President Lee Jae-myung on the 29th met with families of victims of the Jeju April 3 Uprising and promised to push for the restoration of honor for the victims and the exclusion of the statute of limitations for criminal and civil cases related to state violence crimes.
At a luncheon with families of the April 3 victims held that afternoon at the Hanwha Resort in Jeju, the president said, "Jeju April 3 is a history that must never be forgotten," and stated accordingly.
The president said, "As president, I feel deeply sorry when I think of Jeju residents who were sacrificed by cruel state violence," adding, "Jeju April 3 was an anti-human-rights state violence crime that occurred in the maelstrom of ideological conflict."
He went on, "Our popular sovereignty government will reflect on the efforts of the bereaved families and Jeju residents and do its best to achieve the full restoration of honor for Jeju April 3," adding, "We will pursue institutional improvements through active discussions with the National Assembly so we can respond proactively to distortions and denigration of Jeju April 3."
The president said, "To restore the honor of victims and their families, whose cases are not yet complete, we will extend the ninth reporting period for victim families, as well as the periods for preparing and correcting family relations and for special cases of marriage and adoption and compensation applications," adding, "Going forward, we will pay more attention so that corrections to family relations for the restoration of honor of victims and their families can be more broadly applied."
He added, "We will also actively push to build an archive and records center so that Jeju April 3 records, listed as a Memory of the World, can be managed systematically and become a global symbol of peace," and said, "We will also establish grounds to cancel decorations that credited the suppression of the April 3 Uprising, which inflicted wounds on victims and their families."
Regarding the enshrinement of victims' remains, he said, "We will put the opinions of the bereaved families first and do our utmost to identify the victims so they can return to their families," adding, "We will also work with the National Assembly to establish a legal basis to support the bereaved families' association."
The president said, "We will completely exclude the criminal and civil statutes of limitations for state violence crimes so that, as long as they live, perpetrators bear criminal responsibility to the end, and, as long as there is inherited property, their descendants bear responsibility within that scope; we will abolish both the criminal statute of limitations and the civil statute of limitations applicable to such cases."
He continued, "We already passed the statute of limitations abolition bill in the National Assembly during the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, but it was scrapped by a veto," adding, "If possible, we will quickly reintroduce and pass the bill so that, permanently, in the Republic of Korea, no one is sacrificed by state violence. If such incidents occur, we will ensure permanent accountability, as with the punishment of Nazi war criminals."
The president emphasized, "We will work so that the values of Jeju April 3—peace and human rights, reconciliation and coexistence—defended by your dedication and efforts can unite our society as one and spread widely around the world."
At the luncheon were present Jang Jeong-eon, adviser to the April 3 Victims' Families Association; Kim Yeon-ok, a surviving victim of the April 3 incident; Oh In-gwon, head of the Association of April 3 Surviving Victims with Aftereffects; Go Gye-sun, a family member of an April 3 victim; Im Moon-cheol, chair of the April 3 Peace Foundation; and Kim Chang-beom, head of the April 3 Victims' Families Association. Jeju Gov. Oh Young-hun and Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers Wi Seong-gon, Kim Han-kyu, and Moon Dae-rim also attended.