Robert Redford: The Battle for Jeju Island

How the Arms Race is Threatening a Korean Paradise
By Robert Redford
February 3, 2012

Imagine dropping fifty-seven cement caissons, each one the size of a four-story house, on miles of beach and soft coral reefs. It would destroy the marine ecosystem. Our imperfect knowledge already tells us that at least nine endangered species would be wiped out, and no one knows or perhaps can know the chain reaction.

That’s what is about to happen on the pristine coastline of Jeju Island, a culturally and ecologically unique land off the southern coast of the Korean peninsula. It seems motivated by the United States’ urge to encircle China with its Aegis anti-ballistic system — something China has called a dangerous provocation — and by the South Korean navy’s construction of a massive naval base for aircraft carriers, submarines and destroyers to carry Aegis.

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