Korean Quaker speaks on ‘choosing water over war’
'The Jeju naval base is just one of many US military sites that is accused of poisoning the Pacific and causing environmental degradation.'
A Quaker campaigner against a naval base on the Jeju Island in Korea has spoken about the problem of military-contaminated water in the Pacific.
In a webinar called ‘Water is Life’, Sung-hee Choi from Seoul Monthly Meeting highlighted the desecration that militarism has caused to the famously-pure waters of Jeju island. The Jeju naval base is just one of many US military sites that is accused of poisoning the Pacific and causing environmental degradation. According to World Beyond War, ninety per cent of water supplied to the island of Oahu is contaminated with petroleum leaked from the US navy’s fuel tanks.
Speaking on the webinar, which can be viewed on YouTube or the World Beyond War website, Sung-hee Choi said that in order for democracy to truly take place, ‘we should think about how to organise people’. ‘More South Koreans are worrying about the climate crisis,’ she said, pointing out that ‘the majority of the islanders [on Jeju] were against the second airport’ and that ‘people are realising the increasing degree of ecological destruction – so I think we can gather such hearts and minds’.
The longstanding campaigner is a regular attender at the near-daily Flag March protests in front of the Jeju Naval Base, which are followed by the Gangjeong dance.
