Remains of seven Jeju Massacre victims identified, returned to families after decades
1 of 2 | A bereaved family member places a name tag on the remains of a family member who was killed during the Jeju Massacre. Photo courtesy of Jeju Provincial Office
JEJU ISLAND, South Korea, Feb. 3 (UPI) — Seven sets of remains belonging to victims of an early Cold War massacre were returned to their families on South Korea’s resort island of Jeju on Tuesday, more than seven decades after they disappeared amid the government’s bloody crackdown on a communist revolt.
The remains of the seven Jeju Massacre victims arrived at Jeju International Airport from Gimpo at about 2 p.m. local time Tuesday, where they were received by Jeju Gov. Oh Young-hoon, heads of various Jeju Massacre-related organizations and representatives of the bereaved families.
“I pray for the repose of the seven victims who had to lie without names for so many years, and I offer my words of comfort to the families who endured time without knowing the fate of their loved ones,” Oh said in his memorial address.
An estimated 30,000 islanders were killed between 1947 and 1954 during South Korea’s bloody anti-communist eradication campaign that literally decimated the island’s population of 300,000 and razed hundreds of villages.
Thousands of people went missing during the massacre, symbolized by the Cemetery of the Missing within the Jeju 4.3 Peace Park, just south of Jeju City, where nearly 4,000 tombstones are etched with the names of islanders who disappeared during the seven-year period and are presumed dead.
Hundreds were executed and buried en masse at what is now known as Jeju International Airport following trumped-up court-martial trials, while more than 2,000 disappeared into the mainland prison system.
Since the mid-2000s, the Jeju government has spearheaded a program to find the bodies of those who went missing and identify them.
A total of 426 sets of remains have been exhumed, 387 from excavation sites at the Jeju International Airport, with the remainder found elsewhere on the island and on the mainland.
Three of the victims have been named as Kim Sa-rim, Yang Dal-hyo and Kang Du-nam, who were identified from remains excavated at the Golryeonggol, Daejeon, site, where roughly 1,400 sets of remains of civilians massacred during the Korean War have been recovered overall.
The remains of Im Tae-hoon and Song Du-seon were excavated from the Gyeongsan Cobalt Mine, where prisoners were executed when the Korean War began, marking the first time remains excavated at the Cobalt Mine have been identified.
Only one other body excavated from the Daejeon site has been confirmed as a victim of the Jeju Massacre — Kim Han-hong, who was returned to the island in 2023.
The final two sets of remains, excavated from Jeju International Airport, belonged to Song Tae-woo and Kang In-gyeong.
After arriving on Jeju, the remains were transported to the Jeju 4.3 Peace Park for an event to return them to the island, commemorate them and console their bereaved families, according to the Jeju provincial government. Some 200 people were in attendance.
“We have finally found our family member who was sacrificed without any crime,” Kang Jun-ho, the grandson of the late Song Du-seon, said.
“It is very late, but I am thankful that he has regained his name.”
In Jeju dialect, he said: “Grandfather, you’ve come home. Rest easy now.”
The Jeju 4.3 Peace Foundation identified the remains in a statement, stating Kim Sa-rim, of Iho Village, Jeju City, was 25 when he was captured by government suppression forces in February 1949 while living as a refugee on Mt. Halla, after which his family only received rumors that he had been transferred to a prison.
Yang Dal-hyo, a 26-year-old farmer in Doryeon Village, went missing in June 1948. His family learned he was detained at the Jeju Distillery detention camp. After they were able to visit him once, they lost contact with Yang Dal-hyo.
Kang Du-nam, of Yeongdon Village, 24, was last heard of around October 1948 while he was living as a refugee on Mt. Halla, and then imprisoned at Daejeon Prison around July 1949.
Im Tae-hoon, 20, of Sogil Village, was detained by police in December 1948 and was imprisoned in Mokpo before being transferred to Daegu Prison and then executed at the cobalt mine.
Song Du-seon, 29, of Donghong Village, was arrested by police in the spring of 1949 and imprisoned at Daegu Prison in July of that year.
Song Tae-woo, 17, of Ora Village, was detained by suppression forces while living as a refugee on Mt. Halla in November 1948. After that, there were only accounts of him having been thrown into the sea or killed at the airport.
Kang In-gyeong, 46, of Sangmyeong Village, was detained by police in June 1950 with the outbreak of the Korean War. It was believed that he was killed at an ammunition depot in southern Moseulpo, though he was among those excavated from Jeju International Airport.
The identification process involves matching DNA from the excavated bones with that taken from blood samples of Jeju residents. The foundation has told UPI that some 2,600 people have donated blood samples.
Not only blood samples from direct descendants but from collateral relatives can be used to identify remains, the Jeju 4.3 Peace Foundation said, as it encourages more people to participate in the program.
It said the blood samples from nephews were “decisive” in identifying victims Kim Sa-rim and Im Tae-hoon, as were blood samples from grandsons in identifying the other five victims.
“Jeju Province will continue to exert its utmost efforts to find even a single remaining victim and return them safely to the embrace of their families,” Gov. Oh said.
With the seven recently identified remains, a total of 154 Jeju victims have been identified from the 426 excavated sets of remains, including 147 within Jeju and seven on the mainland.
A new blood sampling drive is being held from Monday through Nov. 30 at Halla Hospital in Jeju City and Yeollin Hospital in Seogwipo City.
“I met my father yesterday for the first time in 79 years,” Yang Gye-chun, the son of the late Yang Dal-hyo said, according to a statement from the Jeju government.
The remains were cremated at Sejong Eunhasu Park on the mainland, before being returned to Jeju.
“I’ve lived without knowing where or how he died, and how glad I am to finally see his face today,” Yang said. “Now that he has come all the way back to his hometown of Jeju, I hope we may meet my mother in heaven and rest peacefully.”