Jeju Island

Jeju island is located off the southern coast of Korea.

Jeju Island (Jeju: 제주도; Korean: 제주도; Hanja: 濟州島) is an island located off the southern coast of Korea. The main island of Jeju and the archipelago it belongs to is currently a self-governing province (Korean: 특별자치도; Hanja: 特別自治道) within the U.S.-occupied southern portion of Korea. The archipelago consists of a total of 63 islands, 55 of them uninhabited. Jeju is south Korea's largest and most populous island and the only self-governed province of south Korea. Jeju island is a common tourist destination, known for its natural scenery and its pursuit of sustainable development. It is also the location of Mt. Halla, the highest mountain in south Korea. Jeju language is a Koreanic language traditionally spoken on Jeju, although in the present day, its number of fluent speakers is low, and revitalization efforts are ongoing.

Jeju uprising

Main article: Jeju uprising

Jeju island is the location of the Jeju uprising and subsequent massacre of 1948-49, in which residents of Jeju opposed the division of Korea and opposed U.S. meddling in Korean affairs, and were eventually violently suppressed by the south Korean government and right-wing paramilitary groups, resulting in a massacre that took an estimated 30,000 lives, approximately one-tenth of the island's population.

Opposition to naval base

Jeju Island is host to one of the most significant naval bases in south Korea, the Military-Civilian Port Complex located in the south of Jeju in Gangjeong Village. A significant portion of Gangjeong villagers opposed the base’s construction, participating in a decade-long protest outside of the base. The ROK Navy and the south Korean government stated that the naval base was a strategic move to protect South Korea's geopolitical interests and counterbalance China's military dominance in the region.

In a 2013 article by various groups on Jeju opposing the base, the base's true purpose of being used for the U.S. "Pivot to Asia" anti-China strategy was explained:

In 2012, the Obama administration declared “Pivot to Asia” as its military strategy to check China. Consequently, on June 21, 2012, the ROK-US-Japan joint military drill was conducted for the first time, at the southern waters of the Jeju Island near Gangjeong village. The Ministry of Defense of South Korea explained that it was an exercise for humanitarian purposes, but based on the vessels participated in the exercise, it was a military drill targeting China. Jeju naval base will be an outpost of the U.S. maritime military alliance, together with Japan, targeting China, rather than a strategic point of independent national defense. With the U.S. Pivot to Asia strategy, the chances of South Korea’s getting pulled into conflicts between the U.S. and China increase.

Anti-base activists opposed the base on several grounds. The first major controversy about the naval base project in Gangjeong was the way the construction plan was decided and how most villagers' voices were ignored. Secondly, the coastal area around Gangjeong was designated as a UNESCO biosphere reserve which the base's construction would endanger. The base was also opposed on the basis that the U.S. military would have the right to access and use it, as any Korean military bases under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), effectively making it a U.S. base. The anger of the anti-base movement about this issue intensified in August 2011 when, under the orders of the national police chief, water cannons, police vehicles equipped with riot gear, and about six hundred police officers were dispatched to Gangjeong from the mainland in order to quell the protest against the base, a move which was likened to the previous suppression and state violence enacted on Jeju islanders in the past by the south Korean state seen during the Jeju uprising. Some anti-base activists of the area continued to stage demonstrations against the base even after its construction had been completed.

In 2017, a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Mississippi, entered the naval base for the first time since the base was built. In response, the Action Committee Opposed to the Naval Base at Gangjeong Village and the Island-Wide Action Committee for Blocking Military Bases on Jeju and for Achieving an Island of Peace held a press conference in front of the Jeju Naval Base. The committee stated that Jeju should be an island of world peace that aims to overcome the pain of the Jeju massacre, not a base for strategic assets of the US military, also stating that the U.S. must "immediately withdraw the USS Mississippi, a nuclear-powered attack submarine that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and in northeast Asia." The groups further stated that the USS Mississippi's visit to the Jeju Naval Base "confirms that this is a place where cutting-edge strategic assets in the US military can stop by whenever they please according to American interests."

In 2020, an activist was arrested for trespassing on the base and destroying government property. The incident took place after four protesters demanded to be allowed in the base. A few hours later, the group infiltrated the base after cutting into barbed wire fencing. Military authorities were able to track down and detain the protesters on base more than an hour later.

Yemeni refugees

In spring of 2018, approximately 550 refugees from Yemen arrived on Jeju Island, fleeing from war. Unlike mainland south Korea, Jeju offers visa-free arrival for various nationalities in order to boost tourism. This visa-free arrival system made it possible for Yemeni refugees to arrive in Jeju, where many of them claimed asylum. The Yemeni arrivals to Jeju entered the country via flights originating from Malaysia, where they had been unable to obtain asylum.

The first-hand experience of a Yemeni refugee to Jeju is told by author and Al-Yemenia University graduate Alghaodari Mohammed Salem Duhaish in the 2022 book Yemen, Refugee, Jeju: My Refugee Diary (Korean: 예멘 난민 제주: 나의 난민 일기), with collaboration from research professors Kim Jun Pyo (Korean: 김준표) and Kim Jin-sun (Korean: 김진전) of the Jeju University Tamna Cultural Research Institute (Korean: 제주대학교 탐라문화연구원). The author writes: "Yemenis were not allowed to leave Jeju Island for mainland cities from the beginning of April 2018 [...] after more than two months and ten days, many Yemenis on Jeju Island no longer have money and sufficient financial possibility to pay hotel accommodation [...] Many Yemenis became homeless, sleeping in small portable tents that they put in public parks, parks, sea benches or any other place to sleep in."

The arrival of the refugees sparked a reactionary backlash from certain segments of south Korean society, resulting in protests against Jeju's visa-free entry policy. Protests were held both on Jeju Island and also in south Korea's capital city, Seoul. More than 700,000 south Koreans filed an online petition urging the government to stop its visa-free policy for Yemen, and protesters demanded the government to refuse asylum and deport the Yemenis. Accusations circulated of the refugees being "fake" refugees and potential criminals, and many who protested the refugees expressed Islamophobic sentiments and fears of the island becoming overcrowded. The Yemeni refugees were also limited in the types of employment they were allowed to attain in Jeju, only permitted to work on farms, the sea, or restaurants, and often working long hours of manual labor. The south Korean government eventually put Yemen on a list of terrorist watch-list countries following deteriorating public opinion over Yemenis using the visa-free system, and on June 1, 2018, the government removed Yemen from its list of visa-free entry countries to Jeju Island.

On September 14, 2018, the south Korean government granted permission for 23 Yemeni refugees to remain in humanitarian custody and the next month issued humanitarian permits to 339 Yemeni refugees. Thirty-four of the Yemeni refugees were denied refugee status. Of the 85 persons whose cases were still pending, 50 were granted humanitarian status, 22 asylum claims were rejected, and 11 asylum seekers left the country after examination. In total, only two people were recognized as refugees while 412 were granted humanitarian status.

Although there was a considerable reactionary backlash to the refugees coming to Jeju, some people reacted with support for the refugees. The Jeju Migrant Peace Community (JMPC) has sought help the refugees. Another example is Ha Min-kyung, who owned a music studio, which she opened at night so that some of the refugees suffering financial hardship and having no place to sleep would have accommodation. Later, she opened a restaurant, with the support of some Yemeni and Korean friends, that serves halal food, because refugees were finding it difficult to find halal food in Jeju.