This week on Jeju: A to Z, Todd Thacker features Jeju’s April 3rd Memorial Peace Park, which is in its third stage of development with construction set to start on a new education center and contemplation space. The park itself is dedicated to those killed during the April 3rd Incident and educates future generations about this tragic time.
The April 3rd Incident involved years of bloodshed that swept through Jeju in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Since then, April 3rd has become a day of mourning and remembrance for the people of Jeju and Korea.

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40-hectare April 3rd Peace Park in Bonggae-dong, Jeju City

The first stage of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park was completed in 2008 and is dedicated to the victims and their families. The 40-hectare property is located in a quiet, peaceful area called Bonggae-dong, not far to the southeast of Jeju City. It’s design encourages peaceful, contemplative strolls.

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Memorial Hall, Exhibition Halls are places to pay one’s respects, study history

According to the park’s Web site, the Memorial Hall currently holds nearly 14,000 memorial tablets with the names of victims. Since many of the dead were never located, a further 3,800 gravestones are symbolically arranged near the hall.

In the main building there are six Exhibition Halls, and one Special Exhibition Hall. Arranged in chronological order, the hall provides visitors with a comprehensive history of the incident.

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Phase three set to open in December

A further 10.4 billion won in national funding has been allocated to the third phase of the park’s construction. A Peace Education Center and a contemplation space for children to learn more about this dark chapter in the island’s history is scheduled to open in December.

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Todd Thacker

In order to truly get a sense of the lives, struggles and tragedies of the Jeju people, and how the events of the April 3rd Incident have shaped subsequent generations, it’s important to make a trip to the April 3rd Peace Park to see this history for yourself.

Todd Thacker KCTV