2,000 Jeju 4.3 Victims’ Families and Residents Gather to Call for Revision of Special Act

[Financial News | Jeju = Reporter Jeong Yong-bok] About 2,000 Jeju 4.3 victims’ family members and residents gathered to call for the restoration of the victims’ honor, remedies for the families’ rights and improvements to the Jeju 4.3 Special Act. With unfinished tasks involving corrections to family relations registers, additional registration of victims and victims’ families, and compensation applications still underway, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province said it would pursue additional truth-finding efforts and institutional improvements ahead of the 80th anniversary of the Jeju uprising in 2028.
According to Jeju Special Self-Governing Province on the 5th, the 14th Jeju 4.3 Victims’ Families One-Heart Gathering was held the previous day near the Jeju 4.3 Peace Education Center.
The event, organized by the Jeju 4.3 Victims’ Families Association, drew about 2,000 people, including victims’ families and residents. Launched in 2011, the One-Heart Gathering brings Jeju uprising victims’ families from across the region together to interact and reaffirm their community’s solidarity.
This year’s event focused not only on unity but also on the remaining legal and institutional procedures for restoring the victims’ honor.
The program began with a performance by the 4.3 Peace Choir, followed by opening remarks, words of encouragement and congratulatory addresses. The "Resolution Calling for Revision of the Jeju 4.3 Special Act" was then read aloud. Choi Jae-hyun, head of the youth association, and youth member Kang Mi-kyung read the resolution on behalf of the victims’ families.
Participants threw beanbags at a gourd and burst it together, expressing their hopes for a just resolution of the Jeju uprising. They later continued interacting with one another through the "Harmony Festival."

The event also provided information about recently changed rights-remedy programs related to the Jeju uprising. Under the enforcement decree of the Jeju 4.3 Special Act, which was revised and took effect on September 1, the deadline for applying to correct family relations registers containing inaccurate records was extended through August 2028.
Correcting a family relations register is a procedure for fixing records of biological relationships, deaths and other matters that were recorded differently from actual family relationships because of the Jeju uprising. Restoring the legal family relationships of victims and their families can affect subsequent rights involving property and inheritance, as well as the restoration of their honor.
Additional registration of victims and their families will also resume. The ninth round of additional registration is scheduled to run from February through July next year. After applications are filed, a review and resolution process will determine whether applicants are officially recognized as victims or victims’ family members. The application period for compensation has also been extended through 2029.
This means that efforts to resolve the Jeju uprising are moving beyond uncovering the truth about the past toward restoring the rights of individual victims’ families through the clarification of family relationships, the recognition of additional victims and family members, compensation and livelihood support. Jeju Special Self-Governing Province also set up a separate information booth at the event to explain the revised systems for correcting family relations registers, additional registration and compensation applications.
Passing the legacy of the Jeju uprising on to future generations was also presented as a key task. Youth members of the victims’ families association read this year’s resolution, signaling a determination to pass the memories and challenges of the aging victims’ families’ community on to the next generation.
Kim Chang-beom, head of the Jeju 4.3 Victims’ Families Association, said, "I hope this will be a place where we comfort one another over the scars of the past and share renewed vitality and joy through the bonds of the victims’ families’ community."

Jeju Governor Wi Seong-gon presented institutional responses to distortion and disparagement of the Jeju uprising, additional truth-finding efforts and an expansion of the scope of victims and victims’ families as future priorities.
Wi said, "I will pursue legal and institutional reforms so that we can respond firmly to historical distortions and acts of disparagement concerning the Jeju uprising. I will also work to uncover additional facts and expand the scope of victims and victims’ families."
The province also decided to strengthen trauma recovery programs for victims and their families. It plans to improve the operation of its trauma center and pursue a "4.3 Belt area" linking Halla Ecological Forest, Jeju 4.3 Peace Park and Jeolmul Natural Recreation Forest. The aim is to connect memorial, educational, natural and cultural spaces centered around Jeju 4.3 Peace Park while improving access for residents and tourists.
The year 2028 will mark the 80th anniversary of the Jeju uprising. Along with preparations for commemorative projects, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province plans to ensure the smooth implementation of ongoing procedures to restore the victims’ honor, including additional registration of victims and victims’ families, corrections to family relations registers and compensation. It will also consult with the National Assembly and the government on legal and institutional improvements.
The focus of efforts to resolve the Jeju uprising is also gradually shifting. Following truth-finding efforts and a national apology and compensation, work continues to correct actual family relationships and restore the rights of victims and victims’ families who have not yet been registered. At this year’s One-Heart Gathering, which drew about 2,000 people, unfinished rights-remedy measures were once again confirmed as a key task alongside unity.


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