The Jeju uprising (in South Korea, the Jeju April 3 incident, Korean: 제주 4·3 사건) was an uprising on Jeju Island, South Korea, from April 1948 to May 1949.
Tensions on Jeju Island escalated with protests following a police assault incident during the 1947 March 1st Independence Movement Day celebration, and the suppression of those protests which resulted in 6 deaths. A general strike was later organized by the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) from February to March 1948, protesting against the general election scheduled in the United States-occupied half of the peninsula. Kim Dal-sam, the head of the WPSK in Jeju, formed a guerrilla organization to take up arms, and launched an insurgency in April 1948, attacking South Korean police facilities and officers, and right-wing civilians.
Following independence in August 1948, the First Republic of Korea (ROK) under President Syngman Rhee escalated the suppression of the uprising on Jeju Island by declaring martial law in November and beginning an "eradication campaign" against insurgents in the rural areas of Jeju in March 1949, defeating them within two months. The ROK executed many insurgents and their supporters causing some to refer to this campaign as the Jeju massacre. Upon the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, many imprisoned insurgents and supporters were extrajudicially executed, and the existence of the uprising was officially censored and repressed in South Korea for several decades.
The Jeju uprising and its repression were notable for its extreme violence; between 14,000 and 30,000 people (10 percent of Jeju's population) were killed, and 40,000 fled to Japan. Other estimates reach as high as 80,000 dead. Atrocities and war crimes were committed by both sides, but historians have noted that the methods used by the South Korean government to suppress protesters and rebels were especially cruel, with violence against civilians by pro-government forces giving rise to the Yeosu–Suncheon rebellion in South Jeolla Province during the conflict. According to Bruce Cumings, right-wing paramilitary groups, including the North-West Youth Association, were especially brutal towards civilians, exercising more authority than the police. Some historians and scholars, including military historian Allan R. Millett, regard the Jeju uprising as the true beginning of the Korean War.
In October 2003, the National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Incident chaired by South Korean prime minister Goh Kun released a comprehensive report detailing the violence that occurred during the uprising, and South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun issued an official apology on behalf of the South Korean government. In 2019, the South Korean police and the defense ministry apologized for their involvement in the massacres during the Jeju uprising.
Background
Political situation in Korea
After Imperial Japan surrendered to Allied forces on August 15, 1945, the 35-year Japanese occupation of Korea ended. Korea was subsequently divided by the allied powers along the 38th parallel, with the Soviet Union overseeing the north and the United States the south. In September 1945, Lt. General John R. Hodge established a military government to administer the southern region, including Jeju Island. In December 1945, representatives from the US, Soviet Union, and United Kingdom met to discuss a joint trusteeship. However, a lack of consensus led the US to bring the "Korean question" to the United Nations. On November 14, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 112, calling for a general election in Korea on May 10, 1948, under the supervision of the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK).
Fearing a loss of influence over northern Korea, the Soviet Union rejected the UN resolution and barred UNTCOK from entering the region. The UNTCOK nevertheless proceeded with the elections, albeit only in the southern half of the peninsula. In response, the Soviet Union organized its own elections in the north on August 25, 1948.
Political situation on Jeju Island
Residents of Jeju island were among the most active participants in the Korean independence movement against colonial Japanese occupation. Due to the island's relative isolation from the mainland peninsula, Jeju experienced relative peace after the Japanese surrender, contrasting with the period of heavy unrest in southern mainland Korea. The period following the Japanese surrender saw the formation of People's Committees, local autonomous councils tasked with coordinating the transition towards Korean independence. When the American military government was established in Jeju in late 1945, the Jeju People's Council was the only existing government on the island. As a testament to the island's relative stability, the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) governor John R. Hodge stated in October 1947 that Jeju was "a truly communal area that is peacefully controlled by the People's Committee without much Comintern influence."
The Jeju People's Committee had come under the control of the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) by late 1946. The WPSK encouraged the People's Council to establish military and political committees, as well as mass organizations. The 1946 USAMGIK dissolution of the provisional People's Republic of Korea and their associated People's Committees on the mainland sparked the Autumn Uprising of 1946, which did not spread to Jeju (as its People's Committee still operated largely undisturbed by the American military government) but did contribute to rising tensions on the island. However, since the 2000s, some South Korean liberal scholars and families of the victims of the uprising have argued that the Jeju People's Committee had nothing to do with directive of the WPSK.
Incidents leading up to the uprising
Sam-il demonstrations
Starting a year before the planned nationwide elections of May 1948, residents of Jeju started protesting against holding the planned elections. Particularly concerned about permanently dividing the peninsula, the WPSK planned protests on March 1, 1947, to denounce the elections and celebrate the anniversary of the March First Movement (also known as the Sam-il Movement). The protests were further emboldened following an incident where police dispersing protests fired indiscriminately into a crowd, killing six civilians, including a six-year-old child.
Chong-myon jail incident
On March 8, 1947, a crowd of about a thousand demonstrators gathered at the Chong-myon jail, demanding the release of WPSK members who been arrested during the Sam-il demonstrations by military government. When the demonstrators started throwing rocks and stormed the jail, the police opened fire, killing five people. In response, the WPSK called on the military government to take action against the police officers responsible. Instead, 400 police officers were brought in from the mainland. In addition, members of the far-right paramilitary group known as the Northwest Youth League also arrived on Jeju. Although both the police and paramilitary groups employed violent and harsh tactics in their suppression of protests, the Northwest Youth League was especially ruthless and has been described as terroristic.
