around the hangars is currently leased as farmland, with radish cultivation in full swing. Photo by Jeju-do

Alteureu Airfield, the Forward Base for Asia Invasion Starting from Jeju

In 1933, the Japanese Navy built the first airfield on Jeju. It was the Alteureu Airfield. Originally used as a stopover for aircraft invading China, this site was massively expanded with runways and auxiliary facilities as the Second Sino-Japanese War intensified.

Alteureu Airfield served as the forward base for the Nanjing air raids. The Japanese Navy bombed the Chinese mainland 36 times via this airfield. Toward the end of the war, it was also used as a launch base for the kamikaze special attack units. Even today, Alteureu Airfield remains under the ownership of the Ministry of National Defense. In the southern plains of Jeju, traces of the kamikaze airfield, air-raid shelters, and hangar foundations are still visible.

Current Jeju International Airport (photo above) and the appearance of Jeongtteureu Airfield in the 1950s (photo below). Photo by Jeju Airport

Jeongdeureu Airfield, from Military Runway to Jeju International Airport

In 1942, the Japanese Army constructed Jeongdeureu Airfield. Also called the West Airfield, it was used as a base for the kamikaze army aviation units.

The runway consisted of two strips measuring 1,800m and 1,500m. After the war, it was taken over by the U.S. military and became a hub for civil aviation in 1957. Today, Jeju International Airport directly succeeds the Jeongdeureu Airfield.

Japanese military aircraft stationed at Jeju Airfield during World War II. Jindre Airfield, also known as Jeju East Airfield, was planned as a site for runways and hangars for kamikaze special attack aircraft launches. However, today, the runway is barely traceable, and some hangars are being used as citrus warehouses. Photo by U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Jindeureu Airfield, an Eastern Airfield... Only Traces Remain

In early 1945, Jindeureu Airfield was established in Sinchon-ri, Jocheon-eup. Known as 'Jeju East Airfield,' it was planned with runways, hangars, ammunition depots, and troop accommodation caves for launching kamikaze special attack planes.

However, due to Japan's defeat, its completion remains uncertain, and today, it is difficult to find any traces of the airfield.

Gyorae-ri Airfield, a Secret Inland Airfield Deep in the Interior

In July of the same year, the Japanese Army built an inland airfield in Gyorae-ri, Jocheon-eup. The Japanese military constructed this airfield deep within forests and fields rather than on the coast as a secret base for kamikaze sorties.

Gyorae-ri Airfield had two runways along with large underground hangars, fuel depots, and troop accommodation caves. Currently, it is used as the Korean Air Jeongseok Airfield, but some facilities still retain the structure of the former military airfield.

Gyoraeri Airfield is currently being used as Korean Air Jeongseok Airfield. Photo by Korean Air

Seogwipo Airfield, the Airfield that Crossed the Mountains of the April 3rd Incident

Seogwipo Airfield was a runway established by the police during the April 3rd Incident after liberation. Located near Seogwipo City Hall and the grassy areas around Donghongcheon, this airfield was used to search mountainous areas using light aircraft.

This airfield was not used after the April 3rd Incident was suppressed and is known to have disappeared after being sold to civilians in the 1970s.

Seotal Oreum Massacre, Alteureu Airfield as a Mass Execution Site

Seotal Oreum is a small hill next to Alteureu Airfield that was used as an ammunition depot and air-raid shelter during the Japanese colonial period. However, in the summer of 1950, it became a site of massacre. Shortly after the Korean War began, the police conducted preemptive arrests focusing on those involved in the Jeju 4·3 Incident. Residents classified as D and C grades among them were handed over to the Marine Corps.

The residents loaded onto military trucks headed toward pits at Seotal Oreum east of Mosulpo Airfield. With no way to inform their families, they threw their black rubber shoes, which they were wearing, onto the roadside from the trucks. Rubber shoes scattered along the paths, and families who later followed these paths realized that the shoes were not discarded by villagers. Only upon seeing the shoes did they understand their family members had been taken away.

The ammunition depot of Altteureu Airfield and the hilly area of Seotal Oreum, which was used as an air-raid shelter, became a brutal site of massacre where ordinary residents were killed under the pretext of 'preliminary screening' carried out mainly against the veterans of the April 3 Incident after the Korean War. Photo by Kim Heeyoon

Under the orders of the Syngman Rhee government, the police arrested those involved in the Jeju 4·3 Incident and persons under surveillance en masse. Each police station received orders to "preemptively arrest subversive elements," and Mosulpo Police Station used the Jeolgan Sweet Potato Warehouse, Fisheries Cooperative Warehouse, and Mureung Branch Warehouse as temporary detention centers.

"I looked through the crack of the warehouse door, hoping to see my parents' faces. But the guards snarled, 'Do you want to die too?'"

Survivor Lee Seong-hee (pseudonym) vividly remembers the day his parents were detained in the Jeolgan Sweet Potato Warehouse. When he went to deliver rice, people were trapped inside the smoke from cooking, but no one could speak.

"If you were D grade, you would die." The police classified detainees from A to D grades. Those in D and C grades were the first targets of gunfire. From mid-July to August, they were handed over to the Marine Corps. The pits near Mosulpo Airfield soon became mass execution sites.

