The History You Never Heard Lecture at Northeastern University

December 1, 2021, 4:00-6:00 pm

Curry Student Center, Room 333, Northeastern University

‘The History You Never Heard’ is a Walden Korea long-term project informing the American public of the truth of the 1948 Jeju 4.3 Uprising and Massacre in South Korea and the horrors of state violence. The project consists of seminars and academic programs held across the United States as well as publications, raising awareness on state crimes and the importance of truth, justice, and reconciliation.

The massacre of more than 30,000 civilians on Jeju Island started in April 1948, while South Korea was governed by the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK). The U.S. had operational control of South Korea’s armed forces at this time. Historical records show U.S. intervention in quelling the uprising. But few Americans know of this dark history. We call on the United States to release more classified documents and cooperate on further fact-finding efforts. The truth needs to be told. Nation states at times make egregious mistakes, and the United States is no exception. The mistakes made by the U.S. in Korea over 70 years ago still cast a long shadow on the politics of the Korean peninsula today.

Meet our Truth Storyteller

HyungJin Kim

HyungJin Kim is a member of the Walden Korea Planning Committee and a Board member of WeHope, a human rights organization dedicated to the ‘comfort women’ victims, striving for years to tell the just narrative in the US. She conducted and announced research on the Jeju 4.3 Uprising and Massacre at the Walden Korea International Strategic Forum held in September. She graduated from Yew Chung International School of Shanghai and will be receiving a Bachelor of Art from Northeastern University with a major in International Affairs. She co-authored an article on Nationalism which will be published from Ethnicities in 2022. She worked at Harvard Medical school as an education technology, media & design assistant. She is now participating in the movement to investigate and reveal the truth of the Jeju April 4th uprising and massacre, and throughout the event 'The History You Never Heard', will shed a light on the truth of the Jeju massacre in the United States.

Prof. Sung-Yoon Lee

Prof. Sung-Yoon Lee is a scholar of Korean and East Asian studies and a specialist on North Korea. He is the Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor in Korean Studies and Assistant Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and Faculty Associate at the Program on U.S.–Japan Relations, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. Prof. Lee has advised senior-most officials in the US government. In 2013, the Guardian called Lee "[a]mong the most insightful and prescient chroniclers."

This event features a presentation by Professor Sung-Yoon Lee

Ms. Suyeon Yang

Ms.Suyeon Yang is a polymathic journalist, activist, psychoanalyst, culinary artist, jazz critic, music theorist, and educator. Ms. Yang established the Jeju April 3rd Memorial and Victim Families Association of the U.S.(43jeju.com) and Walden Korea in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, to remember state violence and spread human rights values and peace and environmental appreciation. She lost her grandfather and two uncles in the April 3rd Uprising and Massacre. The tragedy remains a significant trauma in her family history. Her goal her is to reveal the truth of the April 3rd Uprising and Massacre to the United States and receive an apology from the U.S. government.

Suyeon Yang's slogan her is "Creatio ex nihilo"(Latin for"creation out of nothing"). Ms. Yang studies social and human matters on an artistic basis.