Against All Odds: Celebrating Life and Peace in Jeju Island — 국제전략센터/The International Strategy Center

Written by Merci Llarina-Angeles

I did not expect to go swimming after five days of the Grand March for Life and Peace in Jeju Island to protest against the naval base construction. The March culminated in Gangjeong Village, where the pristine waters from the depths of the sacred mountain of Hallasan flow to the Gangjeong River onward to the Gangjeong Sea. I was enticed to enjoy the swim by my new friend, Director Jeong from the Gangjeong Mission Station, who is very proud of the River and the Sea of Gangjeong. She says it is an irreplaceable and inseparable treasure of Korea and the world.

It was a beautiful summer day for swimming in the serene river, cascading gently on a bedof volcanic rocks from Hallasan. As I watched the sun’s rays dancing on the clear water where I soaked my aching body, I thought this could be paradise ! The water is so clean that when a slice of watermelon fell, Director Jeong just picked it up and continued to eat it. At the mouth of the Sea, however, the ugly structures of the nearly completed Jeju naval base loomed like a monster. In those moments, I fully understood and felt what the women and men of Gangjeong Village and Jeju Island have been fighting for in the last 9000 days. I could not help but think of the Subic Naval Base in the Philippines, and how our stories and struggles are connected.

The Grand March for Life and Peace The Gangjeong villagers have been resisting the construction of the naval base since 2007, when the decision to build it was forced upon them without proper consultation. Since then, the villagers and other peace advocates and activists from all over the world have used various forms of peaceful protest to stop the naval base construction. Villagers and other peace advocates conduct one-person demonstrations in front of the construction site by holding a banner, they bow one hundred times in prayer for the construction to be stopped, and even use their bodies to blockade the trucks bringing construction materials. Since 2012, they have walked across the island in the March for Life and Peace.

The Grand March for Life and Peace this July 27- August 2, 2015, in which I participated as a representative of the Stop the War-Coalition-Philippines, was very significant. It marked the 9000 days of the struggle of Gangjeong villagers to stop the naval base in their Island of Peace.

Start of the Grand March for Life and Peace. Photo by: Sunny of Gangjeong.

Director Jeong has joined all the marches because she wants others in Jeju Island, in South Korea and the world, to know what is happening in Gangjeong. For her, the walk is an opportunity to assert human rights in this society where the Gangjeong people’s desire to live in a balanced environment peacefully is trampled upon by their own government.

Government response to the peaceful protests of the Gangjeong villagers has been excessive and violent. From August 14, 2011 to August 31, 2012 alone, 128, 401 police officers were deployed in Gangjeong Village to break up the people’s actions. The police use violence like dragging and kicking villagers and Catholic nuns and priests who hold Mass every 11:00 AM in front of the naval base gates. Gangjeong Village leaders and other peace activists have been charged with lawsuits, often overlapping, and excessive fines have been imposed on them. Since 2007, more than 650 people have been arrested and 473 people have been indicted due to their protest against the naval base construction. 673 protesters have been imprisoned, among them were those who refused to pay the fines as a form of protest.

Gangjeong Villagers Are Fighting for the River and Sea of Life While there are villagers who have capitulated due to fear or the promises and gifts of government officials, resistance to the naval base remains strong. Most Gangjeong villagers see that the River and the Sea give life to them, physically, culturally and spiritually. The waters from Hallasan provide 70–80% of drinking water not only to Gangjeong Village, but to the southern residents in Jeju island.

Director Jeong explained to me that the sweetfish, locally called ayu, caught in the River is still used for important ceremonial and ancestral rite purposes in the village. The village ancestors consume this food, and today it is symbolically eaten during the rituals. The crabs caught in the River are used to make different meals for the residents. The River and the Sea of Gangjeong thus have many different life-giving functions for the community people and Jeju Island.

