Ought to the Nationwide Police Chief echo controversial views on Yeosu-Suncheon Incident?

Ko Jung-ae
 
The writer is the editor-in-chief at JoongAng Sunday.
 
 
 
On Nov. 3, as darkness settled over Uiju-ro in central Seoul, guests paused earlier than a wall engraved with the names of fallen officers — Kang Gihwang, Kang Daehong, Kang Deokwon and lots of extra.
 
A commemorative poem by poet Moon Chung-hee reads:
“Our homeland, rising to the middle of the world / with longing in each coronary heart / solemnly engraves your love and sacrifice / sooner or later’s reminiscence.”
 

Prime Minister Kim Min-seok (heart) and South Jeolla Governor Kim Yung-rok arrive at a joint memorial service marking the 77th anniversary of the Yeosu-Suncheon Incident on the Jirisan Historical past and Tradition Middle in Gurye County, South Jeolla, on Oct. 19. [YONHAP]

 
That is the Police Memorial Park, honoring greater than 13,000 cops who died across the time of the Korean Battle. Many served within the Jeolla area, the place violence was significantly extreme. When the JoongAng Ilbo newsroom was nonetheless in Seosomun, reporters would typically go to to mirror on the price of state-building.
 
The rationale for returning right here at the moment lies throughout the road, on the Korean Nationwide Police Company. Appearing Commissioner Common Yoo Jae-seong, who represents the nationwide police, has just lately stirred controversy along with his feedback on the 1948 Yeosu-Suncheon Incident.
 
Throughout a parliamentary audit final month, Yoo stated the rebellion led by the 14th Regiment of the Korean Constabulary — the predecessor of the Republic of Korea Military — was “not a rebel.” His assertion adopted criticism from Rep. Jeong Chun-saeng of the Rebuilding Korea Occasion, who accused the Jeonbuk Provincial Police of historic distortion for utilizing the time period “Yeosu-Suncheon Riot” in a museum show. Though the police later modified the wording to “Yeosu-Suncheon Incident,” they left in a phrase crediting the police for “important achievements in suppressing leftist rebel.” Jeong known as this unacceptable, and Yoo replied, “We are going to right it” and “evaluation all different provincial police companies.”
 
Yoo’s stance seems influenced by President Lee Jae Myung, who on the 77th anniversary of the incident wrote that “about 2,000 troopers of the 14th Regiment refused to level their weapons on the folks through the suppression of the Jeju April 3 Rebellion,” praising them for resisting an unjust order.
 
 
However even when they claimed ethical grounds, can one justify their killing of fellow troopers, cops and civilians in Yeosu and Suncheon? The rebels demanded the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the collapse of the Syngman Rhee authorities and pledged loyalty to the Individuals’s Republic of Korea. If this isn’t rebel, what’s?
 
Police had been major targets. Longstanding resentment tied to the colonial previous and tensions between the army and the police intensified the violence. A 2010 report by the Fact and Reconciliation Fee contains chilling testimony:
 
“After massacring cops, the rebels dumped 50 to 60 our bodies in an air-raid shelter from the Japanese colonial period behind Yeosu Police Station. When retrieved, the our bodies had been severely decomposed. They had been laid within the rear plaza of the station, and households recognized them by scars.” (Kim O-O, Yeosu Police investigation unit)
 
Different testimonies describe the our bodies of the Yeosu police chief and one other officer left on the roadside, and the brutal killing of the Suncheon police chief.
 
Blood was met with extra blood. Within the suppression that adopted, harmless civilians had been killed by state forces. These acts are shameful and have to be acknowledged. But the actual fact stays that the rebellion was initiated by a bunch the rejected the Republic of Korea. Deep ideological divisions — particularly throughout the army — pushed the younger nation to the brink.
 

Appearing Nationwide Police Company Commissioner Common Yoo Jae-seong speaks throughout a ceremony marking the 68th 112 Day on the Nationwide Police Company headquarters in Seodaemun District, Seoul, on Nov. 3. [KOREAN NATIONAL POLICE AGENCY]

 
Choi Younger-seop, who was then a cadet on the Korea Naval Academy, recalled in “Mount Baekdu Embracing the Sea” (2018):
“The three of us — together with my two roommates — slept with rifles loaded, taking turns standing guard in opposition to leftist cadets. We blocked the dormitory door with cupboards and desks.” Even the Naval Academy in Jinhae was on edge.
 
It’s one factor for politicians to make use of historical past selectively — although that can be deeply troubling — however fairly one other for the pinnacle of the nationwide police to echo politicized narratives. If he did so figuring out the information, it’s regrettable; if out of ignorance, it’s alarming.
 
In both case, it cheapens the sacrifice of these whose names are etched in stone only a few steps away.