President Lee Jae-myung met with bereaved families of the Jeju April 3 Incident on Thursday and pledged to pursue the restoration of honor for victims and the abolition of criminal and civil statutes of limitations for state violence crimes. He vowed to "extend the ninth registration period for victims and bereaved families, as well as deadlines for family relation documentation, record corrections, special provisions for marriage and adoption, and compensation applications to complete the yet-unfinished restoration of honor for victims and their families."
Lee also said he would "work with the National Assembly to establish a legal basis for supporting the bereaved families' association."
The president made the remarks during a luncheon with bereaved families of the Jeju 4·3 Incident, a 1948 uprising and subsequent military crackdown, held at the Jeju Hanwha Resort. "The Jeju 4·3 is a history that must never be forgotten," he said.
"Nearly 10 percent of Jeju's population lost their lives in anti-human rights state violence committed amid the storm of ideological conflict," Lee said. "When I think of the Jeju residents who were sacrificed to cruel state violence, I feel deeply remorseful as president."
"I believe the most important duty I have as president is to ensure that the state, which exists to protect the lives and safety of citizens, can never again use the power entrusted by the people to commit violence against them," he stressed.
Lee pledged to "completely abolish the statutes of limitations for criminal prosecution and civil claims regarding state violence crimes, so that criminal responsibility is pursued as long as the perpetrators are alive, and their descendants are held accountable within the scope of inherited assets." He added that "civil statutes of limitations will also be eliminated."
The president specifically noted regarding the abolition of civil statutes of limitations that "we passed this in the National Assembly during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, but it was nullified by a presidential veto." He said he would "pursue re-legislation as quickly as possible to permanently ensure that no citizen in South Korea is victimized by state violence, and that if such an event occurs, perpetrators are held permanently accountable, just as Nazi war criminals were punished."
Lee also said he would "establish the legal basis for revoking state honors awarded for the suppression of the Jeju 4·3 Incident, which inflicted wounds on victims and their families."
"I will do my utmost for the complete restoration of honor regarding the Jeju 4·3," he said. "I will also actively work with the National Assembly to improve institutions so we can counter distortion and denigration of the 4·3 Incident."
He further stressed that he would "actively pursue the construction of an archive center so that the Jeju 4·3 records, which have been inscribed as a UNESCO Memory of the World, can be systematically managed and furthermore become a global symbol of peace."
