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Do n’t forget the “4.3 Incident” Japan-Korea Memorial Festival in Tsushima

2019-09-20T01:55:39.675Z


About 4.3 years ago, the “4.3 incident” in which the people were massacred by the government in Jeju Island, South Korea. Japanese and Korean citizens hold a memorial festival on the 29th at the seaside of Tsushima (Nagasaki Prefecture), where countless dead bodies believed to be victims drifted. Diplomatic relations have deteriorated and the Korean side ...


About 4.3 years ago, the “4.3 incident” in which the people were massacred by the government in Jeju Island, South Korea. Japanese and Korean citizens hold a memorial festival on the 29th at the seaside of Tsushima (Nagasaki Prefecture), where countless dead bodies believed to be victims drifted. Diplomatic relations have deteriorated and there has been a movement to refrain from participating in the Korean side.

The call was made by a poet from Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture, Kim Shi Jong (90). Born and raised in Korea under the rule of Japan, he participated in the uprising of the Jeju islanders on April 3, 1948, protesting the South Peninsular elections on the Korean Peninsula. After being chased by the government, he moved to Japan in 1949. Since returning to the island for the first time in about half a century in 1998 under the Kim Dae-jung administration, he has been visiting the graves of his parents and mourning victims of the incident.

Tens of thousands of people were slaughtered on Jeju Island from before and after the incident until the Korean War (50-53). Kim's eyes have a sight of that time. People who had their wrists tied together and tied with rosary ropes were carried offshore by military boats and dropped into the sea. I saw a dead body at the beach. I heard later that some of the people were swept to Tsushima.

“I want to hold a memorial festival in Tsushima”. An acquaintance Isamu Nagata (71) who heard Mr. Kim's wish came to Tsushima, a local reporter that there was a corpse of a corpse that seems to have drifted to Tsushima three years ago. Learned from.

The memorial tower was built on the hill of Sago Bay by Mr. Koji Eto (62) in Tsushima City, who can also see Busan on the opposite bank. In 2006, my father, Hikari-san, told me to teach, and was guided to a steep rocky area along the coast. It was a burial place for corpses. About 70 years ago, a body that seemed to be from South Korea was drifted like everyday clothes from clothes and things worn, and several locals cremated it, but could not catch up, but dug a hole on the beach and buried it together thing……. “You would tell me that history will disappear if you keep it.” Following the father's will, he built a memorial tower in 2007 and memorialized in detail with the couple.

In September last year, Kim called for the first memorial festival in the bay where the tower is located, but he was unable to participate because of his poor physical condition. This year, after graduating, he participated in the memorial festival in Jeju Island in April. I wanted to join Tsushima and became the organizer of the memorial festival.

Due to the influence of Japan-Korea relations, the initial participants from Korea called for “postponement”, but President Seung Seung-moon (70) of the “Jeju 4.3 Victims' Survivor's Association” persuaded the parties concerned I turned around. “Must not be shaken by political relations with citizens who want to respect human rights and mourn the victims,” says Tsuji.

There are not a few people in the bereaved family who continue to search for the victim's body, and some are believed to have been swept to Tsushima. A few years ago, a university and a broadcasting station in Jeju Island examined the currents and confirmed that the drifting off Jeju reached Tsushima.

Over 15 people such as Mr. Tsuji visited Japan from Korea at this memorial festival. Together with the Japanese side, about 60 people will participate and mourn the victims who sleep in foreign countries.

Kim says. “Eto-san's gentleness and father ’s kindness are squeezed and chewed. The memorial tower shows that geographically close Japan and Korea share the history of“ 4.3 ”through the ocean current. Efforts to share history with the hands of the citizens are meaningful and necessary now. ”(Editorial committee member, Atsushi Nakano)

<4.3 Incident> On April 3, 1948, before the establishment of the South Korean and North Korean governments, armed forces opposed to South Korea's sole election on Jeju Island. Many islanders were slaughtered by indiscriminate suppression of the military and police. The number of deaths, including those who were detained and killed before and after the Korean War (50-53), was estimated to be 30,000 by Korean government agencies, and there are still many victims whose bodies are still not found. Yes. The incident was viewed as a taboo for many years in South Korea, where the military administration continued, but the Kim Dae Jung administration began to investigate the truth. President Roh Moo-hyun officially apologized to the victims in 2003 in recognition of the “error of national power”.

Source: asahi

All news articles on 2019-09-20

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