Ko Chang Hoon (Editor-in-Chief, World Environment and Island Studies)
1. Establishment of the ‘World Environment University’ proposed
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). On September 5th, 2021, the international experts and the representatives of Hawaii, Okinawa, and Jeju who attended the session discussed the necessity of international cooperation in creating the WEH framework and the WEU as its governing body to tackle the ramification of global-scale climate change. The key participants included the Korea National Committee for IUCN, Jeju National University (JNU), the Asia Climate Change Education Center (ACCEC), the World Association for Island Studies (WAIS), and Hokkaido University.
The Jeju WEH WG session was chaired by Suh Youngbae, a Seoul National University professor and the president of the Korean National Committee for IUCN. During the meeting, Peter Shadie, IUCN’s Senior Advisor on World Heritage, spoke about his ideas on the integration of environmental education in line with the proposed establishment of the UNESCO C2C Jeju. His idea was supported by Jeong Dai-yeon, the ACCEC director, Yoshida Kunihiko, an international environmental law professor at Hokkaido University’s Graduate School of Law, Ko Chang Hoon, President of the WAIS, and Kim Jihee, a Planning Committee member of WAIS. Suzanne Case, the director of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), and Kim Yang-bo, the director-general of the Jeju Special Self-governing Provincial Division of Environmental Conservation, also concurred with the expected significant role of the UNESCO C2C Jeju.
Notably, Case and Yoshida shared with the panel their ideas on the establishment of the WEU as an institute for interisland cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, which will integrate education on Jeju 4∙3, human rights, and peace with environmental education in different island regions of the world. The panelists emphasized that a more substantive concern relates to the educational practice of the Jeju Declaration of Sustainability in Action, following the opening of the UNESCO C2C Jeju. It was pointed out that Hawaii, Okinawa, and Jeju have already cooperated in co-hosting the Global Green Island Summit and that efforts should continue to be made to build up such an experience.
On September 9th, 2021, JNU and the WAIS co-hosted the WCC session, titled “The World Online School for the Environment Leads the Establishment of the WEU”. The session was joined by renowned specialists from South Korea, Belgium, and the United States, including Director Jeong of the ACCEC, Ignace Schops, the president of EUROPARC Federation, and Muthusami Kumaran, a climate change researcher and an associate professor at the University of Florida. During the session, the participants discussed the establishment of the WEU based on international cooperation and the responsibility of civil society.
The speakers largely addressed three key topics. Jeong’s keynote presentation addressed the topic of “The Roles and Capacity Building of NGOs as Agents Responding to Climate Change”. In his pre-recorded speech, the renowned sociologist called for a concerted response to the impact of climate change on nature and society. The following keynote speaker Kumaran briefed the audience on in-depth interviews with 10 environmental leaders of Jeju Island to suggest an alternative capacity-building option for the environmental organizations and campaign groups in responding to the impact of climate change. Schops, the third keynote speaker, spoke on the topic, “Our new future; how ready are we?” The Europarc Federation president specifically pointed out that global warming and the loss of biodiversity are caused due to the impact of climate change. As a countermeasure to tackle the issues, the environmental specialist proposed the establishment of the WEU and a concrete realization of sustainability.
In July 2010, JNU professor Ko participated in “A Feasibility Study of World Environment University”, a research project contracted by the Ministry of Environment which discussed Maurice Strong’s idea on the WEU. Ko revised the 2010 research findings into four English articles that were released in 2020 in World Environment and Island Studies, a registration candidate journal of the National Research Foundation of Korea published by the WAIS and JNU. During the WCC session, Ko cited his latest articles and envisaged the specific basis of establishing the WEU; that is, honoring the life of the former UN Under-Secretary-General who is also renowned as an environmentalist. The island researcher explained that cooperation with the international community should be pursued when promoting the World’s Online School for the Environment program with Jeju province and the ACCEC.
In the following speech, Yoshida, a member of the Okinawa World Natural Heritage Advocates, raised an issue over the conflict between those who attempted to construct a US military base in Okinawa and others who are working to conserve the UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites in the area. The law specialist and environmental activist urged IUCN to demonstrate its volition to protect nature, even calling for negotiation with the US forces. News outlets in Okinawa later covered his claim for days on end and built solidarity with regional environmental campaigns, helping publicize the issue of mediating the conflict to the public in Japan and the US. The Okinawa case suggests that an international environmental law-based remedy would be needed to settle similar conflicts happening surrounding the military bases and natural ecosystems in other regions, such as Jeju Island’s Gangjeong and Hawaii.