February 1948 general strike
As the May 10, 1948 elections approached, WPSK leaders hardened in their opposition to the involvement of the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) in Korean affairs, as they believed the elections would formalize the 38th parallel partition as a permanent border, making a unified and independent Korea no longer possible. In January 1948, Pak Hon-yong, the leader of the WPSK, had called on WPSK members south of the 38th parallel to oppose the elections by whatever means necessary, and called for a general strike to begin on February 7. According to John Merril, there were at least 60,000 WPSK members on Jeju at this point, as well as at least 80,000 active supporters who were not members. The WPSK went on strike and its members also sometimes attacked government installations and engaged in armed fighting with police forces and rightist militias. These clashes continued through March 1948.
Rebellion
April 3, 1948
Although armed clashes had been taking place on Jeju Island since early 1947, the typical start date cited for the beginning of the Jeju uprising is April 3, 1948. Some sources cite an incident where military police "fired on a demonstration commemorating the Korean struggle against Japanese rule", igniting mass insurrection. Other sources, however, make no mention of this demonstration incident, and state that WPSK plans to attack on April 3 had been planned well in advance. Whatever the case, at approximately 02:00, around 500 WPSK guerrillas alongside up to 3,000 sympathizers attacked Northwest Youth League positions as well as 11 of the 24 police stations on the island, killing 30 police officers, specifically targeting those who were known to have previously collaborated with Japanese colonial authorities.
Lieutenant General Kim Ik-ryeol, commander of police forces on the island, attempted to end the uprising peacefully by negotiating with the rebels. He met several times with rebel leader Kim Dal-sam of the WPSK but neither side could agree on conditions. The government demanded a complete rebel surrender, while the rebels demanded disarmament of the local police, dismissal of all governing officials on the island, prohibition of paramilitary groups, and the re-unification of the Korean peninsula.
In the wake of these failed peace negotiations, the fighting continued. The US military government responded to guerrilla activity by transferring another regiment to Jeju from Busan and deploying police companies, each 1,700 strong, from the southern provinces of the mainland. The guerrillas retreated to their bases in the forests and caves around Hallasan, Jeju's central volcano and the highest mountain in South Korea. On April 29, the Korean, non-military, governor of Jeju province abandoned his post and defected, to the guerrillas. This caused many police officers to do the same and defect. In response, US military provincial governor William F. Dean ordered a purge of WPSK sympathizers from the ranks of the Korean constabulary, and three sergeants were summarily executed.
Fighting continued through the May 10 elections. A total of 214 people had been killed by then. During election week, the guerrillas "cut telephone lines, destroyed bridges, and blocked roads with piles of stones to disrupt communications." The WPSK Women's League campaigned for residents to hide in the mountainous region controlled by guerillas the night before the election so they could not be forced to vote at gunpoint, and thousands did. Many election officials declined to show up. These campaigns, along with sporadic arson, violent demonstrations and attacks on government installations on election day led to a low turnout. Jeju had was the lowest in all of South Korea, so low that the two seats reserved for Jeju province in the new national assembly were left vacant.
Fearing an upsurge in guerrilla activities after they succeeded in disrupting the election, General Dean requested a US Navy blockade of the island on May 11, so that rebel sympathizers from the mainland could not reach Jeju. The Navy sent the USS John R. Craig to enforce the blockade.
August 1948 underground elections and Yeosu rebellion
Although guerrilla activity lessened during the summer months of 1948, they picked up again in August after the Soviet Union held elections north of the 38th parallel to form the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). In conjunction with these elections, the Workers' Party of North Korea (WPNK) organized "underground elections" for those wanting to participate south of the 38th parallel, including on Jeju Island. Although the turnout of these elections is disputed, they succeeded at emboldening WPSK military forces. In the months following the elections, conditions worsened to the point that Republic of Korea (ROK) officials decided to send the Fourteenth Regiment of the Korean Constabulary, stationed near the southern port city of Yeosu, to Jeju Island to assist counter-insurgency operations. However, on October 20, 1948, thousands of soldiers mutinied in protest before they were due to be dispatched to Jeju. They killed many high-ranking officers and those who had collaborated with the Japanese and seized Yeosu and surrounding areas before retreating into the areas around Jirisan mountain and setting up guerrilla bases, similar to what the Jeju rebels did while hiding out in Hallasan. Embarrassed by this incident, Syngman Rhee, the newly elected president of the ROK, intensified the government's efforts to suppress the rebellion. On November 17, 1948, Syngman Rhee proclaimed martial law in on Jeju. During this period, ROK forces engaged in numerous war crimes. In one report incident on December 14, 1948, ROK forces attacked a small village and kidnapped many young men and girls. The girls were gang-raped over a two-week period and then executed along with the young men.
By the end of 1948, the ROK's harsh and effective suppression campaigns had reduced the number of guerrilla forces to just 300.
WPSK's 1949 New Year offensive and the ROK's eradication campaign
On January 1, 1949, the guerrillas launched one last offensive against ROK police. They attacked in Odong-ni and Jeju City, but were pushed back by ROK police and driven to the island's interior mountains. ROK police pursued the guerrillas and continued to commit atrocities, including rounding up whole villages and massacring residents. The ROK forces, now determined to destroy the remaining WPSK guerrillas, launched an eradication campaign in March 1949. During the campaign, 2,345 guerrillas and 1,668 civilians were killed. With the campaign now effectively over, the ROK held elections on Jeju Island to fill the province's empty seats in the National Assembly; Jeju Island was now effectively and symbolically under ROK jurisdiction.
United States involvement
At the beginning of the uprising, the island was controlled by the United States Army Military Government in Korea.