On this day, 3 April 1948, a left-wing uprising began on the Korean island of Jeju. Jeju had been largely self-governing following the end of World War II, when North and South Koreas were divided up between the USSR and USA following the defeat of Japan. However Jeju islanders were angry with violent US-backed police and feared that planned elections organised by the UN in South Korea alone would reinforce the division between North and South. They attacked police stations and right-wing paramilitaries, in particular targeting those who collaborated with the Japanese imperialists. The US military government sent troops to the island, and the US-backed South Korean authorities brutally suppressed the rebellion, massacring many thousands including women and children. When the uprising was finally crushed the following year 10% of the island’s population were dead, and 70% of villages had been destroyed. Subsequent US-backed dictatorships in South Korea banned any mention of the Jeju uprising, and speaking of it was punishable by beatings, torture and lengthy prison sentences.
Pictured: orphans from the repression https://ift.tt/2WK4pJk