November 26, 1948, Jocheon-eup
Suppression Forces (토벌대) - Usually a mix of police, army, and right wing militant groups that search for people in hiding in the mountains and destroy anything that can be used by the armed resistance group
Seonheul-ri (선흘리) residents - Seonheul-ri is a village/area located in Jeju's mid-mountain region (중산간), just south of Hamdeok beach (함덕해수욕장)
On November 25, 1948 suppression forces discovered a cave called Dotul Cave (도툴굴). They executed many of the Seonheul-ri residents they found hiding there on the spot, but brought some back to the battalion headquarters located in Hamdeok. Over night the residents they brought back to the headquarters were subjected to horrible torture as the suppression forces sought to find out where the other residents were hiding. Ultimately some residents could no longer bear the pain and told suppression forces about the existence of Moksimul Cave (목시물굴).
The next morning on November 26, the 9th Regiment left Hamdeok with a resident from Dotul Cave as a guide in search for Moksimul Cave. As the suppression forces approached Seonheul Gotjawal (선흘 곶자왈) they fired a mortar in the direction of Moksimul Cave. Most the residents scrambled back into the cave for safety.
There were 200 or so people hiding in Moksimul Cave. When the suppression forces reached Moksimul Cave they tossed a grenade into the cave and told the people to come out. Knowing that coming out meant almost certain death, the people hiding in Moksimul Cave refused. In the end though, people decided that they must try to save the children and began to head out.
40 some odd people were killed on the spot at Maksimul Cave. Tragically, the suffering for the Moksimul Cave residents did not end there. The people who were not killed were brought to Banmot (반못, a small pond/reservoir nearby. The suppression forces made the stronger, younger men carry all the food supplies there as well. And once the supplies were loaded onto the waiting GMC trucks the men were brought to nearby Gwaeumul (괘물) and shot. The remaining people boarded the trucks and were brought to the battalion headquarters in Hamdeok. There they were tortured like the residents from Dotul Cave to reveal other hiding locations. When the torture stopped they were executed.
References and Original Sources
Jeju 4.3 Archives - "목시물굴" (readable here in Korean)
Jeju Dark Tours - "Moksimul Cave" (readable here in English)
Photo courtesy of Jeju 4.3 Archives (43archives.or.kr)