제주 4•3 사건 72주년 맞아 되돌아보는 역사

Following on from that story,... the gruesome massacre on Korea's southern island of Jeju began on this very day 72 years ago,... and it was undeniably one of the darkest moments in South Korea's modern history.
Before this morning's memorial ceremony, we thought we'd take a look at the sheer scale of the atrocities that were committed during more than a year of terror against the island's residents.
Kim Jae-hee reports.
The April 3rd Jeju Massacre is one of the most tragic events of South Korea's modern history.
More than 7 decades ago,... from 1948 to 1954,... an anti-communist suppression campaign was carried out by the South Korean government on Jeju Island.
An estimated up to 30-thousand civilians on Jeju nearly 10 percent of the island's population at the time were killed.
The government at the time distorted the incidents as a communist riot,... and covered up the truth behind the ruthless massacre.
Years passed,... and the tragic incident faded from people's memories.
Surviving family members of the victims shed tears in the dark, remembering the painful period of turmoil on the island,... with many failing to recover the remains of their loved ones.
An official apology was only issued in 2003,... under the late Roh Moo-hyun administration.
President Moon Jae-in pledged to continue the late President Roh's legacy,... and offered an emotional apology to the people of Jeju in 2018.
And just last year in 2019 the South Korean police and the defense ministry apologized for the first time.
A state-organized memorial ceremony has been held every year since 2014,... when April 3rd was designated as a national commemorative day.
Kim Jae-hee, Arirang News.