1 of 2 | Yang Seong-hong (L) and Yang Du-young embrace in the back of a vehicle after receiving the remains of family member Yang Cheon-jong at Jeju International Airport in Jeju City, Jeju Island, South Korea. Yang Cheon-jong was the grandfather to Yang Seong-hong and father to Yang Du-young. Photo courtesy of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province
The remains of a man who was arrested and sent to a mainland South Korean prison, where he died some seven decades ago amid the government’s bloody crackdown on a communist revolt, have finally been returned to his native Jeju Island.
The remains of Yang Cheon-jong arrived on Jeju Island, located about 50 miles south of mainland South Korea, at about 2 p.m. local time on Tuesday, marking only the second time that the remains of a victim of the Jeju Massacre — known as the Jeju 4.3 Incident in Korean — who died on the mainland has been returned home. Advertisement
His remains were received at the airport by his 94-year-old daughter, Yang Du-young, along with dignitaries, including Jeju Gov. Oh Young-hoon, before they were transported to the Peace Education Center in the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park where a repatriation ceremony was held. Advertisement
“I am glad we could finally recover my grandfather’s remains,” said Yang Seong-hong, who was representing the bereaved family, according to a statement from the Jeju government.
“I am glad we could finally recover my grandfather’s remains. I hope that all the missing victims of the April 3rd Incident can return to their hometowns and be reunited with their families as soon as possible.”
Some 30,000 Jeju Islanders are estimated to have been killed in the Jeju Massacre of 1947-1954 when the newly formed South Korean government launched a purge of the island’s communists, ensnaring mostly locals in the ensuing bloodbath.
During the massacre, hundreds were also arrested and sent to mainland prisons, where many were never heard from again.
Yang Cheon-jong, originally from Yeondong in Jeju City, had fled his home with his family after their house was burned down during the massacre and was arrested in March 1949, according to the government.
He was released a month later, but detained again that July as he was coming home from farm work, and was sent to a prison in Gwangju, about 165 miles south of Seoul on the mainland. Advertisement
On Dec. 24, 1949, his family received notification of his death from the prison.
According to the Jeju government, Yang Cheon-jong’s family tried to retrieve his remains from Gwangju Prison, but were unsuccessful.
A repatriation team consisting of eight family members and nine government representatives left Jeju on Monday for the mainland, where they received Yang Cheon-jong’s remains from the Gwangju Regional Correctional Office of the Ministry of Justice.
In his memorial address on Tuesday, Gov. Oh said the 75 years of grief and resentment endured by bereaved families because of the massacre are “beyond imagination.”
“We will work tirelessly to excavate and identify remains in regions associated with records of April 3rd prisoners, such as Golryeong Valley in Daejeon, the cobalt mine in Gyeongsan, Hwangbang Mountain in Jeonju and Gimcheon, by closely sharing genetic information with the government,” he said, naming locations where the remains of other Jeju Massacre victims are believed to be.
The ceremony, attended by around 100 people, occurred more than year after the remains of Kim Han-hong were returned to Jeju from the mainland in September 2023.
Kim Han-hong was arrested, charged as a spy and tried on July 4, 1949, along with hundreds of others in a military court martial. He was sentenced to seven years in a mainland prison, where he was executed with the outbreak of the Korean War. Advertisement
