On this day in 1948, Koreans on Jeju Island organized an armed rebellion for a unified, independent country, free of US colonization. In response, the US military government & ROK massacred 30,000-60,000 people until 1954.
TW: Police brutality, torture, rape mention
After WW2, the US military ruled southern Korea directly. Self-governing People's Committees were mostly disbanded, except in Jeju. In 1917 police killed 6 independence protestors, triggering a general strike on the island. In response, the US sent in police and fascist partisans
The Jeju Uprising was organized on April 3, 1948 after the US announced unpopular elections to create an "independent" southern government. 12 out of 24 police stations were attacked simultaneously.
The US & ROK responded with total war, killing 10-20% of Jeju's people by 1954.
The Jeju Massacre defies the official US narrative. The US didn't bring democracy to Korea, only division and death.
Jeju was just one of many atrocities committed by the US and its anticommunist allies in Korea and the Cold War Pacific. Yet this history is rarely acknowledged.
US military occupation in Korea and Jeju continues to this day. From 2011-2016, Jeju islanders fought to stop a new ROK naval base from being built. A new airport that will double as an air base is now also being constructed. scmp.com/news/asia/east…
As conversations about anti-Asian racism enters the mainstream, we must expand the scope of the discussion beyond US borders, & show the links between domestic white supremacy and imperialism. Contemporary anti-Asian racism is the legacy of a century of genocidal US wars in Asia.
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