The political bloc has also engaged in pursuing the goal of establishing the WEU on Jeju Island. Chung Sye-kyun, South Korea’s former Prime Minister who was running for the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries in September, sent a message with the nation’s delegation to the WCC. In his message, the six-term lawmaker encouraged the delegates to run the World Online School for the Environment so that the WEU could be established with the profits earned from clean energy industries. Ko worked with his peer researcher Kim Horim, a Korea University professor, to integrate their ideas with Chung’s conception of “SK-nomics” and devise the “Korean Peninsula Linking Policy (KPLK): New Ocean Economic Civilization (NOEC) vs. New Continental Resources Civilization (NCRC)”. It is a policy proposal for opening the WEU on Jeju Island to pass on the Moon Jae-in administration’s “Korean peace process” in an eco-friendly and economical manner by adding a global economic aspect to Kim Dae-jung’s “Sunshine Policy” and Roh Moo-hyun’s “vision of South Korea as a business hub for Northeast Asia”, and to assign the special role of inter-Korean exchanges to Jeju Island. (See “The establishment of the WEU based on the KPLK” in Open Square, The Jemin Ilbo. Issue date: September 8th, 2021.)
2. Environmentally sustainable “Peace Islands Network” based on international cooperation proposed
On September 13th, 2021, researchers from seven countries met online for the 2021 Forum for the Island of World Peace, hosted by the American University of Paris. The forum featured a presentation given by Park Chan-shik, a board member of the Jeju 4∙3 Research Institute, who discussed the value of the records of the Jeju 4∙3 victims as a documentary heritage.
Marie Claude Machon-Honoré, BPW International Permanent Representative to UNESCO, emphasized in her keynote speech that Jeju residents had struggled in the late 1940s to build their independent Korea and had healed their own wounds that had been caused due to that struggle, including the painful massacre of many community members. In that sense, the records related to Jeju 4∙3 are a valuable documentary heritage to be shared with the people around the world and promoted as one orientation of peace education under UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development for 2030, she added. The business leader also advised the relevant authorities, such as the Jeju provincial government, the South Korean government, the Korean National Commission for UNESCO, and the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific, to closely cooperate in inscribing the records onto the UNESCO Memory of the World (MoW) register. Additionally, she proposed specializing the issue as a topic for UNESCO’s human rights education in association with the educational programs that will be offered by the UNESCO C2C Jeju.
Eric Yamamoto, the Korematsu Professor at the University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law, explained that the tragedy of Jeju 4∙3 represents an international case where the wounds and scars from historical injustice have been continuously healed. The renowned jurist indicated that it is evident that the United States Army Military Government in Korea should be held legally liable for the excessive counterinsurgency operations as shown in the massacres of Jeju village members. In this regard, he called for the US government to install the Jeju 4∙3 Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the White House in an effort for the US to join in the efforts to heal the Jeju 4∙3-related wounds.
The other speakers, including Douglas Yates, Professor at the American University of Paris, Grant McCall, Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, and Lee Young-chul, Professor at Chonnam National University (CNU), participated in Jeju National University’s World Peace Academy program between 2017 and 2019. The three professors expressed their support for the operation of peace education based on international cooperation with a focus on respect for human rights and the resolution of conflicts to be learned from the Jeju 4∙3 case. The scholars expressed in unison their opinion that the educational program will help Jeju surmount its tragic history and lead international projects on peace and culture by connecting South Korea’s Gangjeong Port with the North’s Wonsan Port for cruise ship operation.
Korea University professor Kim gave a presentation highlighting the significance of the human rights campaign concerning Jeju 4∙3 as a systematic connecting point of the neo-oceanic and neo-continental civilizations that have newly emerged amid the US-China tech war. The tech professor stated that a specialist training program should be created in the fields of the environment of islands and the human rights of island residents.
