Apparently the police are trying to save money so the large forces that are out during the week are not here on Sundays. We were able to block the gates into the base for about an hour and a half while mass and rosary was said. The workers were still working today and were not too pleased about us being there. They got quite loud and noisy trying to interrupt us. It was amusing that yesterday the security guards would have been helping the police move us out of the way and today they were protecting us from the workers who are trying to drive out of the base.
In the afternoon we had a long session with Bishop Kang who has been very supportive of attempts to block building the naval base on Jeju Island. We had a wide ranging discussion on many subjects. He said most of the other bishops in Korea have given him lipservice but there's very little actual support. He talked about the fact that the villagers here have shut down one gate to a part of the base that would have had housing for Navy personnel and their families. I hadn't realized that they were talking about 3000 people occupying this housing when the base is running at full. Clearly this would overwhelm a village of 5000 people. And you can imagine what would happen when a US aircraft carrier comes in and sends 5000 sailors on shore leave. The bishop said that the new governor of Jeju Island has said that he will try to have this housing built somewhere outside of the village but he is waiting for some actual indication that this may happen.
Larry Kerschner
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