hankyoreh

GWANGJU - Civic organizations in Gwangju, including the May 18 Memorial Foundation and Gwangju Council of Citizens , gathered yesterday to discuss ways of supporting the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. Demonstrations against the nation’s military government have grown and tensions within the country have escalated over the past month following a sudden fuel-price increase in August. Over the past week, violent suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators, including citizens and monks, by the government has elicited an international response and calls for peace within Myanmar.

Today, the groups plan to hold a rally denouncing the ruthless crackdown of the Myanmar government on pro-democracy protesters in front of the Myanmar embassy in Seoul. More than 40 citizens from Gwangju who participated in Gwangju’s May 18 pro-democracy movement in 1980 will join today’s demonstration.

On October 1 in Gwangju, the citizens’ groups plan to hold a press conference and stage a campaign to collect signatures.

Citizens in Myanmar have been protesting since August 19, after the military junta imposed a drastic increase in fuel prices. Until recently, the protests have been small and have not led to violence, leading some to speculate that this could be due to the presence of thousands of monks, who are revered in the country and have increased their participation in the protests over the past two weeks. Though military leaders have up to this point shown restraint in dealing with protesters, the conflict turned violent earlier this week. This is the largest demonstration since that of 1988, in which over 3,000 people were killed when the military regime came to power after suppressing demonstrators who launched similar pro-democracy protests.

The May 18 Memorial Foundation selected Myanmar’s opposition party leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the winner of the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights in 2004. The foundation is going to censure the Myanmar military regime’s violent crackdown on protesters and issue a statement urging the nation to free Aung San Suu Kyi. The leader of the pro-democracy National League for Democracy and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, she has been held under house arrest for approximately 12 of the past 18 years.

Cho Jin-tae, a member of the foundation, expressed his anger with the Myanmar military regime and said that his organization is seeking a way to support the pro-democracy movement in the nation.

Those who participated in the Gwangju pro-democracy movement said that they also want to help demonstrators in Myanmar.

Lee Su-man, leader of the families of Gwangju citizens who participated in the May 18 pro-democracy movement, said, “The situation in Myanmar is just the same as what is shown in the movie “May 18,” referring to the Korean movie, also known as Splendid Vacation in English, which was released in Korea on July 26. The movie depicts the 10 days of the Gwangju Uprising during the regime of military dictator Chun Doo-hwan. “I heard that the Myanmar military opened fire on the protesters through the Internet. I want to go to the nation to help them.”

Officials at another civic group representing Gwangju’s pro-democracy movement plan to create a newspaper ad regarding the crisis in Myanmar. They expressed sorrow those who have been victimized by Myanmar’s violent crackdown on the protesters.

A Catholic organization in Gwangju is also seeking a way to support the Burmese demonstrators. Father Kim Jae-hak said, “We will join the campaign to support the Burmese pro-democracy activists mentally and materially so as to reduce the number of victims and help them to achieve the democratization of their nation.”