What in the World

Jeju’s Aching Heart – Jeju Island, South Korea (8x2)

Air date: Dec 08, 2014

Set against the seething anger of local residents in what is now a divided community, in January 2011, the electronics company Samsung on behalf of the South Korean government began construction of a $970 million naval facility on Jeju Island that is scheduled to open in 2015. The facility will host three new Aegis destroyers that cost $1 billion each and twenty warships including submarines. The film will feature these protests as well as highlighting the spectacular beauty of the island. In highlighting the struggle of the people of Jeju in their opposition to the naval base, the film will draw attention to the continuing arms race, which finds new ways of funding itself and in the process feeds new insecurities. The arms race? It hasn’t gone away.