Jeju, Island of World Peace

When I was asked to write about ‘Jeju and Peace, the Environment, and Inter-Korean Relations’, the first memory that came to mind was an image in reading the North Korean novel ≪Kkochpaneun Cheonyeo (The Flower Maiden)≫. I was greatly stimulated by the story because I sympathized with the harsh life of the young flower girl and the pain that the people suffered from losing their country. What attracted me even more was that the stories I heard from my maternal grandmother when I was a child, were melted into every corner of the book with many words and expressions. Now that I don’t have the book I read back then, there is no way of confirming which expressions drew me in but I’m sure that the languages in Jeju and in North Korea are very similar. Without being aware, we seem to have forgotten that the two Koreas, who have been living in hostile relations for a long time due to division, are one people at heart. Through this study. I would like to confirm that the two Koreas are the common ethinc group and the same linguistic community by revealing the many similarities between the Jeju and the North Korean language. In order to restore and maintain inter-Korean relations, continuous efforts must be made to eliminate conflicts between the North and South. This is because only then can we break down the barrier of division and the linguistic community can be kept peaceful through the Korean language which King Sejong the Great created.

On Feb. 26, 2021, two months ahead of the 73rd anniversary of Jeju 4∙3, the motion on the general amendment of the Jeju 4∙3 Special Act was passed at the National Assembly’s plenary session, which supplemented the act with clauses concerning reparation for the victims and ex officio retrials for those wrongfully convicted. The general revision of the Jeju 4∙3 Special Act is another achievement that was made 21 years after the legislation of the act. With the passage of the revised act, many Jeju 4∙3-related organizations and the media reported, as if on cue, that a “turning point” or a “starting point” has been arranged for the “complete resolution” of the historical event. However, the meaning of the “complete resolution” has yet to be discussed more intensely. It is also observed that resolving the past historical issues was achieved in only few cases around the world. In this sense, taking the opportunity of the general revision of the Jeju 4∙3 Special Act, this article aims to review the meaning of the “complete resolution” of Jeju 4∙3 and the challenges for that “complete resolution,” and to cast prospects on the future.

In promoting inter-Korean exchange and cooperation, Jeju should discover projects that befit the status and role of the Island of Peace that it pursues. Plans are needed to discover projects that would lead to tangible outcomes for Jeju residents, while establishing them as practical and successful cases. Simultaneously, the philosophy and vision of peace that the Island of Peace conceives should be disseminated to both the South and the North. Jeju also needs to serve as a field of practical education for a broader consensus on settling peace on the Korean Peninsula. As a process of establishing peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula, the achievements of inter-Korean exchange and cooperation should be extended to peace education. Meanwhile, a virtuous cycle of peace should be created through peace education to generate a driving force for inter-Korean exchanges.

The Archives of Jeju 4∙3 contain the records of a historical event caused due to the Cold War and national division of Korea. Jeju 4∙3 was analogous to, a prelude to, and an epitome of, the Korean War. From this global perspective, the Archives of Jeju 4∙3 contain the overall picture of the causes, development, results, and resolution of the crucial event. From a global point of view, the types and content of the records are very rich compared to those of other mass victimizations of residents by state authorities in other countries and regions. It is also important because records of over 15,000 victims have been well preserved. The Jeju April 3 Incident Investigation Report (2003) was developed by using the Archives of Jeju 4·3 as key sources and grounds. The investigation report was later translated and published in English, Chinese, and Japanese starting in 2014, enabling the global publicization of the truth of Jeju 4·3. The expected MoW inscription of the Archives of Jeju 4·3 will help share the universal value of the reconciliation process of Jeju 4·3 with the world and give the Republic of Korea an opportunity to be globally recognized as a country with a mature sense of human rights. The successful inscription will also help the nation overcome the history of the Cold War, national division, a series of dictatorships, segmentation, and confrontation. The official global recognition that the reconciliation process pursued the values of truth, peace and human rights, and reconciliation and mutual existence is expected to eventually help resolve ideological conflicts as well as globalize the case example of Jeju 4·3.

