4.3 Jeju

The Korean War broke out five years after the country gained independence from the brutal 36-year Japanese colonial rule. The years in between, however, were not free of tragedy. In the early morning of April 3, 1948, when then the newly independent country was undergoing political turmoil, thousands of communist guerrillas and their supporters assaulted more than half of Jeju Island's 24 police stations, killing 30 police officers and young activists. The then Rhee Syngman government responded to the incident by swiftly cracking down on the communist forces. The conflict between the government and the rebels left thousands of Jeju residents either killed or injured. Historians say the rebellion was what caused the islanders to harbor suspicion toward outsiders. "Jeju people suffered. They were very poor and in debt because nearly 30,000 people, mostly men, were killed during the series of tragedies after the independence," McGlinchey said. "So people were left with a lot of widows, but the government did not have the budget to help them."