Excavation of remains that were executed by firing squad and mass buried near the north-south runway of Jeju International Airport (formerly Jeongtteureu Airfield) in 1950 during the April 3 Incident. Photo by Jeju Province

Syngman Rhee Government's 'Preemptive Arrests,' Two Rounds of Mass Killings

According to the investigation report on the 'Jeju Preemptive Arrest Incident (Seotal Oreum)' by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the first mass shooting occurred from July 16 to 20, 1950, and the second on August 20. A Marine Corps soldier present at the scene testified as follows:

"We were told to gather at the parade ground and were loaded onto trucks without any explanation. Upon arrival, the company commander ordered, 'Shoot the rioters.'

The Marine witness vividly described the situation in the report. Soldiers held guns, and civilians stood in line with their hands on their heads. Some were stabbed to death with swords (Nippondo) instead of being shot.

"Moans continued from inside the pit. It was already a place piled with corpses."

Most of the deceased were related to the April 3rd Incident, but there was no evidence they were members of the Bodo League. On the contrary, families testified that they were "quiet farmers unrelated to the war." Even within the police, it was acknowledged that "many were taken due to personal grudges." A police officer who worked at the Mosulpo Dumoji Station said, "Those who were going to Hallasan had all gone, and those left were people who lived quietly."

Among the actual victims, there were many cases where innocent people were arrested due to conspiracies by the police, Northwest Youth Corps, and village leaders. The official investigation recorded 44 cases claiming innocence.

Seotal Oreum Pre-Examination Victims Memorial. In front of the monument, black rubber shoes brought by the bereaved families are neatly arranged. Photo by Kim Heeyoon

217 Confirmed Victims... Remains Left Untended for Six Years

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission report quotes the then Marine Corps battalion commander saying, "It was an order from the Ministry of National Defense." The command chain went from Defense Minister Shin Sung-mo to Navy Chief of Staff Son Won-il, Marine Corps Commander Shin Hyun-jun, and the Marine Corps battalion commander stationed at Mosulpo.

217 victims have been confirmed. However, this is only the confirmed number, and it is highly likely that unrecorded names were buried together beneath the pits at Seotal Oreum.

The victims were residents detained in the Jeolgan Sweet Potato Warehouse under the jurisdiction of Mosulpo Police Station's Daejeong Branch and those held in the Hallim Port Fisheries Warehouse under Hallim Branch. On July 16, 20 people were shot at Seotal Oreum in the first round, and a month later, on August 20, 191 more were shot there. About 90 others are known to have been released around September 1950.

Hundreds of residents who heard that their family members were shot at Seotal Oreum rushed to recover the bodies, but military personnel from the Counterintelligence Unit threatened and intimidated them by firing warning shots, preventing even the identification of their family members' faces.

In 1956, during military base expansion construction, remains were uncovered at the burial site. The two pits were located on the site of an ammunition depot forcibly built by the Japanese using Jeju residents as laborers. Residents say it took six years before they could begin recovering the bodies.

Although remains were recovered, the military regime soon suppressed the site, destroying graves and tombstones. Bereaved families from Hallim-ri first recovered about 60 bodies, and upon hearing this, families from the Daejeong area attempted to excavate remains at the massacre site but were blocked by military and police forces. After persistent efforts by the families, excavation was finally permitted, and 149 remains were recovered by pumping water out of the waterlogged pit.

In the 1990s, the bereaved families reformed their association and began to reveal the truth to the world. In 2001, the association formally requested an investigation from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The full story of the incident was then revealed. Those thrown into the pits of death were not enemies of the war or partisans but neighbors and family members?simply people labeled as 'subversive.'

The gunfire at Seotal Oreum has long ceased, but the bereaved families have waged a long battle against the government for over half a century to uncover the truth of the incident. On this land, where airfields, oreums (volcanic cones), caves, and trenches remain, the April 3rd Incident is still an unfinished story.

At Altteureu Airfield and Seotal Oreum, I captured black rubber shoes in front of the memorial monument with a Super 8mm camera I brought along. Every year, new shoes that no one has worn are placed here to honor the victims, remaining deeply in the hearts of their families for a long time. Video by Heeyoon Kim.

Seotal Oreum and the Black Rubber Shoes

At Seotal Oreum today stands a memorial monument for the victims. In front of the monument lie dozens of pairs of black rubber shoes. These shoes were thrown by residents on the trucks as they were dragged away without knowing why, and they have become the last memory and symbol for the surviving families.

Though it was just a pair of shoes left on the road, the people of Jeju understood that it was a message left by the departed family members. The Seotal Oreum massacre was not a simple wartime execution but an organized massacre of civilians by the police and military, continuing the April 3rd Incident.

The dozens of pairs of rubber shoes appear as if time has stopped at that moment. However, all the shoes are new pairs, provided annually by the bereaved families.

Even as they were loaded onto trucks, unable to inform their families of their fate, the victims took off their shoes and threw them onto the road. A single pair of shoes was the only signal they could send to their families.

Those who picked up the shoes along the roadside finally realized where their sisters, mothers, aunts, and younger brothers had gone and swallowed their tears.

At Seotal Oreum, the airfield and gunfire have disappeared, but the rubber shoes remain in place.

Only the memory has not been buried underground.