Mark Lippert (L), the United States ambassador to South Korea, speaks to students of Jeju National University at a sea wall in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, on May 15, 2016. Lippert also attended the Jeju Food & Wine Festival and met with Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong. (Yonhap)
A Chinese male (C) suspected of killing a Chinese woman on Jeju Island in late 2015 is brought to the Seogwipo Police Station by police officers in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, on May 15, 2016, for further investigation of the murder case. The body of the dead woman was discovered in April. [Yonhap]
It seems to me that the ROK Navy does have a point here because if these protesters were conducting illegal actions that caused cost overruns why should the Korean taxpayer be on the hook for this?:
The South Korean Navy is demanding damages from local groups and residents in Jeju Island for “taxpayer losses” incurred by their opposition to the construction of a new naval base.The groups targeted include the village association of Gangjeong in the city of Seogwipo.“On Mar. 28, we filed a suit with Seoul Central District Court for the exercise of indemnity rights for the Jeju multi-purpose port complex,” the Navy announced in a press release on Mar. 29.“The purpose of this exercise of indemnity rights is to hold those responsible accountable for losses in taxpayer money from among the additional costs of 27.5 billion won (US$23.8 million) incurred due to the [14-month] delay in the port’s construction period owing to illegal obstruction of operations,” it added.
The total compensation claim amounted to 3.4 billion won (US$2.9 million) of the additional costs, with the Gangjeong village association listed among the defendants alongside five groups and 117 residents and activities who took action to oppose the naval base construction.Last year, Samsung C&T demanded 36 billion won (US$31.2 million) in compensation from the Navy for delays in the construction schedule; a figure of 27.5 billion won (US$23.8 million) was finally settled on after mediation by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board. Mediation is currently under way for Daelim Construction’s claim for 23 billion won (US$19.9 million) in compensation. [Hankyoreh]
This photo taken on March 22, 2016, shows a shamanic ritual, ” Chilmeoridangyeongdeunggut,” being staged on South Korea’s largest resort island of Jeju. The UNESCO-designated ritual, held every year in the second lunar month, welcomes the goddess of diving women and fishermen. (Yonhap)
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn (C, 1st row), Defense Minister Han Min-koo (3rd from L, 1st row) and other participants pose for a photo during a tour of the 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer, the Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong, at the new civilian-military naval base on Jeju Island on Feb. 26, 2016, in this photo released by the Navy. The tour came after a ceremony marking the base’s launch. The base opened 23 years after it was first initiated to serve as docks for warships and cruise ships and to host forces to quickly respond to any hostile activities in nearby waters. The base construction has been opposed for years by local residents and activist groups who cite environmental damage and the buildup of regional military tensions. (Yonhap)
Ahoy! – Korean Navy submarine Sohn Won-il anchors Wednesday at the newly built naval base in Gangjeong-dong, Seogwipo, Jeju Island. Photos of the base were released Sunday. With 94 percent of the construction completed so far, the naval base is currently testing whether Aegis-class destroyers and submarines can moor and sail in and out of the pier. [NEWSIS]
The Joong Ang Ilbo is continuing its fascinating series of interviews with the 89 year old former Korean Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil. This next interview describes how Kim Jong-pil started the first tangerine orchard on Jeju Island and started his own cattle ranch which was ultimately seized by the military dictator Chun Doo-hwan:
Kim Jong-pil visits an orchard on Shikoku Island, Japan, in November 1968 to learn about the tangerine farming for his orchard on Jeju Island. [Kim Jong-pil]During my 46-day confinement at the Army Security Command in 1980, only once did I cry. It was after I heard the news that the security command had announced in corruption charges that I had illegally accumulated 21.6 billion won ($18.6 million). A number of my assets were to be confiscated included a tangerine orchard on Jeju Island and a cattle ranch in South Chungcheong that I had donated to the Unjong Scholarship Foundation. I could not keep myself from crying after learning of the Chun Doo Hwan group’s perfidy. During my lifetime, I shed tears just a few times. I cried at the funeral for President Park Chung Hee in 1979. Recently, I cried when my wife Young-ok passed away.I shed tears in the interrogation room 35 years ago because the Chun group took away my dreams and ambition. Though 35 years have passed, I feel compelled to raise the issue in regard to the Unjong Scholarship Foundation. In May 1968, I declared my retirement from politics and relinquished all formal positions. I was determined to contribute to the improvement of the country through other means. I remembered a line from a book on Napoleon that I had read in middle school. The Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon in the battle of Waterloo, was asked how he had beaten the French emperor. He said he had fought in the spirit of Eton College and the victory was possible because of what he had learned on that school’s playing fields. His remark inspired me deeply and led me to nurture ambitions that I would one day set up a school just like Eton.
To set up an educational institution, I needed financial means. So I decided on a pioneering farming venture. In June 1968, I visited a vast track of land in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, and decided to turn it into a tangerine orchard. Agricultural experts told me I would fail and said the land was not suitable to such farming. But I pushed ahead. I bought 430,000 square meters of land for 32.5 million won. The price was very cheap because everyone thought the land was infertile. I deployed a crane and even dynamite to break through rock. I set up a tent nearby and spent the whole winter of 1968 there. I purchased 49,840 tangerine seedlings from Japan and planted them. About three years later, they bore fruit. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link which includes how he started his cattle ranch in Seosan and how Chun Doo-hwan seized these two agricultural properties from him.
