[Reporter’s Notebook] Jeju 4·3 and Park Jinkyung’s 43 Days: The Primacy of Evidence

Changwon Park, Director of Honam Reporting Headquarters.

Amid the painful history of the Jeju 4·3 Incident, the controversy over Colonel Park Jinkyung's eligibility as a national merit recipient has recently resurfaced.

As presidential directives and administrative reviews continue, we are prompted to ask: "What is the essential truth our society must not overlook?" It is not the voice of any particular faction or the fleeting tide of public opinion, but rather the need to confront history solely on the basis of objective facts and verified evidence.

The official government record, the "Jeju 4·3 Incident Investigation Report," contains statistics on the deceased that present clear evidence contradicting the current flow of public opinion. According to the report, as many as 12,377 people-accounting for 86% of all victims-lost their lives after Colonel Park was assassinated.

Colonel Park served as commander of the 9th Regiment in Jeju for only 43 days.

During this period, the number of deaths was around 200, and among them, only about 25 are identified as having died in actual combat with the military. The "scorched-earth operation" and mass killings, considered the most horrific phase of the 4·3 Incident, did not begin until several months after his death.

It is necessary to question whether labeling him as the "ringleader" of the entire tragedy based on a brief 43-day tenure is truly a fair historical assessment grounded in evidence.

The grounds for public criticism of Colonel Park are mostly based on the accounts of those who opposed him, with no objective documents to substantiate these claims. In contrast, there is another set of empirical testimonies that public opinion deliberately ignores: the recollections of General Chae Myungshin, who served as a platoon leader under Colonel Park.

General Chae Myungshin, who refused burial in the generals’ cemetery and became the first general to be interred in the soldiers’ cemetery, is still revered by countless soldiers and citizens as a model soldier. The commander he respected most during his lifetime was none other than Colonel Park Jinkyung.

General Chae testified that Colonel Park instructed, "The people of Jeju are our compatriots, so we must thoroughly distinguish between armed groups and civilians." It is highly significant that General Chae's command philosophy-which later moved the world during the Vietnam War with the principle, "Even if you let a hundred enemies go, protect a single innocent civilian"-was rooted in the lessons he learned from Colonel Park during his time in Jeju.

It is ironic that one side’s accounts are treated as objective fact, while the living testimony of a general resting in the soldiers’ cemetery is disregarded.

The current landscape of public opinion seems to be skewed toward a particular narrative rather than a multidimensional verification of facts.

Such a grave matter as eligibility for national merit should be determined not by the sentiments or trends of the public, but on the basis of clear evidence and fair historical interpretation rooted in the rule of law.

When unverified accounts overwhelm the truth spoken by documented evidence, history risks becoming a tool for condemnation.

The Jeju 4·3 Incident is a monumental tragedy for our nation, and the pain of its victims cannot be easily washed away. However, the process of coming to terms with that tragedy must also be just.

I hope that the controversy surrounding Colonel Park Jinkyung will become an opportunity for our modern history to be examined more deeply through solid evidence and records, rather than simply a matter of revoking his eligibility.

The true restoration of honor for Jeju 4·3 can only be achieved not through the triumph of emotion, but on the foundation of unwavering evidence.