3. An era of cultural exchanges desired at the Global Peace Bulteok Assembly
The 2021 Global Peace Bulteok Online Assembly involved four different events. On June 21st, 2021, the Global Peace Bulteok Assembly on Zoom featured presentations on the “Island of World Peace” designation, Jeju 4∙3, and other similar cases found in other parts of the world. Elisabeth Steele Hutchinson and Abigail Holden at the University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law introduced the written request to install the Jeju 4∙3 Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the White House. Cho Hyung-jae and Lee Sang-hoon, JNU’s doctoral candidates, spoke on the role of historical injustice in healing Jeju 4∙3-related trauma and the application of “social healing”. Chinese students studying at JNU compared the Nanjing Massacre with the massacres of Jeju 4∙3, while Olivier delivered a comparative analysis of Africa’s Rwandan genocide and the massacres of Jeju 4∙3. E. Tammy Kim, a New York Times contributing opinion writer, was lauded for giving a congratulatory speech expressing that the testimonials by ordinary Koreans can impress the international community just as Ko Wan-soon testified about the Bukchon Massacre in the 2019 UN International Symposium on Human Rights and Jeju 4∙3.
On July 20th, 2021, CNU professor Lee chaired a seminar where JNU students shared their ideas with their peers at Hokkaido University and other Korean students studying in the US. Moon Jin-ju at the State University of New York spoke with the title, “Jeju 4∙3 convicts and the tragedy of 4∙3: Impressions I had as a record keeper of their retrials.” JNU students, including Kim Yoo-joon, Song Je-min, Kang Gwang-shik, and Lim Se-joon, gave a presentation titled “The 2022 campaign requesting the US Congress to legislate the Jeju 4∙3 Human Rights Act”. The following presentation was given by Joo Han-byeol and Lee Yoo-dong, also studying at JNU, who talked about “A social healing model on the island of peace: The stories of people in Bukchon-ri, Gasi-ri, Cheongsu-ri, and Donggwang-ri”. The presentations by Jeju-based students were followed by Kim Yoo-jeong (or Yuna), a Johns Hopkins University PhD student, who addressed the unspoken scars of Jeju 4∙3.
In the following session chaired by JNU professor Ko, the speakers continued discussing Jeju 4∙3 and other similar issues around the world. A Hokkaido University student named Sato Ryohei raised the issue of the French government’s responsibility for the Rwandan genocide, while Heng and Yo, Chinese graduate students, addressed the labor environment of women in different countries and the impact of foreign court decisions on the “comfort women” cases, respectively. Japanese students, including Hironaga and Kumasawa, touched upon the historical injustice surrounding the Japanese ethnic minority group of the Ainu people and the protection of their indigenous knowledge. Another Japanese speaker surnamed Chida gave a presentation on hate speech and the issue of exoneration of victims. Finally, Chinese student studying at JNU, surnamed Lee, discussed the compensation trials of the biological warfare victims of Unit 731.
On September 6th, 2021, the WAIS held an offline pre-event of the 2021 Global Ageing Network Biennial Conference in Jeju. Local high school students, who gathered at Maison Glad Jeju, participated in a contest for cultural presentations. WAIS researcher Kim Jihee moderated the final round, which allowed only 10 or fewer participants due to following the national quarantine guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The participants included four students from Jeju City’s Jungang High School (a UNESCO-associated school) and two students from Seogwipo City’s Samsung Girls’ High School, along with two teachers who joined them as instructors.
In another event, a four-member team from Jeju City’s Jungang Girls’ High School, including Jeong Byeolla, Lee Hyeon-ji, Oh Rye-lim, and Kim Dan-bi, as well as their instructor, identified the problems of marine pollution and the resulting coastal degradation and that of coastal habitats. Their presentation was extended to broadly discuss the discharge of the radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi plant. A discussant suggested launching an international body to prevent the marine pollution resulting from the Fukushima nuclear plant water. Park Yoon-seul and Kim Chae-eun of Samsung Girls’ High School briefed on filing a lawsuit concerning Jeju 4∙3 in the US Federal Court and the healing of the victims’ wounds at the international judicial level. The young leaders’ presentation was considered a good opportunity for building empathy in resolving the Jeju 4∙3 issues.
