Acting president calls for nat'l unity on anniv. of Jeju uprising

Acting President Han Duck-soo, second from left, attends a ceremony commemorating the April 3, 1948, uprising at Jeju 4.3 Peace Park in Jeju Island, Thursday. Yonhap

Acting President Han Duck-soo called for national unity on Thursday as he marked the anniversary of a civilian uprising on Jeju Island in 1948.

Han issued the call during a ceremony commemorating the April 3, 1948, uprising that formed part of a seven-year-long struggle by Jeju islanders against U.S. military-led rule in the wake of Korea's liberation from Japanese occupation.

"National cohesion is extremely urgent at this time," the acting president said in a speech from the Jeju 4.3 Peace Park on the island, citing difficulties at home and abroad and "significant tasks" that could sway the nation's future.

"If we are unable to overcome the conflicts of ideologies and generations, and regions and classes, the current crisis will be difficult to overcome and the sustainable growth of the Republic of Korea will be impossible," he said, referring to Korea by its formal name.

The protests left an estimated 14,000-30,000 civilians, or up to 10 percent of the island's population at the time, killed in armed crackdowns.

A set of historical archives documenting the uprising was recently recommended for inclusion on UNESCO's Memory of the World list.

Han said the April 3 incident offers lessons in the importance of harmony and coexistence and leads him to hope the nation will come together and move toward the future based on its spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.

He also outlined the government's plans to complete unfinished fact-finding missions before the end of the year, work for the recovery of additional remains and gain UNESCO recognition for the records.

"Commemorating the victims of the Jeju April 3 incident and comforting the pain of the surviving victims and bereaved families is a basic duty of a liberal democratic state," he said. "The government will continue to do its best for the full restoration of honor and compensation for the victims and the bereaved families." (Yonhap)