NEW YORK — Paco Michelson, left, and Hee Eun Park spoke at a March 22 event here, part of a national tour to win support for the fight against the construction of a South Korean naval and submarine base in Gangjeong village on Jeju Island. The base, on the southern tip of South Korea, will be used by the U.S. military.

“The vast majority of the 2,000 villagers oppose the construction and started protesting as soon as they learned about the plans in 2007,” Michelson said. “The protests have been met with heavy repression from the state. Over the years 220,000 police have passed through, more than 700 island residents and supporters have been arrested and fines amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The fight has become a rallying point against Washington’s decades-long record of trampling on Korean sovereignty and the rights of workers and farmers on the island. Park and Michelson are veterans of the protests. Their 11-city U.S. tour titled “If You Don’t Give Up, You Can’t Lose” kicked off in Boston March 17 and ends in Portland, Oregon, April 20. The tour features the film “Gureombi — The Wind Is Blowing,” documenting the fight.

“We speak about our experiences from the protests and also raise funds to help pay the fines and continue the fight,” Korean-born Park said to the Militant. “It has been a long, hard struggle and the solidarity from within and outside Korea is very important.”