The Jeju naval base construction site, Gureombi bedrock and Gangjeong coastal waters, is designated as an “Absolute Preservation Zone,” an area where development is limited. Various endangered species such as the red-footed crab, sesarma intermedium, small round frogs, Jeju saebaengi (native freshwater shrimp of Jeju Island), and clithon retropietus v. martens. The sea of Gangjeong is one of the major habitats of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, one of the species listed by the IUCN.

The Sea of Gangjeong is a national cultural treasure as declared by the Korean Cultural Heritage Administration. Jeju Island is designated as a Biosphere Reserve, World Natural Heritage, and Global Geo Park by the UNESCO. It is truly a natural and cultural treasure of the world.

Photo by: Ju Yung Ki

The Roh Moo-hyun administration promised in 2007 that the base will mainly be used as a civilian port and military vessels will only call at the port. However, the villagers have learned that the Jeju naval base is designed in compliance with water level requirements suggested by the Commander U.S. Naval Force Korea(CNFK). It was revealed that the design of the Jeju naval base is based on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, CVN-65, which the South Korean Navy does not even have. This shows that the Jeju naval base can potentially be used as a Northeast Asia base for the U.S. Navy in the future. (From the PSDP Publication cited below)

In an interview last August t, 2015, Rear Adm. Lisa Franchett, the outgoing head of the U.S. naval forces stationed in Seoul said they want to send ships to the Jeju naval base for navigation and training purposes.

"The U.S. Navy 7th Fleet really likes to send ships to port visit here in South Korea. I think any ports that we have the opportunity to visit will be a great opportunity for our navy to do work together (with the South Korean Navy)." Rear Adm. Francett said in the interview. (Yonhap News)

The naval base in Jeju Island may be used as one of the “lily pads” from which the US can launch its US Aegis missile destroyers, aircraft carriers, and nuclear submarines to attack China. With its strategic location, Jeju Island can play an important role in the American “pivot to Asia” which has led to US military build up in Asia Pacific Region since 2011.

The naval base makes Gangjeong Village and Jeju Island part of the military machinery of the US – linked with the military base in Okinawa, Japan, the former Subic Naval Base which they are now opening again, the shared base in Darwin, Australia, the runway and firing range in Tinian island near Guam, and many more bases and “lily pads” from which the US can make war against any part of the world.

The US has a policy of neither admitting nor denying that their ships contain nuclear weapons and materials. The Gangjeong villagers will always be at risk from nuclear contamination and accidents when the American ships that dock in the base.

Photo by: Ju Yung Ki

The Future of Gangjeong Village is Mirrored in Subic Naval Base

That day in August, I rested by the Gangjeong riverbank and watched the blue sky and white clouds mirrored on the surface of the water. If only this beauty and serenity would last forever ! When the American ships start coming this year, the Gangjeong villagers will face more conflicts that will shatter their life as they know it. The peace that I felt turned to gloom as I thought of the experiences of the community people who lived and worked in Subic naval base in Olongapo, City, Northern Luzon, Philippines.

2015 marks the 24th year when the Philippine Senate terminated the agreement with the US to host military bases in the Philippines, and Subic Naval Base was closed along with 22 other military bases in the Philippines. Like other communities which have hosted American military aircraft and ships, Subic suffers to this day from the poisoning and contamination of its land and coastal waters since 1901, when the naval base opened.

While the Americans occupied Subic naval base, it was impossible to assess the environmental situation.After they left, the extent of the contamination began to be revealed. In 1992, one year after the Americans left their military bases in the Philippines, the U.S. General Accounting Office reported contaminated sites in Subic and Clark air base but claimed "no responsibility for environmental damage." Investigations by the World Health Organization, the Philippines’ Department of Health, Commission on Human Rights, and other independent groups showed that heavy metals and contaminants ranging from oil and petroleum lubricants, pesticides such as aldrin, dieldrin and DDT to PCBs, lead, mercury, arsenic and others were found in various levels exceeding Philippine National Standards. (www.yonip.com/)

Until today, the US military has not accepted responsibility for the environmental destruction in Subic and other former bases in the Philippines. Former workers and community people who lived near the naval base continue to seek justice as they suffer from different diseases caused by their contact with the contaminants in the base.

