A bereaved family member pays homage to a victim at a memorial stone for the missing in Jeju4·3 Peace Park in Bonggae-dong, Jeju City, on the morning of the 77th anniversary of the Jeju 4·3 Incident Memorial Day. Jeju Province announced on the same day that the UNESCO Executive Board, during its 221st session held in France, had given final approval for the inscription of ‘Revealing Truth: Jeju4·3 Archives’ as a UNESCO Memory of the World Heritage at 6:05 AM (Korean time) on the 11th.
Previously, Jeju Province and the Jeju4·3 Peace Foundation submitted an application for the UNESCO World Heritage inscription in November 2023, and the inscription was recommended by the Registration Subcommittee (RSC) and the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of UNESCO.
The International Advisory Committee commented on the Jeju4·3 records, stating that they “shed light on efforts to reveal the truth against state violence, achieve social reconciliation, and restore the honor of victims,” highlighting them as “an achievement of the local community’s democratic practice toward reconciliation and coexistence.”
With this inscription, Jeju Province has achieved a ‘UNESCO Five Crowns’ record, adding Memory of the World Heritage to its UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, World Natural Heritage, Global Geopark, and Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The Jeju4·3 records consist of 14,673 historical documents, including testimonies of victims and their families (14,601 items), court martial convict registers and prison postcards (27 items), records of the civic society’s truth-revelation movement (42 items), and official government truth investigation reports (3 items).
Oh Young-hoon, the Governor of Jeju, remarked, “This meaningful moment turns the historical journey of Jeju residents, who healed the pain of Jeju4·3 and achieved reconciliation and coexistence, into a world heritage,” adding, “Through this inscription, we will share the values of peace, human rights, reconciliation, and coexistence embodied in Jeju4·3 with the world.”
Governor Oh also stated, “We will systematically collect and preserve records related to 4·3, using them as living materials for peace and human rights education for future generations,” and emphasized the plan to “work closely with the government to establish an easily accessible archive.”
Meanwhile, a special exhibition titled ‘Jeju4·3 Archives: Truth and Reconciliation’ is being held at the Korean Pavilion of the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris in France to commemorate the inscription as a UNESCO Memory of the World.