There are a disturbing number of massacre sites on Jeju. Most of them are associated with the Korean war era, with the government and locals killing large groups of communist sympathizers.
The Seotal Oreum massacre site is nestled behind an old Japanese airfield, and happens to be a good spot for birds (and apparently toddlers come here to pay their respects.) On this spot in 1950, 210 people were killed "without legal process" by government forces and buried in a big crater. It felt heavy here. Heavier still was when I found a bullet on the ground while birdwatching. It was military calibre, and it was deformed like it had hit something. It's very possible this bullet killed someone. I left it there.
what are some good books about the korean wa?. i read some novel called war trash by this chinese writer. they spend some time on a southern korean island, can't remember if its jeju...
ReplyDeleteI read a good one a while back, I forget what it was called. 'Crimson Skies' is a decent book about the air war, and 'The War that Never Happened' is a good one about the Canadians in the war. I'll try to remember what that other one is called.
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