The Truth about the Cheju April 3rd Insurrection
Yang Han Kwon
An English abstract of the original paper in Korean
In the early morning hours of April 3, 1948, bonfires were lit at the mountain tops of Chejudo. The flames signaled the start of an armed insurrection of the people of Cheju. Some 600 members of the Self Defense Force (ja-wee-dae) and 1,000 supporters simultaneously raided 10 police stations and attacked police officials and the living quarters of the Northwest Youth League members, the National People's Association, the Independence Promotion Association, the Greater Korea Youth League and other right-wing activists.
The insurgents successfully took over the government of Cheju and organized the People's Guerrilla Army. Each myon (district) had a battalion 30 core members experienced in combat. Battalions were grouped into regiments.
On April 5, the US Military Government established the Cheju Military Command and imposed a general curfew. On April 10, the US Military augmented the 9th Regiment with the 5th Regiment from Pusan. In addition, 1,700 police were sent to Cheju.
The Americans were not happy with the Cheju police's effort to settle the insurrection peacefully by redressing the grievances of the rebels and replaced Cheju native police with those from the mainland. The American commanders issued a direct order to Kim Ik Ruhl, the 9th Regimental commander in charge of the "anti-bandit" suppression campaign. Kim was ordered to conduct scorched-earth campaigns against the Cheju people.
When Kim Ik Ruhl's refused to obey the Americans, the US military changed its tactics and ordered Kim to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the guerrillas. Subsequently Kim met with Kim Dal Sam, the guerrilla commander and hammered out a cease-fire agreement after 72 hours of negotiation.
However, Gen. W. Dean, the US Military Governor, vetoed the agreement. (The Korean People's Army during the Korean War captured Dean. In spite of his crimes against the Korean people, he was released unharmed.)
At about 12 O'clock, May 1, 1948, 30 members of the Northwest Youth League and the Greater East Youth League attacked Oh-ra-ri and burned down 12 homes. Some 20 guerrillas from a nearby village armed with rifles and spears chased the gangsters away. The police came to rescue the latter and fired into the village, even though the guerrillas had fled the scene. One policeman's relative and a villager were killed in this encounter.
The police occupied Oh-ra-ri and began to interrogate its residents. At 4:30 PM, Kim Ik Ruhl's army unit arrived and chased away the police. The US military and the police opted to ignore Kim's report that the Oh-ra-ri burning was done by the right-wing youth gangsters and instead blamed the guerrillas and Kim for it.
The US military forced Dong-ah ilbo and other press organs to report its fabricated version of the Oh-ra-ri incident. The US military made a propaganda film ("May Day on Cheju-do"), using an airplane, that "documents" the terrorist acts perpetrated by the guerrillas.
On May 3, 1948, a 9th Regiment unit of 7 Koreans and 2 Americans under Capt. Drews was attacked by a 'hostile' force. Capt. Drews was escorting a group of defectors. Several defectors were killed and the rest escaped. Initially, the police blamed the guerrillas for the attack, but it retracted its story when the Americans captured one of the attackers who turned out to be a policeman.
The US military sided with the police and replaced Kim Ik Ruhl with a hardline rightwinger Park Jin Gyong. Park was more than willing to obey the Americans and began to prepare for massive scorched-earth campaigns against his own countrymen.
The guerrillas responded by assassinating key members of the youth gangs and the police. They bombed several police and military installation. They interrupted the May 10 election for division of Korea. The Cheju residents showed their support for the guerrillas by boycotting the election.
The US military responded by imposing a complete blockade of the Cheju island and ordered Park to step up his 'anti-Red' campaigns. Park began his campaigns on May 12, 1948 by burning two villages and arresting 218 of the residents. By mid-June, Park boasted capturing 3,126 "POWs".
When Kim Ik Ruhl commanded the 9th Regiment, the army was perceived to be on the people's side but under Park, the Regiment turned into a mortal enemy of the people. The Korean soldiers wore American helmets and American military uniforms and fired American rifles. From a distance, the Korean soldiers looked like midget Americans attacking their own people under American commanders.
