Eleventh International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

This paper introduces the special exhibition, entitled ‘Jeju 4·3 is Now Our History’, which represents the controversial history of Kore. The exhibition includes the memories of Koreans as well as the ‘historic’ past. The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History together with the Memorial Committee for the 70th Anniversary of Jeju 4·3, prepared this special exhibition, with high hopes for it to be justly recognized as belonging to the history of the Republic of Korea as a whole. It has remained difficult even to discover the truth of Jeju 4‧3, despite it being the tragedy in modern Korean history with the second largest number of casualties. The exhibits mainly include historic artifacts, personal effects of the deceased, and related works of art, collected based on information contained in the Report on the Truth-Finding Investigations of the Jeju 4·3 Incident. Through the exhibition, we, the organizers, would like to help stimulate inclusiveness on the precious values of human rights, while posting historic questions about how to prevent such a tragedy from being repeated and how to determine pathways to the reconciliation of past sorrows and move forward toward the mutually beneficial coexistence of all the parties involved. Jeju 4‧3 is not just a past that ended 70 years ago, but remains a contemporary issue. We are eager to include those who have not been forgotten by the authoritarian government, such family members of the victims of Jeju 4‧3 through the representations of the exhibition.