South Korea’s ‘Peace Island’ Christians Stand With Palestinians
(ANALYSIS) Several faith groups and religious figures in South Korea’s Jeju Island—popularly known as “Peace Osland” — have been unequivocally standing for the rights of Palestinians.
Despite South Korea being one of the 35 countries worldwide that still does not recognize Palestine as a state, these groups have participated in rallies for Palestinian liberation. The activists have called upon South Korean government agencies and private corporations to cease all cooperation with Israeli government entities and companies complicit in the genocide of Palestine.
Solidarity between Koreans — particularly the people of Jeju Island — and Palestinian liberation has grown out of shared histories of resisting imperialism. From 1947 to 1954, Jeju Island residents endured brutal repression by Korean police and military forces, resulting in the deaths of roughly 30,000 civilians.
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During this period, the U.S. military, which retained strong influence in South Korea after the country’s 1945 liberation and division, aided and abetted the violent suppression of protests and civilian massacres. In Jeju Island, churches have long led protests that advocated for human rights. Today, the South Korean island stands as a peaceful symbol of struggle and resilience.
From 2011 to 2016, churches protested the construction of an American naval base since it posed threats to the island’s UNESCO World Heritage status, and destruction of unique ecosystems like the Gureombi rock and soft coral beds. They expressed concerns that this naval base will militarize the “Island of Peace.”
The churches alleged that the undemocratic government processes had ignored local consent while finalising the plan to build the naval base, next to a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Bishop Reverend Gang-ho Song, who protested against the construction of the naval base, was imprisoned five times.
The churches believed that building a military base contradicted Jeju's identity and risked escalating regional tensions, harming both human and environmental security. But the base was still constructed. Now, there are concerns about launching warships for offshore military drills as U.S. strategic bombers patrol nearby skies.
Rally for peace in Palestine
The groups that were formed to protest the naval base construction, including Gangjeong Peace Network, People Making Jeju a Demilitarized Peace Island, and St. Francis Peace Center, have now shifted their focus to seek peace in Palestine. They expressed solidarity to the flotilla activists, who were detained by Israel for carrying aid to Gaza, whose population is largely Muslim, in Palestine.
In the rally held in November last year, participants carried placards stating, “Peace in Palestine, Jeju and the Korean Peninsula are connected” and “End the occupation and massacre of Palestinians.”
In the peaceful protest, people also expressed concerns that a private South Korean aerospace company —linked to Israeli aerospace firms—is finishing a satellite center in Jeju’s protected mountain groundwater zone, turning the island into a hub for surveillance and warfare.
On a social media post, peace activists of Jeju Island wrote that the “past and present of Jeju Island and Palestine, two seemingly unrelated regions, are very similar. Occupation and oppression, resistance and struggle. These words do not disappear but are repeated and realized in the modern and contemporary history of Jeju and Palestine.”
In November, the National Council of Churches — an ecumenical body of Protestant and other non-Catholic Christian denominations across South Korea, organized a prayer meeting for peace in Palestine. In the prayer meeting, they stated that “Israel has been killing Christians and bombing churches in Palestine” and urged the Korean Christian community to lend a louder voice in support of Palestine.
The National Council of Churches also participates in the annual global “Olive Tree Campaign — Keep Hope Alive” — which distributes olive saplings among farmers, sponsored by individuals, YMCAs, YWCAs, churches, church-related organizations, human rights organizations as well as solidarity and advocacy groups around the world. Since Palestinian olive trees are destroyed for the expansion of Israeli settlements and their bypass roads, this campaign is an act of solidarity for Palestinians.
This is not the first time that people of Jeju Island have stood for the Palestinian cause. In 2021, when 160 South Korean organizations wrote an open letter to Israel to “Stop invasion of the Gaza Strip immediately,” two island-based organizations, Inter-Island Solidarity for Peace of the Sea (Jeju) and People Making Jeju a Demilitarized Peace Island, condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza. They called Israel an “apartheid” state.
Sonia Sarkar is a journalist based in India. She writes on conflict, religion, politics, health and gender rights from Southeast Asia. Her work has appeared in a range of international publications, including the South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia and Al Jazeera.