Former Jeju Seongsangpo police chief recognized for saving lives during Jeju Uprising in 1950

Mun Hyeong-sun saved 221 innocent people by refusing to follow execution order

“Now that new light is being shed on the Jeju Uprising, I’m glad his actions are finally receiving recognition, even though 70 years have passed since then.”

Kang Sun-ju (86, Pyoseon Township, Seogwipo) made the remarks when a memorial bust of Mun Hyeong-sun (1897–1966) was unveiled at the Jeju Provincial Police Agency on Nov. 1. Mun is remembered for preventing a massacre of civilians by disobeying his superior’s commands during the uprising, which began on Apr. 3, 1948.

In Aug. 1950, during the Korean War, Mun was serving as the police chief in Seongsanpo. When he was ordered to execute people who had been rounded up by the martial law command on the suspicion that they might cause problems, he informed his superiors he would “not carry out an inappropriate” command and spared the lives of 221 people.

“When Mun released me and the other innocent people who had been detained at Seongsanpo Police Station, he told us there was no need to thank him and urged us to become people who would contribute to society,” Kang recalled.

Koh Chun-eon (94, Daejeong Township, Seogwipo), who was nearly executed during the Jeju Uprising, attended the event in a wheelchair to express his gratitude to Mun for saving the lives of Jeju residents. In Dec. 1948, when Mun was police chief in Moseulpo, he persuaded more than a hundred locals who were likely to be executed to make a confession and then let them go with a warning. To honor Mun’s actions, the locals set up a stone memorial for him in Seogwipo’s Daejeong Township in July 2005.

Mun is one of the figures honored in the “Apr. 3 Heroes” section of the Jeju Apr. 3 Peace Park, and he was selected to be the police hero of the year in a memorial service on Police Day, which fell on Oct. 25.

By Huh Ho-joon, Jeju correspondent

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