This column borrowed its title from Charles Dickens’ mid-19th century novel, even though the two cities in Korea’s South Jeolla Province are only about 20 kilometers apart, much closer than Paris and London, which the great British writer portrayed with the French Revolution in the background. If there is anything in common, it is the tribulations shared by so many people living ― and dying ― in an age of historic turbulence. 

Yeosu, a port on the south coast connecting the Gyeongsang and Jeolla regions, and Suncheon, also a transportation center into the midland, virtually had another war before the Korean War started in 1950. In the armed rebellion of October 1948, thousands of people were killed, villages were burned down and retributions continued when communist forces occupied the area two years later.

The Dickens novel described peasants’ sufferings under exploitation of aristocrats and brutal reprisals by revolutionaries in the early stage of the revolution. Here, in the “Yeosu-Suncheon incident,” military rebels and local collaborators started the bloodshed. Then there were massacres of the “reds” after the Army brought the revolt under control.

On the early morning of Oct. 19, only two months after the establishment of the Republic of Korea government in August 1948, a group of sergeants and lieutenants of the Army’s 14th Regiment based in Yeosu defied an order to go to Jeju Island to quell a peasants’ revolt that had started in April. Soldiers murdered their commanding officers and left their camp to attack police stations and occupy public offices.

They quickly advanced to Suncheon and soon established “people’s committees” that announced the immediate free distribution of land to tenant farmers. Policemen, city officials, teachers, Christians, rich merchants and landlords were executed in people’s courts. The mutineers ruled the area for a week before joint army and police forces restored order in the two cities. The rebels escaped to the Jiri Mountains to the north where they resisted mop-up operations until the summer of 1950.

The rest of the country was devastated in the war but Yeosu and Suncheon and the nearby Gangyang, Gurye and Boseong had greater loss of lives and destruction because of the aftereffects of the 1948 rebellion. Post-war reconstruction was slow; Yeosu emerged as a smuggling center on the south coast connected to Izuhara, Japan and Suncheon survived as an educational and a minor farm industry town.

For a long time, Yeosu and Suncheon were remembered for the bloody incident in the formative period of the republic. After six decades, these cities are trying to establish new community brands that will supersede the bitter image imposed on them by the unfortunate segment of history. Staging international expositions was a direction they chose in this endeavor. Yeosu held a specialized World Expo focused on marine development and protection for three months last year, and the Suncheon Bay Garden Expo 2013 is underway through October.

The Suncheon Bay situated between the Dolsan and Goheung peninsulas is a vast mudflat where islands of reeds produce beautiful scenery like floating lotus leaves. The bay pierces into the land meeting the Dongcheon River which carries the fresh water from the Jiri Mountains through the city of Suncheon. While the nearby port of Yeosu was preparing for the 2012 Expo, community leaders of Suncheon decided to turn the wasteland on the estuary of the river into a “world-class ecological showcase.”

An AIPH (International Association of Horticultural Producers) approval was obtained and full-scale preparations started in 2011 under the direction of Mayor Cho Choong-hoon. New infrastructure projects to support the Yeosu Expo, including a railway extension, highways and bridges, offered great advantage. About 420,000 trees, including 15,000 over 40 years old, were planted on 3,000 acres of land. Experts from 20 foreign countries near and far were invited to create “national gardens” on allotted spaces.

When Typhoon Blaven approached the south coast last August, the whole city of Suncheon was put on alert to protect the newly planted trees and other facilities. Christians gathered at their churches to pray for the Lord’s help through the night. Rev. Im Hwa-sik of the Suncheon Jungang (Central) Presbyterian Church told me that “a miracle was made” as the citizens found all the trees there standing erect after the storm passed.

As they enter the city boundary, visitors to the Garden Expo are impressed by the enthusiasm of citizens shown in various forms of welcoming placards, flower pots adorning every nook and corner of streets and in the smiles of volunteer guides assigned to the tourist course from the Suncheon Bay wetland to the exposition site 5 kilometers into the city. Brand new cafes, restaurants and holiday accommodation have been opened and many are being built.

“Saengtae,” meaning ecology, is one of the most commonly heard words in Suncheon, the self-proclaimed “ecological capital” of Korea. Large fines are set by the city council for the unauthorized catching of crabs, mudskippers and clams on the mudflat. Tourist brochures kindly introduce other attractions in and around the city, including the famous Songgwang-sa and Seonam-sa Buddhist temples, the walled hamlet of Nagan, a dolmen park and the Japanese fortress built during the 16th century Korea-Japan war.

It is not hard to feel the pulse of the community eager to make a change taking full advantage of given natural assets and historical heritage which are detected in other successful local events. In a country where nearly a third of the chiefs of local autonomous governments are criminally prosecuted before their tenures are over, smooth hosting of an international exposition means the unity of residents and their trust in a corruption-free administration. Such reputation has been established by the Dano Festival in Gangneung, the Blue Celadon Expo in Gangjin, the butterfly and chrysanthemum festivals in Hampyeong and some other local events.

Long-term effects of projects like the Yeosu World Expo are being assessed in terms of boosting community income and employment and exalting the pride of residents that will keep them from deserting their homeland. Yeosu has certainly done well and Suncheon is about to follow suit. Then our tale of the two cities will be more of “wisdom” than “foolishness,” “belief” than “incredulity” and “the spring of hope” than “the winter of despair” in Dickens’ dual interpretation of the revolutionary age.

By Kim Myong-sik 

Kim Myong-sik is a former editorial writer of The Korea Herald. ― Ed.