The History You Never Heard Lecture at Northeastern University
A Walden Korea Public Education Project on Jeju 4·3, State Violence, and Truth-Seeking in the United States
‘The History You Never Heard’ is a long-term Walden Korea project dedicated to informing the American public about the 1948 Jeju 4·3 Uprising and Massacre in South Korea and the realities of state violence. The project includes seminars and academic programs held across the United States, as well as publications that raise awareness of state crimes and the importance of truth, justice, and reconciliation.
The massacre of more than 30,000 civilians on Jeju Island began in April 1948, during the period when South Korea was governed by the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK). At that time, the United States exercised operational control over South Korea’s armed forces. Historical records indicate U.S. involvement in suppressing the uprising, yet few Americans are aware of this history. We call on the United States to release additional classified documents and to cooperate with further fact-finding efforts. The truth must be told. Nation-states sometimes commit grave errors, and the United States is no exception. Decisions made by the U.S. in Korea more than 70 years ago still cast a long shadow over the politics of the Korean Peninsula today.
Meet Our Truth Storytellers
HyungJin Kim
HyungJin Kim is a member of the Walden Korea Planning Committee and a board member of WeHope, a human rights organization dedicated to the victims of Japan’s “comfort women” system. She has worked for years to advance accurate and just narratives in the United States.
HyungJin presented her research on the Jeju 4·3 Uprising and Massacre at the Walden Korea International Strategic Forum, held in September. She graduated from Yew Chung International School of Shanghai and is completing a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs at Northeastern University. She co-authored an article on nationalism scheduled for publication in Ethnicities (2022). She has also worked at Harvard Medical School as an education technology, media, and design assistant.
HyungJin is currently engaged in efforts to investigate and illuminate the truth of Jeju 4·3. Through ‘The History You Never Heard,’ she will help bring wider public attention in the United States to the history and legacy of the Jeju massacre.
Professor Sung-Yoon Lee
Professor Sung-Yoon Lee is a scholar of Korean and East Asian studies and a specialist on North Korea. He is the Kim Koo–Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies and an assistant professor at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a Faculty Associate in the Program on U.S.–Japan Relations at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. He has advised senior officials in the U.S. government. In 2013, The Guardian described him as “among the most insightful and prescient chroniclers.”
This event features a presentation by Professor Sung-Yoon Lee.
Suyeon Yang
Suyeon Yang is a journalist, organizer, and educator based in Boston, Massachusetts. She founded the Jeju April 3rd Memorial and Victims’ Families Association of the U.S. (43jeju.com) and Walden Korea to advance remembrance of state violence and to promote the values of human rights, peace, and public education.
Yang lost her grandfather and two uncles in the April 3rd Uprising and Massacre, and the tragedy remains a profound intergenerational trauma in her family history. Her goal is to broaden public understanding of Jeju 4·3 in the United States and to pursue truth-telling and accountability, including a formal apology from the U.S. government.
Her personal motto is “Creatio ex nihilo” (Latin for “creation out of nothing”). She approaches social and human questions through an interdisciplinary, arts-informed lens.