REMEMBERING JULY 27

Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo (who nearly died during two hunger strikes in the past year) was a featured speaker at a Save Jeju rally in downtown Seoul on July 27. He arrived in Seoul after a month long candlelight vigil relay to major cities across South Korea.

July 27 is an important date in Korean history.  It was the day 59 years ago that the Korean War Armistice Agreement was signed between the U.S. and North Korea which ended the fighting in 1953.  It was not a peace treaty but essentially a cease-fire and has yet to be replaced by a permanent settlement.

The lack of a permanent peace treaty is a fundamental source of conflict (the unresolved state of war) for both North and South Korea.  The controversial construction of a naval base on Jeju Island and the increasing U.S. military buildup in the region only intensifies the state of heightened insecurity for the people of Gangjeong village, the people of the island of Jeju and the whole country.

The environmental consequences of the Navy base are unfortunately lost on, or conveniently ignored, by the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) whose conference this year (September 6-15) will be ironically held only 7 km's away from the base destruction site! One of the main sponsors of the conference is Samsung which happens to be the lead construction company doing the 'destruction'.

Beginning on Monday, July 30 there will be a 'grand march for peace' on Jeju where up to 10,000 people will walk in solidarity with the villagers and peace activists who have struggled against the Navy's plans to build this base during the last five years.

Please keep the participants of the 'grand march for peace' in your thoughts and prayers next week! After all the real and lasting victories are those of peace and not of war.