Jeju Uprising

Jeju uprising
Map of South Korea with Jeju highlighted at the bottom in pink
Location	Jeju Island, South Korea
Date	April 3, 1948 – May 1949
Target	United States Army Military Government in Korea and later Government of South Korea
Attack type	Rebellion
Deaths	14,000–30,000, or one fifth of population killed from all fighting
Perpetrators	Pak Hon-yong
Motive	Protest against national police employed by the US military government and the election that was held only in South Korea

The Jeju uprising or Jeju incident was an attempted insurgency on the Korean province of Jeju Island which was followed by an anticommunist suppression campaign that lasted from April 3, 1948 until May 1949. The main cause for the rebellion was elections scheduled for May 10, 1948, designed by the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) to create a new government for all of Korea. The elections, however, were only planned for the south of the country, the half of the peninsula under UNTCOK control. Fearing the elections would further reinforce division, guerrilla fighters for the South Korean Labor party (SKLP) reacted violently, attacking local police and rightist youth groups stationed on Jeju Island.

Though atrocities were committed by both sides, the methods used by the South Korean government to suppress the rebels were especially cruel. On one occasion, American soldiers discovered the bodies of 97 people including children, killed by government forces. On another, American soldiers caught government police forces carrying out an execution of 76 villagers, including women and children.

In the end, between 14,000 and 30,000 people died as a result of the rebellion, or up to 10% of the island’s population. Some 40,000 others fled to Japan to escape the fighting. In the decades after the uprising, memory of the event was brutally suppressed by the government through strict punishment. In 2006, more than 60 years after the rebellion, the Korean government apologized for its role in the killings. The government also promised reparations but as of 2016, nothing had been done to this end.

After Imperial Japan surrendered to Allied forces on 15 August 1945, the 35-year Japanese occupation of Korea finally came to an end. Korea was subsequently divided at the 38th parallel north, however, with the Soviet Union assuming trusteeship north of the line and the United States south of the line. In September 1945, Lt. General John R. Hodge established a military government to administer the southern region, which included Jeju Island. In December 1945 U.S. representatives met with those from the Soviet Union and United Kingdom to work out joint trusteeship. Due to lack of consensus, however, the U.S. took the “Korean question” to the United Nations for further deliberation. On November 14, 1947, the United Nations passed UN Resolution 112, calling for a general election on May 10, 1948 under UNTCOK supervision.