[Jeju Update] Villagers and citizens protest against the navy's forceful construction/ The Island government cracks down the workers again

* See the below summary at the bottom of the photos





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A flattening and widenening road










Despite the Island Council’s reversing resolution on the absolute preservation area, it has been discovered that the navy has processed construction bit by bit, measured the height in the Joongduk coast, built the car-washing site and done on the road-flattening and widening construction on March 22.

It has processed the construction on throwing tetra pods, which has been stopped for a while in the Natgak, the eastern part of the planned naval base area, and has been continuous on installation of web for prevention of dirty water near the light house area in the western part (which was also processed on March 24). The Samsung personnel said it would enter the dredging works sooner or later after it.

It also clearly expressed its will to continue on the enforcement of construction so that numerous heavy equipments could pass on the road that would be covered with concrete, while pouring concrete in the car-washing site on March 23.

The infuriated villagers and citizens of peace groups and non-groups, visiting the naval field office around 10am on March 23, requested the guard that they would meet Lee Eun-kook, the navy captain.

The guard after calling phone said that there were no navy personnel but only construction company personnel. Yang Yoon-Mo, the movie critic who has kept the vigil tent in the Joongduk coast near for two years had asked the personnel in the construction company the other day that he wanted to meet the chief responsible personnel and them that they would arrange for it.

After the villagers and citizens put complaints on the navy and construction company personnel’ irresponsibility and insincerity, the Daerim chief personnel appeared 10 minutes later then the Samsung personnel. Twenty minutes later, lieutenant commander Seo appeared.

The appearance of the lieutenant Seo was contradictory with the words of the guard that there were no navy personnel and of the construction company personnel that there were nothing they could do since there were no navy personnel. The villagers and citizens could not bear disappointment and fury as the navy and companies avoided the urgent talk with the villagers with their attitude of charging responsibility over each other but try to peacefully persuaded them.

The citizens and villagers criticized them whether they ignored the reversing resolution by the Island council on March 15- which could be ignoring of Island people- whose chairman had said that there should be no military facilities in the absolute preservation areas; whether they intended to make the construction irrecoverable before the court decision that they were enforcing illegal maritime construction despite the lawsuit on the issue on the reclamation on the sea surface in process, while the final review (April 6) and final decision(April 20) of the court lawsuit on the absolute preservation areas have not finished yet.

They also reminded and emphasized that their just protests and demands have been continuously ignored as can be seen on March 23 when it was obvious that their verbal protests in the construction sites have never been delivered to the navy personnel.

Upon the villagers and citizens’ protest, the navy and company personnel could not properly respond but expressed their will to continue construction. The villagers and citizens clearly and strictly warned them that they would make a protest visit to the office every morning and that the navy and companies would be responsible for any misfortunes related to forceful construction that might happen afterward.

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About 400 Jjeu city officers and police were mobilized to remove the Jeju workers' sit-in site in the morning of March 23. The workers have been doing the sit-in since last November 23 and March 23 was their 121th date. The city officers have forcefully removed workers' tent on Feb. 21 and since then, the workers have been doing the sit-in without a tent. On March 23, 2011, Mr. Boo Jang-Won (41), Organizing Director of the Jeju branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions haㄴ been arrested but released in the afternoon. The workers are told to have decided to continue their struggle in the same site. It should not be just an accident that the Woo Keun-Min Island government cracked down the workers' struggle on the same day that it allowed the forceful naval base construction in the Gnagjeong village.