On September 13th, 2021, another round of the Global Peace Bulteok Assembly was organized by the American University of Paris, despite the difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference was co-moderated by WAIS researcher Kim Jihee and a Cergy Paris University student named Jana Monse, featuring presentations on the country-specific agendas presented by the student representatives of Korea, China, Japan, and the US. The Korean Team was represented by Jo Hyung-jae of JNU, who asserted the legitimacy of healing the trauma of Jeju 4∙3 victims. Elisabeth Steele Hutchinson of the University of Hawaii’s School of Law discussed the installation of the Jeju 4∙3 Truth and Reconciliation Commission at the US government level and the social healing process. The Japanese student delegation called for compensation for damage to the Japanese ethnic minority group of Ainu people and the protection of their indigenous knowledge. The group of Chinese graduate students at JNU focused on the impact of foreign court decisions on the “comfort women” cases. Monse, the moderator, called for French students’ understanding of the Jeju 4∙3 issues and the WEH initiative, and gaining knowledge of Korean pop cultural icons such as BTS, if possible. Her presentation was applauded for delivering to the Jeju delegation the list of signatures by those at Air France and Sergy Paris University who support Jeju’s bid to host the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference. Monse’s idea even inspired other participants to propose scaling up the Global Peace Bulteok Assembly and contributing to achieving “global peace” by sharing with the global citizenry the pursuit of peace during Jeju 4∙3 and the democratic attitude led by the culture of “bulteok” that Jeju haenyeo maintain in their everyday lives.
In his keynote speech, McCall asked the question, “Why is Jeju the ‘Island of World Peace’?” The anthropologist said a recent archeological study in South Africa discovered proof that suggests human interaction began 2 million years ago. According to McCall, a French anthropologist named Marcel Mouss once hypothesized in the past that human groups interacted, lived, and prospered approximately 1 million years ago. The process of human interaction formed a culture after fulfilling three stages of duties, that is, 1) the duty of giving, 2) the duty of receiving, and 3) the duty of decorating.
Jeju 4∙3 is deemed as the “Jeju Resistance” where Jeju residents stood up in March 1947 for their self-reliance, upholding their rights of self-determination and freedom while their land was divided into North and South Korea, with the North occupied by the USSR and the South by the US. Late president Roh recognized the local efforts, and on January 27, 2005, he designated Jeju as an “Island of World Peace”. It is reasonable that researchers and UNESCO adopted a resolution to inscribe the list of the Jeju 4∙3 victims on the UNESCO MoW register by the mid-2020’s. Leading the resistance to stop the confrontation between the occupational powers, Jeju experienced the brutality of massacres in return. The inter-Korean peace agreement that was suggested during Jeju 4∙3 has yet to be reached even today. As an agricultural region, Jeju learned the value of inter-Korean cultural exchanges after the painful historic event. As a result, the island became the nation’s first region to send its tangerines and carrots to North Korea in the late 1990s. The latest efforts of the Jeju region for inter-Korean exchanges relate to its sending of tangerines to the North in return for receiving pine mushrooms from Pyongyang in December 2018.
Jeju residents have also called for consensus from the political sphere on recognizing the tolerance of Koreans as a founding spirit of inter-Korean exchanges. They have even demanded that the US, DPRK, China, Russia, and Japan, the members of the six-party talks, provide support for the sailing of “Korean Tolerance Peace Cruises” between the Gangjeong and the Wonsan ports. Former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun expressed his agreement while he was attending the World Peace Island Forum on May 13th, 2021. Based on this, it is now time to gain consensus from both the ruling and opposition parties, as well as from the presidential candidates. There is a clear need that Jeju residents should have a shared commitment to creating Jeju as the hub of the “Korean Tolerance Peace Cruises” and that the South Korean government should make related efforts in the international arena. If Seoul holds the 4th US-DPRK Summit in Jeju in the summer of 2022, it could allow Jeju to run the “Korean Tolerance Peace Cruises”. This will likely set an example of inter-Korean cultural exchanges as the operation of the cruise vessel would spur reciprocal support for maritime and cruise-ship tourism between Seoul and Pyongyang. Additionally, it will be considered a model for peace-oriented tourism in Asia if musicians from North and South Korea play music under the theme of peace on the “Korean Tolerance Peace Cruises”. (“The cultural exchanges at the Global Peace Bulteok Assembly” in Open Square, The Jemin Ilbo. Issue date: July 14th, 2021.)