Five Years After the 2021 Declaration of Mutual Prosperity... Gangjeong Village, Government and Navy Open Ships to Continue Community Recovery

【Financial News Jeju=Jeong Yong-bok】 Residents, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, the government and the Navy will gather again in Gangjeong Village, Seogwipo City, which experienced prolonged conflict during construction of the Jeju naval base. As the framework for community recovery established after the 2021 Joint Declaration of Mutual Prosperity and Harmony leads to the fourth civilian-government-military harmony event, attention is also focused on how deeply the cooperation system created after the conflict has taken root in the region.
According to Jeju Special Self-Governing Province on the 15th, the fourth Ilgangjeong Day of Mutual Prosperity and Harmony, hosted by the Public-Private-Military Council for Mutual Prosperity, will be held on the 19th at the Kim Young-gwan Center sports complex and throughout Gangjeong Village.
The event was organized to commemorate the Gangjeong Village Declaration of Mutual Prosperity and Harmony, jointly adopted by Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Council and Gangjeong Village on May 31, 2021. It also aims to continue community recovery and cooperation among residents, the government and the military.
The discussion of mutual prosperity surrounding Gangjeong Village began with the prolonged conflict among residents during construction of the Jeju naval base. Disputes between supporters and opponents continued within the village and across Jeju society, after which the government, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and the village pursued regional development and community recovery projects in parallel.
In January 2019, the Public-Private-Military Council for Mutual Prosperity was formed with the participation of the Gangjeong Village Association, the Office for Government Policy Coordination, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and the Navy. It serves as a permanent cooperation framework through which the four parties jointly discuss community recovery projects and local issues.
The 2021 joint declaration marked a turning point by connecting these efforts to institutional reconciliation and community recovery.

This year’s Ilgangjeong Day of Mutual Prosperity and Harmony will focus less on a commemorative ceremony and more on programs in which residents, Navy personnel and Jeju residents participate together throughout the day.
The event begins at 10 a.m. At the Kim Young-gwan Center sports complex, activities will include the Ilgangjeong senior citizens’ banquet, a treasure hunt, a mini water festival, the Children’s Futsal World Cup, the Ilgangjeong Golden Bell quiz, a family arcade, a large yut game, floor curling and paper-airplane throwing.
The senior citizens’ banquet adapts the spirit of the traditional banquet held at Jeju Mokgwana to honor older people into a community event in Gangjeong Village. It will serve food to village elders and bring together children and their parents.
The Navy will also open its gates. Navy Mobile Fleet Command will open its facilities and ships to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors can board ships and view special equipment and promotional exhibits, as well as watch a ceremonial guard performance. The program, which directly opens military facilities to residents and Jeju citizens, also symbolically lowers the physical boundary between Gangjeong Village and the Navy.
In the afternoon, joint civilian-government-military programs will take center stage. Performances by the Navy promotional band and a military band march will be followed by a mutual-prosperity street-opening performance and percussion show by the Ilgangjeong Folk Preservation Association, along with a performance by the Gangjeong Fishing Village Association.
Wi Seong-gon, governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province; Song Young-hoon, speaker of the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Council; Ko Hak-su, head of the Gangjeong Village Association; and Kim In-ho, commander of Navy Mobile Fleet Command, are expected to attend the commemorative event.
Commendations will also be presented to people who contributed to community recovery in Gangjeong Village. Resident-participation programs, including mime, gogo janggu, a children’s musical, line dancing and singers’ performances, will follow.

The significance of this event lies not in its scale as a festival, but in the fact that the cooperation system established after the conflict in Gangjeong Village is continuing through repeated resident participation.
Community recovery is difficult to achieve through declarations or support projects alone. More important is whether residents, administrators and the military can continue their everyday exchanges in the same space and maintain relationships through which they discuss local issues.
In Gangjeong Village, in particular, it is difficult to say that the past conflict and memories surrounding construction of the naval base have completely disappeared. The key question is whether events promoting mutual prosperity can become a forum for building the community’s present and future together while acknowledging different experiences, rather than covering up the existence of past conflict.
Jeju Special Self-Governing Province is also operating Ilgangjeong Day of Mutual Prosperity and Harmony not as a one-off event, but as an extension of its community recovery projects and the Public-Private-Military Council for Mutual Prosperity.
Kang Seung-hyang, head of the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Gangjeong Community Project Promotion Team, said, "Ilgangjeong Day of Mutual Prosperity and Harmony is a meaningful occasion where Gangjeong Village residents, government officials and the military come together," adding, "I hope this event will serve as an opportunity to move beyond past conflicts and expand mutual prosperity and harmony."


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