Since 2007, the people of Gangjeong fishing village have struggled against the construction of a Naval Base by the South Korean Government in their port village on the southern coast of JeJu island. The livelihood of a community of 1,900 people is threatened - tangerine farmers, fishermen, traditional Haenyo divers on the reef and low impact tourist operators.
Government officials and military planners teamed with mega firms, Samsung and Daelim, despite community objections and started construction of the base in 2010. The community’s human rights and voice have been supressed. Ironically, Jeju is known as the ‘Island of Peace’ but the village now is recorded as having the highest crime rate in South Korea because of their protests.
As a form of non-violent peace action, parishioners from the 37 parishes on JeJu Island have scheduled themselves for two daily prayer sessions in front of the gates of the Naval Base construction site. At 7am each morning, except Sundays, they perform a 100 bows ritual reciting a litany praying for peace.
Columban Fr Pat Cunningham recently led me on a trip to Jeju where he is a regular visitor to the Jeju Peace site. He often leads the Mass there, takes part on the 100 bows liturgy and accompanies Columban priests, Sisters and seminarians from the mainland.
At 11am they celebrate Mass on the roadside outside the base. Meanwhile protestors spend the hour siting in meditation blocking the gates to trucks entering and exiting. More than 20 police attend each day and are ordered to move the protestors aside to allow the working trucks to pass. The police have become part of the ritual.
The protestors are supported by their local Bishop Peter Kang U-il of Cheju. This commitment has continued since 2010. Large banners on the side of the road outside the Naval Base quote the Bishop and Pope Francis. The action of the Catholics attracts a stream of groups travelling from other South Korean dioceses as well as interfaith and secular groups. Support has arisen from the arts community and international peace activists also. Bearded Fr Mun, Korean Catholic Priest and Peace Activist, has become a recognised national figure because of his permanent presence.
Australia is implicated through involvement in the Asian Pivot with plans to base U.S. military personnel at Darwin and Perth facilities. The Jeju Naval Base construction carries a warning for Australia about creeping militarism. Malcolm Fraser, former Prime Minister of Australia, has spoken out strongly against blindly following U.S. plans. The Australian-U.S. Base near Alice Springs is actively part of the targeting operations of drone strikes in Asia. ‘Not wanting to know’ is a naïve position to take by Australian citizens. The new Naval Base on Jeju, Alice Springs’ drone-control centre and U.S. Asian Pivot plans all challenge Catholics to revisit official church teaching on our calling to strengthen and preserve peace.
The biodiversity of environmental life, that is part of the seamless garment of God given life, is also threatened at Jeju Island. Blasting Gureombi Rock Island (a coastal sacred site) for the Base’s construction is a very visible symbol of the threat to the unique temperate soft coral reef just off the coast of Gangjeong village. The area is a designated biosphere reserve named when UNESCO declared all of Jeju island a Biosphere Reserve. Ideology and money can distort many realities.
Fr Charles Rue SSC is the Coordinator of Columban Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation (JPIC) in Australia and is based at the Columban Mission Institute in Sydney.
Columban Fr Pat Cunningham invites supporters from around the globe to share and SIGN THE PETITION: NO TO NAVAL BASE AT JEJU.
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