Jeju uprising | |||||||
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Part of the division of Korea and the Cold War | |||||||
Map of South Korea with Jeju highlighted at the bottom in red | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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United States Army Military Government in Korea (until August 1948) South Korea (from August 1948) Northwest Youth League Korean Youth League | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Kim Dal-sam Pak Hon-yong |
William F. Dean Syngman Rhee Kim Ik-ryeol | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Several thousand killed[1]: 189 [a] |
162 soldiers killed 289 policemen killed 640 paramilitaries killed Total: 1,091 killed | ||||||
14,373 civilians killed (86% by security forces and 14% by insurgents) 30,000 total dead including combatants[2] Other estimates reach as high as 80,000[3][4] |
Jeju uprising | |
Hangul | 제주 4·3 사건 |
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Hanja | |
Revised Romanization | Jeju sasam sageon |
McCune–Reischauer | Cheju sasam sakŏn |
The Jeju uprising, known in South Korea as the Jeju April 3 incident[5] (Korean: 제주 4·3 사건), was an uprising on Jeju Island from April 1948 to May 1949. A year prior to its start, residents of Jeju had begun protesting elections scheduled by the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea (UNTCOK) to be held in the United States-occupied half of Korea, which they believed would entrench the division of the country. A general strike was later organized by the Workers' Party of South Korea (WPSK) from February to March 1948. The WPSK launched an insurgency in April 1948, attacking police and Northwest Youth League members stationed on Jeju who had been mobilized to suppress the protests by force.[1]: 166–167 [6] The First Republic of Korea under President Syngman Rhee escalated the suppression of the uprising from August 1948, declaring martial law in November and beginning an "eradication campaign" against rebel forces in the rural areas of Jeju in March 1949, defeating them within two months. Many rebel veterans and suspected sympathizers were later killed upon the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, and the existence of the Jeju uprising was officially censored and repressed in South Korea for several decades.[7]: 41
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.[6][8][9][1]: 139, 193 Other estimates reach as high as 80,000 dead.[10] 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 during the conflict.[1]: 171 [6][7]: 13–14 [1]: 186 Some historians and scholars, including military historian Allan R. Millett, regard the Jeju uprising as the true beginning of the Korean War.[11]
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,[12] and South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun issued an official apology on behalf of the South Korean government.[13] In 2019, the South Korean police and the defense ministry apologized for their involvement in the massacres during the Jeju uprising.[14]
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