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Latest news, released by Gangjeong Info Group(9.04):

Imok Cha, Emergency Action Committee to Save Jeju activist and speaker at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Congress (WCC) 2012, has been denied entry to South Korea.
 

On September 3, Imok Cha, who has been working tirelessly to spread news related to the struggle against the Jeju Naval Base project was unjustly blocked from entering S. Korea, upon arrival at Incheon Airport, outside Seoul. According to Imok, she arrived in Incheon Airport and had her passport scanned and then was fingerprinted.
 

She said, “As soon as they scanned my passport and fingerprinted me, they took me to an office. No explanation of why I am not allowed in to even see my elderly parents!”
 

She was then detained for 30 minutes before being forced to board a plane to Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. Save Jeju Now recieved this news from her while in Seattle awaiting a plane back to San Fransisco.
 

As stated, no explanation was given for her denial of entry by the Korean Immigration Office.
 

The IUCN’s WCC 2012 is being held in Jungmun, Jeju, just 7 km from Gangjeong and the Jeju Naval Base project site. She had planned to join the WCC as a speaker to speak on important environmental justice issues surrounding the illegal and violently enforced destruction taking place in Gangjeong.
 

Furthermore she was hoping to visit her elderly parents who live in Korea. It is an inhuman act of cruelty to deny her the ability to see her parents.
 

With the entry denial of Cha, the total number of internationals denied entry to Korea, related to the struggle to save Jeju, since Aug 26, 2011 is now 16. This includes 3 members of the U.S. Veterans for Peace and 12 people from Japan and Okinawa.
 

This entry denial highlights again who much the Korean government (and perhaps the U.S Government) wishes to hide the truth of what is happening on Jeju. This denial comes right after news that the IUCN has rejected to give an exhibition booth at their congress to Gangjeong Village due to pressure from the Korean government.
 

The South Korean government is clearly afraid of the increasing international solidarity as more people find out the real truth behind what is happening in Gangjeong. This pathetic and cowardly attempt to stop our movement will only increase our momentum. Or does the Korean government plan to block all the IUCN speakers?
 

Please help us spread this news, and denounce this oppression on international supporters as well as the continued violent and destructive naval base construction!

http://savejejunow.org/member-of-action-committee-denied-entry/

Also today I received the following e-mail:

Dear friends of Jeju Island,

From September 6-15, some 10,000 environmentalists will converge on Jeju Island to attend the World Conservation Congress (WCC) organized by the oldest environmental organization, the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN’s slogan is that it promotes “a just world that values and conserves nature.” If recent actions are any indication, nothing could be further from the truth.

The WCC will take place only a few minutes away from Gangjeong where the construction of a naval base is threatening one of the planet’s most spectacular soft coral forests and other coastal treasures, assaulting numerous endangered species and destroying a 400-year old sustainable community of local farmers and fishers.

Unfortunately, the IUCN leadership has ignored or whitewashed the naval base.

Instead of condemning the South Korean government’s actions, IUCN Director-General Julia Marton-Lafevre praised its seriously flawed “Environmental Impact Assessment” (EIA) for the base project, which ignored critically endangered species, missed crucial impacts upon 40 species of soft coral, including nine that are seriously endangered, and five that are already protected by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). This naval base is being built just 0.13 miles from a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, Tiger Island.

Take action now and sign this petition to the IUCN Director-General, Julia Marton-Lefevre http://signon.org/sign/iucn-stop-environmental?source=s.icn.em.cr&r_by=1590359&mailing_id=5784 urging the IUCN to condemn the base construction.

While Gangjeong villagers trying to protect their treasured natural resources are subjected to daily police beatings and arrests, the IUCN has still failed to acknowledge the environmental or human-rights violations. One can’t help but wonder if this is because the WCC convention is partly financed by the very corporations building the military base, notably Samsung. Learn more about how you can help support an independent EIA and the villagers' struggle at http://www.savejejunow.org.

Instead of inviting dialogue, the IUCN conference organizers have suppressed it. In an official letter from IUCN leadership – with no explanation -- it blocked the villagers from even having a small information booth at the conference.

You can help give voice to the Gangjeong villagers who have been beaten and silenced by their own government, and now kept out by the world’s largest environmental organization. Add your name to this letter to IUCN Director-General, Julia Marton-Lefevre, to be hand delivered by Gangjeong village Mayor Kang Dong-kyun at the IUCN Congress.

For peace and protection of our planet,

Robert Redford (Actor, Director and Environmental Activist)