[Sept. 6: Breaking News] On the opening day of WCC Jeju , five people occupied caisson in Hwasoon. All were arrested!

[아름드리 나무]

Photo by Jang Hyun-Woo. See more photos at HERE and  Headline Jeju

Five people climbed up to about 10 meter height and 8,800 ton caisson built by the Samsung co. at the Hwasoon port at 3am on Sept. 6, the opening day of the 2012 World Conservation Congress (WCC) Jeju in the Convention Center of Joongmun, Jeju. 

The five cried.

“Given that it is clear that the Jeju naval base that would be built in the Gangjeong village would be the military outpost of the United States, we cannot stand that our Gangjeong village, our Jeju Island to be in the middle of the acute conflict between the expanding China and the United States that is curbing her. It is because we know that the destruction of the Gangjeong village and the Jeju, the Peace Island would extend to the suffering of all our people. [..]

Because of the recent typhoons, all the seven caissons , the symbol of the Jeju naval base construction were terribly broken to pieces and abandoned under the deep Gangjeong Sea, [ contaminating the UNESCO-protected soft coral zones nearby, which is never for the caisson build-up].[..] Still the navy, Samsung and Daelim corporations are only eager to produce new caissons in the Hwasoon port (about 40 minutes car distance from the village). [..]

Many villagers, religious personnel and peace activists are  injured, arrested and imprisoned to stop the naval base construction (destruction) in the village. 

Even though our power might be small, we will fight with all our energy against the enormous dominating power resembling this caisson.

Therefore we will eventually REVOKE the Jeju naval base project, save the peace of Gangjeong and save the peace of all the human beings!"

The caissons are built as part of the Jeju naval base construction(destruction) in the Gangjeong village.

The five were violent dealt with by the company workers who appeared at 7:30am then arrested by the policemen around 8:30am. As of 9am, all were arrested.  The last two people were chaining themselves in the net.

The WCC co-sponsor organization, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) officially rejected the booth application by the Gangjeong village on the date of Aug. 22, highly due to the pressure by the South Korean government and big companies like Samsung that financially sponsors the WCC but hypocritically builds the environmental destroying Jeju naval base in the Gangjeong village.

The caissons would be used to destroy the world-largest soft coral habitats in the Gangjeong Sea.

Following the unjust entry denial of Dr. Cha Imok, Ryuji Yagi from Japan and Tomita Eige, Takahashi Toshio, Tomiyama Masahiro were forcefully denied entries on Sept. 6, without any reasonable explanations  given. Even though they carried with them the identification certificates and invitation letters from the South Korea National Assembly members, their entries were denied.   

For one day, four people were denied entry to Korea. The numbers of people who were denied entry to Korea, related to the Jeju naval base construction(destruction) have become at least 21. (Please click the reference HERE)

Please spread the words. Not only the lives of the five people depend on you but the Gangjeong village itself is ENDANGERED! YOU, IUCN members, Listen to the cry of Gangjeong!

Peace in the Gangjeong Village! We love the Gureombi Rock coast!

Absolutely no Jeju Naval Base!

Stop the Construction (destruction)!

One protester says: "Sorry we couldn't last longer.." 

Another protester says: "They pulled up a box-like structure from far down the caisson and from in there, they swarmed out onto us, the securities ('Yongyeok' in Korean, meaning the police-looking securities hired by the construction company, in this case Samsung) and the police. In this operation, they treated us as if we were beasts - they tied up our limbs, bent our bodies, pressed them with their knees in violence."

  

(Post by Rebecca Kim)

 Violence against the courageous five 

The Samsung-subcontracted company staffs and police threw down the citizens without any safety equipment during the process of arrest. The company personnel also kicked the protesters in the back to the pain of their waists and even threw stuffs to them. Photos and captions by Dungree

See one more photo HERE

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 Twit now. Tell the world what is happening with the protest on caisson, the arrests, and the people who are still in Jail! Stop the construction NOW! Release prisoners NOW! #IUCN2012

http://www.iucnworldconservationcongress.org/twitter_hub/#sort/latest/tags/IUCN%20Congress

Pls tell also the last twit mentions of those who were occupying a caisson in Hwasoon Port, Jeju Island and arrested in a brutal civilian(by Samsung workers) & police repression operation ( Post by Imok Cha)