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Was Col. Park Jin-kyung a massacre commander?

Published: 16 Dec. 2025, 00:02

Choi Min-woo

The author is the editor of political, international, foreign and security news at the JoongAng Ilbo.

The Jeju uprising remains one of the most complex and contested episodes in Korea’s modern history. The uprising began in 1948 under the leadership of Kim Dal-sam, head of the Jeju branch of the South Korean Workers’ Party, as an armed revolt aimed at blocking separate elections and the establishment of a Korean government. Yet the subsequent suppression resulted in the large-scale killing of innocent civilians. Of the roughly 14,000 confirmed civilian deaths, about 10 percent of Jeju’s population at the time was wiped out.

Kwon Oh-eul, minister of patriots and veterans affairs, pays his respects at the Jeju April 3 Peace Park on the afternoon of Dec. 10. Earlier, the ministry issued a public apology after controversy erupted over the registration of the late Col. Park Jin-kyung, who was linked to the April 3 massacre, as a national merit recipient. [NEWS1]

Despite its significance as a condensed tragedy of modern Korean history, successive governments long avoided confronting the issue. It was not until the Roh Moo-hyun administration that the incident was formally re-examined. Roh acknowledged state responsibility and issued an official apology, and a government-backed fact-finding report on the April 3 incident was published.

Even so, criticism persists that interpretations have swung from one extreme to another. Under past military governments, the uprising was portrayed solely as a communist rebellion by armed guerrillas. More recently, critics argue, it has been reframed as nothing more than a brutal crackdown by security forces under the Rhee Syngman government. In the process, the military and police are cast only as perpetrators, while violence committed by the South Korean Workers’ Party is relatively overlooked. According to the fact-finding report, 1,764 of the roughly 14,000 victims, or 12.6 percent, were killed by armed insurgents. The report also notes that before the Yeosu–Suncheon mutiny of October 1948, which triggered full-scale scorched-earth operations, insurgent violence was in fact more severe.

This is where the controversy surrounding Col. Park Jin-kyung arises. Park was appointed commander of the 9th Regiment stationed on Jeju in May 1948, about a month after the uprising began, and led suppression operations on the ground. Just over a month later, in June, he was assassinated by his own subordinates while sleeping in his quarters after a celebration marking his promotion to colonel. Uprising civic groups and progressive circles have long argued that Park was a central figure in the hard-line suppression that led to civilian massacres. Conservatives, however, point out that the soldiers who killed him were later identified as members of communist cells. The debate over Park is fierce precisely because it touches on how responsibility for the uprising is defined.

The government report includes trial records related to Park’s assassination. Son Seon-ho, a sergeant involved in the killing, testified that he could not help but resent Park’s “ruthless operations against the 300,000 residents of Jeju.” By contrast, Chae Myung-shin, then a platoon leader and later commander of Korean forces in Vietnam, offered a different account. He said police mishandling in the early stages drove many residents into the mountains, and that Park focused less on hunting down insurgents than on persuading civilians to come back down. According to this view, Park emphasized pacification efforts aimed at separating civilians from insurgent forces. The prevailing historical consensus is that large-scale civilian massacres occurred not during the initial phase but after the Rhee government declared martial law on Jeju in November 1948 and launched sweeping operations.

President Lee Jae Myung speaks during a policy briefing by the Ministry of Education and other government agencies at the Government Complex Sejong Convention Center in Sejong on Dec. 12. On Dec. 15, Lee instructed officials to review the cancellation of Col. Park Jin-kyung’s designation as a national merit recipient. [YONHAP]

Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs designated Park a national merit recipient in October. The decision approved an application by his family based on the Order of Military Merit awarded posthumously in 1950. Because even conservative governments had avoided recognizing Park, the move by a progressive administration was initially praised as a forward-looking decision aimed at national reconciliation. The praise was short-lived. Following strong backlash from uprising groups, the veterans affairs minister issued a public apology, and on Monday, President Lee Jae Myung ordered a review of the designation. The Ministry of National Defense went further, saying it was considering revoking the military decoration awarded 75 years ago. Some analysts suggest that renewed attention to Park in the documentary film “Founding War 2” narrowed the government’s room to maneuver. Yet there is also concern that efforts to quiet the controversy could spark accusations that the Lee administration favors only the communist side of the uprising narrative. History is easily distorted when approached through partisan logic rather than evidence.

In a 1998 interview with CNN, then-President Kim Dae-jung said, “The Jeju uprising was a communist revolt, but many people died unjustly, and the truth must be uncovered to clear their names.” Unjust deaths should include soldiers as well. That principle should guide any reassessment of Col. Park.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.