[Interview] Jeju Uprising victim washes away tears after government dismisses indictment against him

Yang Il-hwa shares his thoughts on the South Korean government finally dismissing a case against him concocted during the Jeju Uprising.

Yang Il-hwa was imprisoned without being told what his crime had been

“I’m just so happy to be able to clear away this black mark that has been following me around for 70 years.”

Tears flowed in thick streams from Yang Il-hwa’s eyes after a court ruled on Jan. 17 to dismiss indictments in a case by 18 former prisoners requesting a retrial from the state following their unjust imprisonment at the time of the Jeju Uprising and Massacre and its aftermath in 1948–49. At that moment, the “black mark” that the 89-year-old (a resident of the village of Geumak in Hallim Township, Jeju City) had lived with for over seven decades was washed away.

A kaleidoscope of past events appeared before his eyes. On Nov. 20, 1948, his village on the slope was set ablaze after an eviction order by punitive forces. His parents relocated to Hallim Township, while Yang lived with his uncle’s family in Jeju Township (now Jeju City). Early that December, he was captured by chance on the street by a right-wing young men’s association. “I was beaten senseless with firewood they’d brought into the police station interrogation room to build a fire. My body was swollen, and I had no skin left,” he remembered. He spent around ten days there before being delivered for a court-martial. The soldier in charge of the proceedings would instruct individual people to stand; when they stood up, he would ask, “Did you do this or that?” If they answered “yes,” he would write their name down and order them to sit in one of two groups: the people to be sent to prison, and those to be executed. Hundreds of people were tried each day.

A picture drawn by Yang to illustrate the process by which he was “tried” and imprisoned.

In early January 1949, Yang was transferred to Incheon Detention Center by way of Mokpo, South Jeolla Province. Yang had no idea why he was being incarcerated or what crime he’d committed. It wasn’t until he got to prison that he learned he’d received a five-year sentence. When the North Korean army reached Incheon during the Korean War in 1950, they opened the gates of the prison and took the inmates with them back to Kaesong. Any inmates who refused to follow the North Koreans were killed. Yang received a month of training there as a police officer and was sent all the way to Gwangju on foot.

A picture drawn by Yang to illustrate his time spent in prison.

After the UN forces landed at Incheon, the North Korean troops retreated, and Yang went with them. He had no choice, because he didn’t know the roads in the area. While the troops were moving through the hills in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province, they were discovered by South Korean forces. Many of the North Korean troops were killed, but Yang had the good fortune to meet a soldier from Jeju who spared his life. Yang was sent to the Kaya POW camp in Busan and then transferred to another POW camp on Geoje Island, South Gyeongsang Province, where he stayed for one year and six months. After the Korean War broke out, Yang’s parents back at home started holding a ritual for deceased relatives on his birthday, assuming their only son had dead. After Yang was released from the concentration camp in 1953, at the tail end of the Korean War, he joined the ROK army and spent 52 months as a soldier.

“When I first applied for a retrial, I didn’t know what would happen. On my trips to the courthouse, I found myself wondering if I’d be found guilty, but I’d made up my mind to do this before I died. Even while sleeping, it felt like my eyes were open, but now I’m able to close my eyes and get a good night’s sleep,” Yang said.

Yang shares his thoughts on the government’s dismissal of its case against 18 former Jeju Massacre victims who were wrongly imprisoned.

“If I hadn’t been exonerated in the retrial, I don’t think I could have died in peace, so I’m so happy my innocence has been officially recognized by this verdict. I think this will be a particular relief to my children and grandchildren. Otherwise, they would’ve thought I was in the wrong, which would have left a black mark on our family register.”

By Huh Ho-joon, Jeju correspondent

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