Walden Korea signs Agreement with Koryo People's Cultural Center, Incheon, Korea

Ms.Suyeon Yang and President SON JUNG JIN at Nomo Inchon Koryoin Cultural Center

Walden Korea signed a business agree­ment with the Korea Support Center/ Koryo People's Cultural Center <Beyond Incheon> in Hambak Village, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, Korea, with the view toward promoting the history of Primorsky, Manchuria, and the Korean Peninsula to the world. Hambak Village is Korea's largest single ethnric village, where 7,000 Goryeo (Koryo) people live together as a community.

The term "Goryeo people" refers to the Korean people living in the entire Union of Independent States (Uzbekistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, etc.) after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

In the spring of 2019, which marked the 100th an­niversary of the March 1st Independence Movement and the establishment of the Korean Provisional Gov­ernment, President Moon Jae-In visited Uzbekistan and said, "The first generation of Goryeo people are all independence fighters and patriots:'

In 1863, the Korean people who crossed the Tumen River and moved to Primorsky Land formed a Korean village, which became the main stage of the indepen­dence movement, including, later on, the base of the Korean Liberation Army. The flames ofindependence activists, such as the Maritime Movement, the April disaster, and the Goryeo Revolutionary Armed Forces, were extinguished in 1937by the tragedy of forced mi­gration to Central Asia. Tens of thousands of Goryeo people died in the Siberian field. Abandoned in the middle of Central Asia, the Goryeo people pioneered in cultivating the barren land, settled collective farms, and labored like heroes, forming a community and fos­tering the next generation. In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, they moved to various parts of Eurasia and ultimately entered South Korea in 2007.

However, although the Goryeo people are descen­dants of independence fighters, they are not recog­nized as Koreans and are not receiving proper edu­cational benefits. Ethnric Koreans tribe (Josun-jok) from China speak Korean fluently, and have widely en­tered the Korean workforce. But most Goryeo people, due to their lack of fluency in Korean, have no choice but to live within the confines of their residential towns such as Hambak Village. After 1945, the Soviet Union banned the teaching of Korean language.

Many of the Goryeo people who had resettled in South Korea were highly-educated professionals in their former countries, such as doctors and professors. But when they came to Korea, most of the jobs avail­able to them were work for minimum wage.

Walden Korea will start a modern and contempo­rary Korean history trip, bringing second generation Korean students and U.S. residents to South Korea. In the village of the Goryeo people, visitors from the U.S. will meet the descendants of the anti-Japanese move­ment and learn more about the Korean diaspora. They will also visit the truce line in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and learn about North-South relations. Finally, they will also learn about the Jeju 4.3 Massacre. ■

The Jeju 4.3 Memorial and Families Association of the U.S. launched

On July 16, 2021, the Jeju 4.3 Memorial and Families Association of the U.S. was officially launched. Suyeon Yang, a journalist, is the Chairwoman. Young Jun Yang, a doctor of Oriental medicine in Washington D.C, serves as the vice-chairman. Ms. Yang was head of the preparation committee for the American branch of the Jeju 4.3 Memorial and Families Association of the U.S. Youjo- Jeju 4.3 Massacre and wearing a camellia badge:' Offering his congratulations, Mr. Won added, "It is only the start in our effort to inform the world of the truth of the Jeju 4.3 Massacre and to share the values of justice and human rights:' Assemblyman Oh Young-hoon remarked, "2021 is a meaningful year in which all the special laws for the investigation of the truth of the Jeju 4.3 ung Kim (Yuna Kim), who is working on a doctoral thesis related to the Jeju 4.3 Massacre at the Johns Hopkins Universityin the United States, will serve as the secretary-general.

The Jeju 4.3 Memorial and Families Association, represented by the families of the Jeju 4.3 survivors, serves as the headquarter to resolve the issues involving the 4.3 incident in the United States. The association seeks to promote the discovery of the bereaved families of immigrants and the 4.3 victims in order to achieve the following: the restoration of honor, 4.3 truth investigation, solidarity and expansion, and education for the next generation.

The launching ceremony was held on July 16, 2021, as an online live (Zoom) session due to the pandemic.

In her inaugural address, Chairwoman Suyeon Yang said, "It's been a longtime since we left our homeland, but our 4.3 bereaved families will never forget the Jeju Massacre even when they come to America:' Jeju Provincial Governor Won Hee-ryong followed up, stating, "Now in Korea, everyone is talking about the Jeju 4.3 Massacre and wearing a camellia badge:' Offering his congratulations, Mr. Won added, "It is only the start in our effort to inform the world of the truth of the Jeju 4.3 Massacre and to share the values of justice and human rights:' Assemblyman Oh Young-hoon remarked, "2021 is a meaningful year in which all the special laws for the investigation of the truth of the Jeju 4.3 Massacre and the restoration of honor were revised:' Oh Im-jong, chairman of the Jeju 4.3 Bereaved Association, spoke of his hopes for the Jeju 4.3 Memorial and Families Association of the U.S: "To hold the U.S. accountable and to create a world where peace and human rights are alive is to comfort the heroic spirits who have been unfairly sacrificed:'Yang Jo-hoon, chairman oftheJeju4.3 Peace Foundation, reminded all of the importance of the mission: "The Jeju 4.3 Incident occurred during the U.S. Military Government, and the U.S. military advisors intervened positively and negatively during the suppression process. The timing of the launch of the Jeju 4.3 Memorial and Families Association of the U.S. is important. I expect our efforts to seek the truth and reconciliation in both South Korea and the U.S. to gain speed:' Chairwoman Yang also launched Walden Korea, a non-profit international academic exchange organization that studies human rights and peace, recognizing the importance of education for the next generation. Walden Korea will research the Jeju 4.3 Massacre and conduct seminars on the subject and other human rights issues. It appointed the Walden Korea Planning Committee undergraduate and graduate students in the U.S. and Korea, including students from Boston College, Johns Hopkins, Northeastern, Brandeis, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Stud­ies, Kyunghee University, and Sogang University. The launch ceremony was sponsored by the Memorial Committee for the Jeju April 3rd Uprising and Mas­sacre and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. ■