The Korean government designated Jeju island as an ‘Island of World Peace’ in 2005. It can be evaluated as a meaningful project related to the future of Jeju, considering it expects for Jeju to play an important role in establishing peace in Northeast Asia and the world, going beyond Jeju. However, since Jeju’s designation as an ‘Island of World Peace’, in Jeju society, there have been different opinions and views on the meaning of peace and the concept of an ‘Island of World Peace’, intensifying in a flood of discourses on peace. There are different perspectives on the concept of an ‘Island of World Peace’. However, they can be divided into two views : a hub for international exchange and cooperation, and zone of peace. In other words, there are two main perceptions of what an ‘Island of World Peace’ actually menas. The one is to regard as a place to discuss peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, and furthermore, in the world and the other is to consider it as a new vision associated with the future of Jeju.

The Korean government designated Jeju island as an ‘Island of World Peace’ in 2005. It can be evaluated as a meaningful project related to the future of Jeju, considering it expects for Jeju to play an important role in establishing peace in Northeast Asia and the world, going beyond Jeju. However, since Jeju’s designation as an ‘Island of World Peace’, in Jeju society, there have been different opinions and views on the meaning of peace and the concept of an ‘Island of World Peace’, intensifying in a flood of discourses on peace. There are different perspectives on the concept of an ‘Island of World Peace’. However, they can be divided into two views : a hub for international exchange and cooperation, and zone of peace. In other words, there are two main perceptions of what an ‘Island of World Peace’ actually menas. The one is to regard as a place to discuss peace on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, and furthermore, in the world and the other is to consider it as a new vision associated with the future of Jeju.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress (WCC), which took place from 3 to 11 September 2021 in Marseille, France, was concluded with the shared recognition that we have one nature and one future. Its World Environmental Hubs Working Group session was recently held on Jeju (Jeju WEH WG), addressing the establishment of a global research and training center on Internationally Designated Areas (IDAs). The global research and training center on IDAs is expected to be opened on Jeju as a UNESCO category 2 center under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO C2C Jeju) in the latter half of 2022. The latest Jeju WEH WG session was greatly significant in that the meeting newly proposed the opening of the UN organization named the World Environment University (WEU).

Japan-ROK relations just keep on becoming more exacerbated. Both governments are still opposing each other, and the people often experience emotional confrontations. This worsened state is becoming the “new normal.” I intend to suggest some clues to improve the bilateral relations, with reflection on Japanese society.

This article aims to examine how Jeju has built peace through cooperation within the framework of “village autonomy.” Despite the island’s difficult conditions and history of tyranny, war, and destitution, Jeju has maintained a steadfast custom of village autonomy. I have always had the aspiration to talk to anyone, in any place, about the pain of Jeju, about the potential of Jeju, about the goodness of the Jeju people, and about how they could build peace through cooperation and village autonomy. For a country to maintain peace, would it need an excellent ruler? Excellent subordinates? Or excellent people? The answer would be all three. In the case of Jeju Island, excellency was particularly found in its people. The Jeju people are excellent in that they have created a mechanism for cooperation, and that mechanism is village autonomy. To write this article, I interviewed Dr. Kim Il-soon, who has studied Jeju’s village autonomy, and Prof. Go Chang-hun, who has studied peace with a focus on Jeju. The interviews were used in the article where relevant.

The waters around Jeju, an island located off the southernmost tip of the Korean Peninsula, flow northward with the Tsushima Warm Current and the Yellow Sea Warm Current moving from south to east and from south to west, respectively. Depending on the season, Jeju’s waters are intricately affected by various water masses with different properties, such as the Chinese Coastal Water, the Korean Southern Coastal Water, and the Korean West Sea Cold Water Zone. This diversity creates good conditions for migration routes and wintering grounds of different fish varieties in the neritic waters of Jeju Island. Of the waters around the Korean Peninsula, the region features the most diverse marine flora and fauna and provides habitats for various living species. Due to climate change, however, it has been reported that the subsea desertification near Jeju Island has caused the disappearance of macro-algal communities, or marine algae, and the emergence of epiphytic coccolithophorid – a valueless species as food organisms for commercial clam resource – with an increasing occurrence of soft coral reefs. As such, understanding the global carbon cycle is crucial to comprehending and forecasting global warming and other climate change-related phenomena. As Jeju Island – Korea’s representative pristine environment – is very sensitive to climate change, this article examines the necessity of monitoring the marine environment around Jeju Island.