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Vol. 79/No. 13      April 13, 2015

 
Fight against SKorea naval base
gains solidarity in Philadelphia

BY JOHN STAGGS  
PHILADELPHIA — Hee Eun Park and Paco Michelson, two participants in the fight against construction of a South Korean naval base in Gangjeong village on Jeju Island off the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, told two meetings here that building support for the struggle in the U.S. is critical. All inquiries about the base are referred to the Pentagon, meaning it is really a project of the U.S. military.

The March 26 meeting at the Calvary United Methodist Church was sponsored by the Philadelphia Committee for Peace and Justice in Asia. The event the next day at the Circle of Hope Church featured “Gureombi — The Wind Is Blowing,” a film that documents the fight against the base. Both meetings were part of a national tour organized by Peaceworkers, the Korea Policy Institute and the Channing & Popei Liem Education Foundation.

Park and Michelson described the long history of battles by the workers, farmers and fishermen on the island, including the “Jeju massacre” in 1948, when some 30,000 people, according to some historians, were killed during mass protests against the U.S.-imposed regime of Syngman Rhee. The government of South Korea refused to allow any reference to the massacre to appear in print until after 1993, the speakers said.

For more information on the tour go to www.savejejunow.org.  
 
 
 
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