hankyoreh

Kim Min-kyung

“We support your campaign for human rights. And many people around the world are thinking of you.”

Over 1,500 cards have poured in from the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries since the British chapter of Amnesty International (AIUK) selected 50-year-old Sarangbang Group for Human Rights Executive Director Park Rae-gun as a recipient in its 2010 prisoner of conscience letter writing campaign.

In a card accompanied by a piece of colored paper in the shape of a candle, a British Amnesty International member wrote, “I will light a candle for your freedom.” Another card, in shaky Korean script, read, “Stay strong! Stay healthy! Fight!” Other people sent hand-made Christmas cards.

Every December, AIUK, which has around 300 thousand members, holds a Greeting Card Campaign in which letters are sent to prisoners of conscience and victims of human rights violations around the world and to governments responsible for the violations.

“It was moving and inspiring to receive support from people who do not know me,” Park said.

“It seems like the world can be connected and international solidarity can be achieved through the single keyword of ‘human rights,’” he added.

In November, prosecutors requested sentences of five years and four months for Park and four years for Jinbo Corea President Lee Jong-hoe, who was arrested on the same charges. Sentencing is scheduled to take place on Jan. 13.

Park was charged with “blocking traffic” and “organizing an illegal assembly after sunset,” after serving as co-president of Justice for Yongsan Evictees, advocating for members of the Yongsan 4th Zone who were foricbly driven from their homes for a government redevelopment project. A raid on demonstration protesting the government redevelopment plan took the lives of five civilians and one police officer on Jan. 20, 2009, and has since become known as “The Yongsan Tragedy.”

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