In November, 2012, I attended a Conference in Subic where the women, men and children who are enduring the toxic legacies of the naval base came together to tell their stories about the effects of the naval base and their struggles.

I met Marites Tolentino, a member of the Negrito indigenous peoples, who were driven away from the lands that were occupied by the naval base infrastructures. Her mother scavenged for waste in the dumpsite of the naval base, and died from breast cancer in 2001. After two months, her 19-year old sister died due to cerebral palsy. After one year, her 16-year old brother, he was “mentally disabled “and at that age he could not speak very well. They were the two children whom her mother gave birth to when she was working in the dumpsite.

I also met Winefredo Dulay, then 68 years old. He was a rigger for 25 years in the Subic Naval Base, Ship Repair Facility. In 1992, he was diagnosed with asbestosis, which is caused by exposure to asbestos, a deadly chemical used in the plant insulation. Winefredo is a member of Subic Asbestos Victim Association (SAVA. SAVA has a thousand number of members, all are Filipino and formerly workers in Subic Naval Base SRF. He said that almost one-third of the members have died because of lung cancer and other illnesses caused by asbestoses-related diseases. Until now they are still hoping for payment from the American company that ran the ship repair facility.

There were representatives from Buklod Center, which has assisted women who were prostituted and trafficked since the days of the naval base operation in Subic. At the time, thousands of women from Olongapo, other parts of the Philippines and even from abroad came to provide “rest and recreation” services to the American soldiers and sailors from the ships docked in Subic.

Amerasian children (children of American soldiers and Filipino women) also spoke at the conference. They said there are about 8000 Amerasian children in Olongapo and nearby Angeles City. They suffer from discrimination, being called “children left by the ship, G.I./souvenir babies, little outcast and colored children”. US government is not recognizing their lineage and withholds the benefits due to them by virtue of having American fathers.

Even with its closure, the Subic Naval Base has left its legacy of poisons, disease, and suffering for the women, men and children of Subic. The Americans accepted no responsibility, and never paid any compensation or indemnity.

I watched Director Jeong laughing and enjoying the river waters with her friends. How can I tell her about these stories from Subic that have come to my mind ? But I sense that Director Jeong knows already.

Gangjeong villagers are fighting through peaceful means to avoid this tragedy in their Island of Peace.

When I left Gangjeong Village, I brought the beautiful images of their paradise island and the memory of their brave and just struggle in my heart. I support their peaceful struggles, and I shall tell my countrymen and the world how the destruction of Gangjeong wounds all of humanity. We should work together to stop the naval base in Jeju Island, for life and peace in Gangjeong Village, in Asia and in the world !

Note about the Author:

Ms. Merci Llarinas – Angeles, trainer, writer, researcher and policy analyst, is the founder and president of the Peace Women Partners, an organization of women who aim to provide feminist perspectives in discourses and action on peace and security in Asia-Pacific. Peace Women Partners-Philippines is an active member of the Stop the War Philippines Coalition.

References:

No Naval Base in Jeju, PSPD Publication, http://www.peoplepower21.org/index.php?_filter=search&mid=English&search_target=title_content&search_keyword=gangjeong&document_srl=1080148&listStyle=list

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2015/08/05/0301000000AEN20150805008200315.html

http://www.yonip.com/category/organizations/peoples-task-force-for-bases-clean-up/

Tom Vine, The Lily Pad Strategy, http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175568/

Acknowledgments:

Thanks to Director Jeong of Gangjeong Mission Station for sharing her ideas and Sunny of Gengjeong for helping in translations from Korean to English.

Thanks to Mr. Ju Yung Ki and Sunny of Gangjeong for their beautiful photos.