OLIVER STONE VISITS JEJU ISLAND

The greeting party meets Oliver Stone at Jeju airport. 

Stone makes trip to Jeju prison to visit Professor (film critic) Yang-Yoon Mo who is serving an 18 month sentence for blocking Navy base construction vehicles.  Yang is on his 4th jail sentence.

Stone joins the March for Life and Peace currently making its way around the entire island.  Mayor Kang is on the right side of the photo. Catholic Bishop Kang is on Stone's left with hat on.

Big news from Jeju Island in South Korea today as award-winning film director Oliver Stone joined the Gangjeong villagers and supporters in their march around the island.  After Jeju Stone will travel to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and then to Okinawa where he will give support to protests against US bases there.

The Life and Peace March has two teams - one team of several hundred marching east and the other consisting of several hundred marching west - and both teams will meet up in Jeju City for a huge finale rally.  Stone will speak at that event.  One short video of Stone being met at the Jeju airport showed a large media contingent filming his arrival.  He is without a doubt the biggest name to yet arrive on Jeju Island to support the non-violent struggle against the Navy base.

I am particularly moved by his gesture to visit the prison to meet Professor Yang who was a leading film critic in Korea and has surely seen many of Stone's films over the years.  I can only imagine what this visit will do to lift Yang's spirits.  You can watch my all-time favorite Jeju video where Yang is interviewed on Gureombi rock before the Navy began blasting the sacred coast.  See it here

Oliver Stone graciously agreed to be interviewed for Regis Tremblay's new documentary film called The Ghosts of Jeju. He is using his celebrity to help people's movements all over the world which speaks well of him. 

Each of us can do something to help the Save Jeju movement.  One thing I'd urge is ordering the documentary The Ghosts of Jeju and showing it in your community.  Information on ordering the film can be found here