The Ministry of Justice said on the 11th that all actions to withdraw and waive the state's appeals (appeals and final appeals) in the government compensation lawsuits over the Yeosu-Suncheon Oct. 19 incident (Yeosu-Suncheon incident) have been completed.
Earlier, in Oct., the Ministry of Justice said it would withdraw and waive appeals in the government compensation lawsuits to promptly remedy the rights of the Yeosu-Suncheon incident victims. By the end of Nov., it withdrew the state's appeals in 12 cases on second trial involving 195 victims. It also waived appeals and final appeals in 22 cases in which first- and second-instance rulings had been handed down, involving 339 victims.
Minister Jung Sung-ho of the Ministry of Justice said, "This withdrawal and waiver of appeals is meant for the state to deeply reflect on the illegal exercise of public power committed during the social turmoil around the Korean War, to heal the pain of the victims, and to ensure swift restoration."
Regarding the Yeosu-Suncheon incident, the Ministry of Justice explained that it was "an incident in which some soldiers of the Army's 14th Regiment stationed in Yeosu at the early stage of government establishment refused the state's order to suppress the 'Jeju April 3 incident' and rose up, leading to confusion, armed clashes, and suppression from Oct. 19, 1948, until Apr. 1, 1955, when access to Jirisan Mountain was reopened, during which many civilians were killed in the Yeosu-Suncheon area and parts of South Jeolla, North Jeolla, and South Gyeongsang."