The guerrillas attempted to counter Park's ruthless campaigns and formed the People's Liberation Army in May. The People's Army mounted numerous attacks on the army units. On June 18, 1948, Mun San Kil assassinated Park Jin Gyong. The US military appointed Choe Gyon Rok as the new commander of the 9th Regiment. Choe continued Park's terror campaign against the people. On July 15, 1948, Song Yo Chang (a pro-Japanese traitor) replaced Choe.
In early August, six key leaders of the People Liberation Army, including Kim Dal Sam and Kang Gyu Chan, escaped from Chejudo and the People's Army prepared to fight a prolonged war. Song needed time to resupply his units for his upcoming campaigns. A temporary lull settled on the island.
In early September, Song began his massive anti-guerrilla campaign by indiscriminately destroying village after village. Later, Kim Sang Gyom replaced Song. Kim ordered his troops to "kill all, burn all, loot all" and "wipe out by burning, by killing and by starving". The guerrillas were defenseless and Kim reported killing a large number of "bandits".
In October 1948, the 14th Regiment (Yosu) refused to join the Cheju campaign and mutinied. The mutiny was brutally put down by the American military and the anti-bandit campaign intensified on Cheju and villagers were killed in large numbers. Early 1949, the US military augmented the 9th Regiment with the 2nd Regiment. In addition, US Navy and Air Force units were mobilized to attach the guerrillas. 18 US warships completely surrounded the island and bombarded villages with 37-mm canons. American L4 and L5 recon planes dropped grenades and bombs. On the ground, anti-tank guns, mortars, 0.5 inch machine guns, rockets, M1 rifles and other American weapons were used against the unarmed people.
All villages situated more than 4 km from the coast were completely destroyed. The surviving villagers fled to the mountains or to the coastal areas. Those who fled to the mountains faced death by the troops, by starvation and by freezing. Those who fled to the "safe zones" along the coast fared no better. They were treated as "those who aided the rebels" and "Red tainted" and often tortured or killed.
On March 2, 1949, the US military established the Cheju Region Command under Col. Yu Jae Hung (another pro-Japanese traitor) and dispatched a Special Forces unit under Col. Kim Yong Ju. The Americans mounted the final all-out campaign to wipe out the rebels on Chejudo.
Yu mounted a two-prong attack - on the one hand he offered amnesty to those who surrendered and on the other hand he intensified terror campaigns against the people. Many rebels surrendered seduced by Yu's false promise of amnesty and they were tortured and forced to reveal the secret hideouts of the rebels.
Finally, Yu's torturers gathered enough information and Yu was able to mount the final attack on the rebel positions. From March 12 to April 12, Yu killed or wounded 2,345 "guerrillas" and killed 1,608 civilians and captured 3,600 sympathizers. A US CIC report states that the armed guerrillas numbered no more than 250 and that there were about 1,000-1,500 supporters. Yu's reported kills far exceed the US figures and indicate large-scale massacres of innocent civilians.
On April 9, 1949, Rhee Syngman, a Korean-American put in charge of South Korea, came to Chejudo to celebrate his victory over the people of Chejudo. On May 16, 1949, the Cheju Military Command was dissolved and the bulk of the army and police units were removed from Cheju.
Thus ended the bloody insurrection. However, the massacre of innocent civilians flared up again when the Korean War started in 1950. The police arrested former rebels and suspected sympathizers. In one massacre alone, the police at one location shot 192 villagers. Thousands were taken out to the sea and drowned. Countless others were buried, often still alive, in unmarked graves - no police records, no trace.
Most of the principal criminals - Gen. Dean, Col. Brown, Rhee Syngman, Gen. Song, etc. - are dead. But many of the youth gangs, police and army officers still survive. Some became rich by "confiscating" enemy properties. These former gangsters and policemen own many of the hotels and tourist firms on Cheju. Most go to Church on Sundays.
No amount of Bible reading or civility can hide the fact that they have murdered innocent men, women and children and then built their fortune on their victims' blood and properties.
At least 30,000 Cheju residents, some people claim 70,000, were killed by the Americans. The people of Chejudo, the people of Korea and indeed the peoples of the world demand justice be done.
The Judgement Day is coming.
For further information, link to:
Cheju April 3rd Massacre Not Forgotten
http://www.kimsoft.com/1997/cheju.htm
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