Jeju massacre

[adamwatch]

On April 3rd was the anniversary of the Jeju massacre. In 1948 the then government decided to attack the island of Jeju to get rid of some left wing people. It is estimated that 30,000 people were massacred including many women and children. This was one tenth of the islands population. American soldiers on the island reported these events but did not attempt to intervene.

The above is an over simplified view of the events as getting at the truth is hard even today. I would like to know how this is reported in Korean history text books.

Adam

[summerthyme]

Have you asked the Korean history teachers at your school, or the students who have Korean history texts?

[WorkingTitle3484]

Adam, have you tried Google?

Here, for sake of conversation, it took me a second to get this:

http://www.google.com

To me, it sounds more like, 'you would like other people to know about this' rather than 'you'd like to know'.  Nothing is hard in this world; all you have to have is that gumption and that drive to get what you want.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

All I know is that it pales in significance to toothless Japanese claims on Laincourt Rocks.

[GreenFloyd]

Wow, this is alarming. I asked my co-teacher and she did not know about it. Then I asked my middle school history teacher and he looked it up in the book. It is one line: "The April 3rd accident" is listed in a list of causes of the Korean war, but there is no information about it. He told me many Koreans don't even know about it. Wow.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

Wow, this is alarming. I asked my co-teacher and she did not know about it. Then I asked my middle school history teacher and he looked it up in the book. It is one line: "The April 3rd accident" is listed in a list of causes of the Korean war, but there is no information about it. He told me many Koreans don't even know about it. Wow.

Koreans killing Koreans is about as popular a topic as Korean domestic violence. The only thing less popular might be social improvements that occured under Japanese occupation.

[Paul]

Korea has quite the interesting recent history. Try looking up the Yeosu incident too. One of the historical blogs, I believe it was Brian in Jeollanam has done detailed posts on that in the past. I'd check his archive lest he's covered Jeju too. I find with a lot of Korean history, your options to find stuff online in English can be limited, but there's museums in English at any major "incidental" site if you visit, and probably scholarly works or more formal history books you can dig up too.

On that note, even around whatever town you live in, keep an eye out for English plaques, hey. Local history is all around you everywhere in Korea, and a lot more is recorded in English than you'd think. Just tends to be poorly indexed.

Edit: An idea I had, perhaps put the call out to a Jeju resident to send some pamphlets or the like over to you from the local museum or photos of the plaques at the memorial park? I mean, your interest is on how it's taught, and how better to see that than see how they teach the locals about it? Jeju's touristy enough that a full translated copy of any material is likely a given.

[Artist Formerly Known as Moderator Jason]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju_Uprising


Google is a wonderous thing.... 5 seconds and found.

[dmhr25]

Actually, the OP specifically wanted to know how this was reported in Korean textbooks.  This is a little more difficult to find on Google or Wikipedia.  It involves asking other Korean teachers what is in their History and Social Studies textbooks or getting a hold of a textbook and reading it yourself (if you can read Korean).

[Artist Formerly Known as Moderator Jason]

ah, my apologies.  The wikipedia search did say they the information was suppressed until 2006 when President Roh Moo-Hyun offically apoligized for the event and began doing research on the event.  So probably nothing until than.

[Yu_Bumsuk]

Like with many historical events it will be easier to deal with it truthfully after those involved have passed away.

[ironopolis]

Koreans killing Koreans is about as popular a topic as Korean domestic violence.

It depends who you talk to. It also depends on the political leanings (or perceived leanings) of the Koreans involved. Certainly this wouldn't be a popular topic amongst supporters of the dictatorships in power until the 90s, nor, some would argue, of the current administration. Indeed, as has been pointed out above, it was the last administration that sought to open up this and other similar internal atrocities that had previously been kept under the rug. The present government has very much not continued that policy.

Basically, much of (south) Korea's history of the last 50-60 years is littered with strong, bitter and sometimes brutal actions against the left (or those assumed to be 'left'). There are factors that make this pretty unsurprising, if not necessarily justified.

Be careful who you ask about these things. Or, perhaps to be more precise, be careful how you respond to what you hear from people you ask. A lot of the history of this period is more complex than you may realise, with lingering sores still existing on both sides. Some Koreans may seem ignorant of things but actually just not be willing to talk about it - and quite possibly perfectly understandably so.

Like with many historical events it will be easier to deal with it truthfully after those involved have passed away.

Yes, indeed. And that's the problem because many of those people haven't passed away yet.

[K]

Here's another interesting quote (from the Wiki article) that would suggest it hadn't been in textbooks for a while:

"For almost fifty years after the massacre it was an arrestable crime followed by beatings, torture and a lengthy prison sentence if any South Korean even mentioned the events of the Jeju uprising."

I would imagine now that it has been included or will be since it has been recognized and apologies have been made. What we really need is a textbook.. 

[canadianont]

Wow...I had no clue this happened and apparently neither did my coteachers...or so they say.

[jauntwithjo]

Truth is not as important as keeping things perfect, I've noticed a lot here.

Lot like a swan.

[nardthefox]

Truth is not as important as keeping things perfect, I've noticed a lot here.

Lot like a swan.

No kidding. The Korean libel/defamation laws are friggin' scary. Usually truth is the counter to unlawful defamation, but not in Korea. Truth is not an applicable defense, as some unfortunate foreigners have found out (usually by losing a case against their [mod edit: ... ] former employers after warning fellow foreigners about their poor treatment of employees on online websites). Crazy 'save face' and stacked system situations, sometimes. Obviously there exceptions to everything, but there are people on here who know this all too well.

[Vincent]

Very interesting, thank you for posting the question OP, I find Korean history very interesting although it's often very sad!

[conorsean]

[mod edit: ... ] Adam, could the context have been made a bit more clearer in the thread title (like it happened over 60 years ago and not in the last few minutes). Had me racing for the news sites.

[dizzl]

I can't be bothered to look it up but our local english paper The Jeju Weekly has done some indepth research and reporting on this in the last few weeks. Have a look there, it is a very sad story.

[conorsean]

It was 30,000 people out of an estimated 2 million people. Atrocities were committed on both sides. Both sides try to avoid talking about them or even deny them (to this day). What's the first casualty of war?