Northwest Youth League
ActiveNovember 30, 1946–December 19, 1948
CountrySouth Korea
TypeParamilitary
EngagementsJeju uprising
Northwest Youth League
Hangul
서북청년회
Hanja
西北青年會
Revised RomanizationSeobuk Cheongnyeonhoe
McCune–ReischauerSŏbuk Ch'ŏngnyŏnhoe

The Northwest Youth League was a right-wing, anti-communist South Korean paramilitary group active during the Cold War. It is most well known for committing widespread atrocities during the South Korean government-led suppression of the Jeju Uprising.

History

The Northwest Youth League was established on November 30, 1946, by refugees escaping Soviet-occupied North Korea. Murals in the Jeju April 3 Peace Park Museum state that Northwest Youth League members fought Soviets and Korean communists because “members of their family had been imprisoned, raped or murdered in North Korea, and that their property had been confiscated.”[1]

The league conducted vigilante justice against suspected communists with no legal basis. The league was supported by Syngman Rhee, the ardent, anti-communist, US-backed autocrat of South Korea.[2] A socialist uprising in Jeju occurred from 1948 to 1949, followed by a violent suppression campaign.[3][4] According to Bruce Cumings, the league was brutal towards the residents of Jeju Island, exercising more authority than the police.[5] Between 14,000 and 30,000 people were killed during the Jeju uprising. 86% by security forces and paramilitary groups including the Northwest Youth League, and 14% by rebels.[6][3][4] Survivors give accounts of torture used against children and mass murder.[7] This created deep resentment in Jeju residents. What began as an anti-communist movement, quickly became a force to crush anyone who opposed President Rhee and the Korea Democratic Party.

A decade after the Korean War, Rhee was forced into exile after the April Revolution in South Korea. Anti-communism remained a powerful force, especially during the dictatorships of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-Hwan.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "The Northwest Youth League - JEJU WEEKLY". www.jejuweekly.com.
  2. ↑ "Islanders still mourn April 3 massacre - JEJU WEEKLY". www.jejuweekly.com.
  3. 1 2 Hugh Deane (1999). The Korean War, 1945–1953. China Books&Periodicals, Inc. pp. 54–58. ISBN 9780141912240.
  4. 1 2 Merrill, John (1980). "Cheju-do Rebellion". The Journal of Korean Studies. 2: 139–197. doi:10.1353/jks.1980.0004. S2CID 143130387.
  5. ↑ Cumings, Bruce (December 20, 2016). "American Responsibility and the Massacres in Cheju Conference on Overcoming the Past: Healing and Reconciliation -- Cheju and the World in Comparison" (PDF).
  6. ↑ "The National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju April 3 Incident". 2008. Archived from the original on February 24, 2009. Retrieved December 15, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Memories of pain and loss from the Apr. 3 Jeju Uprising and massacre". english.hani.co.kr.
  8. ↑ "History of anti-communism in South Korea". m.koreatimes.co.kr. 17 February 2015.
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