The national government has updated the list of official victims of the April 3rd Incident, a step toward restoring their honor. As Joseph Kim explains in this report, the move was made at a meeting of a national April 3rd committee - the first such meeting in years.




Report

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April 3rd Incident National Committee meeting in Seoul

The April 3rd Incident National Committee headed by the Prime Minister, (이낙연) Lee Nak-yeon, convenes.

15 committee members including the Minister of Justice, Minister of National Defense, Minister of the Interior and Safety, Minister of Strategy and Finance and the Minister of Government Legislation from the new national administration along with Jeju Governor Won Heeryong and experts from the non-governmental sector gather.

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First meeting since 2011

A document review to update the list of victims was conducted in May of 2014.

But the national committee met for the first time in 6 and a half years, since its last meeting in January 2011.

The committee held no meetings during the previous administration.

But the long overdue meeting was held only two months after the Moon Jae-in administration launched, which shows the new government’s will to settle April 3rd Incident-related issues.

Recording
Lee Nak-yeon / Prime minister
The new administration promised to settle April 3rd Incident issues. It is one of the 100 items on its national agendas. More victims will be added to the list and efforts to verify the truth behind the incident and restore the honor of the victims will continue by supporting exhumation and DNA identification. The government will have diverse programs to commemorate the upcoming 70th anniversary of the massacre.
씽크)이낙연 국무총리
정부는 100대 국정과제에서 4.3 문제 완전한 해결을 약속드린 바 있습니다. 그동안 해 온대로 희생자 추가 신고, 암매장 유해발굴 및 유전자 감식 지원 같은 진상규명 명예회복을 위한 노력을 계속함과 아울러서 4.3 70주년 기념사업을 다양하게 전개해 나갈 계획입니다.

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73,658 victims and bereaved family members identified so far

The government committee put the total number of victims at 14,232 and that of the bereaved family members at 59,426.

The committee deliberated on whether to include a proposed list of 29 victims and 221 family members in the victim list. The 250 had applied for inclusion in the victim list between December 2012 to February 2013.

The committee approved 248 of them as victims or bereaved family members.

The remaining 2 will be reviewed at the sub-committee level because the Ministry of National Defense presented evidence against two people’s claims.

The committee also approved the sub-committee’s conclusion: cancellation of 4 victims and 8 bereaved family members who are wrongly included in the official victims’ list and cancellation of an overlap of 20 victims and 1 bereaved family member.

The committee has held five rounds of deliberations to verify victims since it was launched in January 2000 in efforts to restore the victims' honor and help enhance their human rights.

[Reporter] Joseph Kim
[Camera] Moon Ho-seong

Now, the total number of victims stands at 14,232 and that of the bereaved family members stands at 59,426.

Joseph Kim, KCTV