Today is the anniversary of a major Korean violent trauma on Jeju Island. Korea was invaded literally hundreds of times over centuries. The Mongols, the Ming and Ching dominance, the Hideyoshi invasion and later a Japanese colony for 35 years. Then the Korean War and, in 1948, the Jeju April 3 incident, when 10% of Jeju’s population was killed.
And yet Koreans retained their spirit, their language, their culture and their unique decision-making customs — rather democratic ones, even at the village level.
Having endured it all, Koreans have a uniquely vivid perspective as to what is Chinese, Japanese and uniquely Korean. And in today’s modern globalization, the world is celebrating Korea’s food, music, culture and natural beauty. Hard to match such iron resilience.
As Hawaii’s sister state, we should reach out and honor our Jeju friends for their recovery and prosperity.
Jim Shon
Makiki
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