[Jeju Update] Gangjeong Villagers Suffer from Navy’s Too Much Law Accusation

* The accused villagers, Prof. Yang Yoon-Mo by the navy with the fine charges visited a lawyer's office in the City Of Jeju on April 29, 2010. Gangjeong Mayor Kang Dong-Kyun corresponded with them.

* Image source: Click HERE.

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The road is called as the road for peace. Mayor Kang says when he drives the car, returning back to the Gangjeong village from the Jeju city, “It was when there was the first summit meeting between Mikhail Gorbachev and ex-President Roh Tae-Woo during his term (1988 to 1993) in the Jeju Island. Roh, seeing the road at the time, wanted to widen it for the coming summit meeting. Since the road was broaden, it has been called as the Peace Road. But if the naval base is set-up, it will be called as the Military Road.”
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While the safety-prayer ceremony planned on April 28 by the naval base business committee has been postponed, because of the funeral of the dead soldiers due to sunken Cheonan ship on April 29 and strong repulsion of the Jeju region society (See the press interview on April 23, Catholic missal on April 26 and candle light & cultural event on April 27), the dual sufferings of the Gangjeong villagers because of the navy’s endless suffocating of the them with the accusation of such as interruption of the execution of the government business affairs and other business affairs with the fines and lawsuits have been continuously going on. (See the Seogwipo Daily Newspaper on April 16).

Six Gangjeong villagers and two activists have gotten the informer order from the Jeju local district court to pay the fines from 1million won (about $860) to 2million won(about $1,740) for the charges of interruption of the business affairs during the villagers’ struggle on Jan. 18 when the police and navy suddenly raid the village to build the ceremony site without notice.

The letter date of the informal order was April 23, a day after April 22, the planned but now postponed final judgment of the 2nd review trial on the confirmation on the cancellation of the approval disposal of the defense/military facilities business. The trial, by the request of the navy was postponed to May 27 when not the final judgment but the review starting again from the beginning will be done, much discouraging the villagers who had hoped the April 22 result would make the breakthrough because the judge had looked fair, understanding the villagers’ fury on the navy’s improper and forceful procedures to drive the naval base plan.

Later, it was known that the navy had the public announcement of the change regarding the land matter because it wanted to enforce the villagers’ lands therefore bringing the strong repulsion by the landowners who have opposed the naval plan and did the press interview on April 19, 2010.

The April 23 letter could be shown as part of the navy’s psychological strategy against the farmers and activists whose fatigues for near three year struggle have reached to the highest.

The charged people were supposed to request to have the formal trial in a week if they did not want to accept the informal order. And today, six villagers-Kang Hee-Woong (45, farming), Jung Kyung-Bo(44, inoccupation), Koh Young-Jin (50, farming), Yoon Chan-Beom (51, Vice-mayor of the Gangjeong village, farming), Jung Young-Hee (60, woman, farming), Moon Sang-Chul, 47, farming) and Prof. Yang Yoon(54, movie critic), the seven charged and mayor, Kang Dong-Kyun have ridden in the two cars and visited to the Jeju city to get the lawyer to have the trial instead paying the fines. The former three got the order of fines of 2million won while the latter four plus Mr. Go Yu Gi, Co-Executive Chairman of the Pan-Island Committee against the Jeju Military Base was also ordered to pay the fine of 1 million won.

If the charged people do not accept the order, they must be jailed-50,000 won for a day, so 20 to 40 days. Applying for the trial is one solution.

But how about the lawyers’ fee that is about 3,000,000won for one case if the lawyers are not benevolent and supporting them? How about the farming for which they have already been lack of hands? And how about the waste of time, knowing that to prepare the struggle for the critical period until the local election, before which the navy may suddenly raid the village again, is already urgent? Only a month left..

The suffering of the villagers and activists, suffocated by the endless media manipulation, systematic violence, quiet land enforcement attempt, and the unreasonable accusation of fines by the navy should be one point that one should not ignore in the whole struggle against the Jeju naval base plan..

Including the mayor Kang who says he has already gotten through more than 10 accusations from the navy and joked that, “I have become the kind of pseudo law scholar,” villagers and activists said today, “It is the navy’s dividing strategy. We should do something against it.”