“The Art of Resistance on Jeju, Island of Peace” was the subject of a program at New York University on Saturday, September 24. The program described the protest on Jeju Island against the building of the Gangjeong Naval Base. Koh Gilchun, an artist from Jeju and Gloria Steinem, the American feminist and peace activist made presentations to an audience of students, activists and other interested people. Hong Sukjong, a researcher and activist, was the moderator who introduced the program putting the anti-base struggle in Jeju in its broader context.

Gloria Steinem described how she had first gone to Jeju 9 years ago and was impressed with the beauty of the island. More recently she was invited to visit Gangjeong Village and to see the damage to the people and natural beauty of Jeju being wrought by the construction of the naval base.

Steinem also mentioned that before he died, the former President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun said that he regretted only two things during his presidency of South Korea, namely sending troops to Iraq and secondly, allowing the building of a naval base on Jeju.

Koh Gilchun presented slides of some of his art work showing the devastation suffered by the people of Jeju after the 4.3 uprising in 1948 when they tried to prevent the division of Korea. In the following two years many thousands of Jeju residents were killed to suppress their militant struggle for one Korea. The US military government sent police and soldiers from the mainland who conducted a scorched earth suppression of the uprising.

Koh’s art work links the current struggle of the Jeju villagers to the heroic struggle of Koreans living south of the 38th parallel against the imposition of US military rule after WWII and the arbitrary division of Korea set in place by the 1948 United Nations election that created South Korea.

Koh also presented some of his art work protesting the devastation being brought to Jeju and its people by the construction of a new naval base on what has been a UNESCO-designated World Natural Heritage site This art work was a form of graffitti which he painted on walls and other areas near the construction site.

During the short question and answer period the issue of Chinese tourists to Jeju and the effect that the naval base would have on that tourist business was considered. There has been discussion in the Chinese media about the danger the naval base will represent for China. Already there has been a debate among over 200 Chinese netizens on one Chinese website over whether Chinese tourists should boycott Jeju if the naval base construction is completed.

Before coming to the program at NYU, I had stopped in Korea Town, the area in Manhattan where there are many Korean stores and restaurants. I saw a large poster encouraging people to vote for Jeju in the upcoming election to name it one of the new 7 wonders of nature. The construction of a new naval base on Jeju at the same time that the Jeju Tourist Organization is promoting Jeju as one of the new 7 wonders of nature provides a stark contradiction.

In 2006 Jeju was designated as a Peace Island to provide a means for healing from the devastation and trauma experienced by the people of Jeju after what has come to be known as the 4.3 Uprising. Under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the US and South Korea, however, the US has the right to use any of the South Korean military bases. One of the serious concerns raised by the building of this naval base on this beautiful Island which has had such a heroic and tragic history, is that the naval base could be used by the US or South Korea to take military action against China, making the Jeju residents a potential target if hostile clashes erupt. Just the building of the base represents an increased militarization of the region. Opposition to building the new naval base has included Gangjeong villagers predominantly, but also people from all of Jeju and the Korean mainland, and from international peace activists, artists and scholars.

The program was sponsored by the Korean Studies Colloquium Series, NYU and the Asian/Pacific/American Institute, NYU. It was co-sponsored by Nodutdol for Korean Community Development.

A short reception followed the presentations.