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:
http://www.kimsoft.com/1997/cheju.htm
