Jeju Uprising anniversary can shape response to Yemeni refugees

Yemeni refugees are waiting for human rights consultations at the Jeju Migrant Center in Jeju City on the southwestern resort island of Jeju, Friday. They are among more than 500 Yemenis who arrived there recently to apply for refugee status after fleeing their war-torn country. South Koreans are sharply divided over whether to grant them refugee status. /Yonhap

By Miliann Kang

Understanding Jeju's complex and buried history can provide context for and connections to the current Yemeni refugee crisis.

What is the April 3 Jeju Uprising (sometimes abbreviated 4.3)? Why Are Yemeni refugees coming to Jeju? How are these two very distant and disparate events connected?

At first glance, the Jeju Uprising of 1948-54, in which an estimated 30,000 villagers were killed for being suspected communists or communist sympathizers, seems to have little connection to the 549 refugees from the Yemeni Civil War who are currently seeking asylum on this small South Korean island.

However, looking deeper, these two conflicts share various elements, which were explored recently by the Jeju 4.3 Peace Study Tour held from June 21 to 25. Over 80 participants from South Korea and abroad learned about the history of the Jeju Uprising and its relevance for the current Yemeni refugee crisis.

“We are trying to make a connection between what the Jeju people experienced during the uprising and what the Yemeni people are experiencing now,” said Baek Ga-youn, who served as one of the tour guides. “Just like many Jeju people fled to Osaka to escape the violence, many Yemenis have come to Jeju to escape the violence in their land.”

The connections between Jeju and Yemen include extreme violence against civilians by state and non-state actors, escalation of local conflicts due to the involvement of foreign powers, and misunderstandings of the reasons for the conflicts and their ongoing impacts.

The massacre on Jeju was justified through the Cold War ideology of anti-communism, when in fact the uprising was led and fought by local independence fighters who were not directly affiliated with or supported by the communist North.

Likewise, the Yemeni Civil War has been oversimplified as a conflict of Shia versus Sunni, when in fact the issues and fighting do not split simply along these lines. The failure to understand these complex struggles prevents reconciliation.

Another parallel is that both conflicts have been ignored or silenced, but recent events and efforts are bringing greater attention to them.

The Museum of Korean Contemporary History is sponsoring an exhibit until July 3 titled, “Jeju 4.3 is Now Our History,” which explains that “the general Korean public still lacks understanding of the Jeju Uprising, and, unfortunately, by the 70th anniversary of the uprising in 2018, most of the victims' family members who had direct knowledge of the events have passed away.”

Fortunately, a few survivors are still alive and willing to tell their stories. Hong Chun-ho was 11 when South Korean forces attacked her village of Mudeungyiwat, brutally stabbing villagers with bamboo sticks. She survived by hiding in a cave for over 40 days. She is coming forward to share her harrowing experiences in the hopes they will not be repeated in Korea or anywhere else.

Translating Ms. Hong's testimony, Baek added, “Some of the survivors and bereaved families who have had to grapple with the uprising want to reach out and support the refugees. They want the legacy of their struggle to be that Jeju becomes a real island of peace.”

In 2001, Jeju introduced a “no visa” policy to promote tourism. Combined with cheap flights implemented recently by Air Asia between Kuala Lumpur and Jeju, this policy gave Yemeni refugees who had fled to Malaysia an opportunity to seek asylum in South Korea.

However, as of June 1, the Korean government added Yemen to the list of countries exempt from the no-visa policy, preventing more refugees from arriving. At the same time, it is trying to find ways to support the refugees who are already here.

The Korea Immigration Service changed the previous six-month waiting period and has granted Yemeni asylum seekers immediate permission to work. It has also helped them find jobs in industries such as fishing and restaurants which have had difficulty finding workers.

The response of the Jeju people, and South Koreans broadly, to the Yemeni refugees, has been mixed. Many individuals and groups have reached out to welcome them, at times using their own funds to provide food, shelter and support.

On the other hand, over 500,000 people signed an online petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website saying the refugees are dangerous and should not be accommodated.

The efforts to commemorate the Jeju Uprising can bring greater awareness both to the horrific events that occurred 70 years ago, and to current situations in which people are struggling to escape violence. These are not easy tasks, but the bravery of survivors like Hong Chun-ho can inspire the will to address these difficult challenges.

Miliann Kang (miliannkang@gmail.com) is a Fulbright senior scholar at Ewha Womans University and associate professor of women's, gender and sexuality studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.