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S. Koreans open eyes, get warm support

Published May 31, 2005 10:52 PM

Two activists from South Korea have been touring the United States and Canada on a mission to inform the public about a people's uprising there 25 years ago and its bloody suppression. Besides speaking to meetings in many cities, the two appeared before the Detroit City Council, which passed a resolution welcoming them and calling for U.S. troops to leave Korea.

The two South Koreans, Kim Hyo-Seok and Lee Shin--in Korea, the family name appears first--are being accompanied by Yoomi Jeong, a Korean American.

Below are brief accounts of three of these meetings.

DETROIT
City Council welcomes delegation

It has been 25 years since a national student-led uprising swept South Korea in response to a right-wing military coup that was supported by the U.S. government under former President Jimmy Carter. A delegation commemorating the Gwangju uprising and massacre that is touring 18 cities in the United States and Canada visited the city of Detroit on May 25. The delegation was hosted by the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI).

The Korean activists were directly involved in the events of May 18-27, 1980, when in response to the military seizure of power by the dictator Gen. Chun Doo Hwan, thousands of students and workers took control of the city of Gwangju and established their own councils which effectively ran the city until the military crushed the rebellion on May 27.

This delegation included Yoomi Jeong, secretary general of the Korean Truth Commission. She has spent considerable time researching and investigating U.S. war crimes against the people of Korea. Kim Hyo-Seok, co-director of the Korea Truth Commission in Gwangju-Chonnam and co-director of the Anti-War Alliance, also took part. Kim participated in the 1980 Gwangju People's Uprising as a high school student. He was arrested during the military crackdown and spent time as a political prisoner.


Korean delegation and anti-war
activists in Detroit May 25

Also with the delegation was Lee Shin, a former student activist who witnessed the Gwangju massacre. Lee is policy director for the Reunification Alliance in Gwangju-Chonnam and a lead investigator for the Korean Truth Commission in Gwangju-Chonnam.

A testimonial resolution in support of the Detroit leg of the tour was presented to the delegation during the morning of May 25 at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in downtown Detroit. Detroit City Council President Maryann Mahaffey officially welcomed the Korean delegation to Detroit. In a ceremony in the City Council auditorium, Kim, Lee and Jeong received a Testimonial Resolution from the council that also called for U.S. troops to get out of Korea. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was also in attendance.

The resolution read in part that "Kim Hyo-Seok and Lee Shin continue to engage in maintaining democracy and human rights through their current involvement in the anti-war movement against the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Korea [while] over 30,000 U.S. troops continue to occupy South Korea [for] over 50 years after the end of the Korean War at a cost to the American people of tens of billions of dollars."

The resolution continued by pointing out that "the Detroit City Council officially welcomes Kim Hyo-Seok and Lee Shin to Detroit. Council also expresses hope that their visit will lead to greater understanding between the people of the United States and the Korean people, and lead to an end of U.S. occupation and the threat of war on the Korean Peninsula."

Earlier in the day the South Korean guests had a chance to visit the Labor Legacy monument and a statue commemorating the Underground Railroad, in which Detroit was a stop for runaway slaves before they crossed to freedom across the river into Canada.

Later that evening the Korean Truth Commission delegation visited Wayne State University to participate in a public forum organized by MECAWI.

Yoomi Jeong first read a statement of solidarity from a member of the South Korean National Assembly, which took a position against the United States occupation of Iraq.

This tour is significant in light of the intensification of cold war propaganda by the U.S. against Korea. MECAWI activist David Sole, principal tour guide for the Korean delegation, pointed out that sections of the peace movement in the U.S. do not understand the significance of defending the Korean people against the imperialist provocations of the Bush administration.

--Abayomi Azikiwe

Excerpted from a report by Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire. A MECAWI activist also provided information.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.
'U.S. out of Korea, Iraq!'

On May 20, Charlotte, N.C., was very fortunate to have two speakers from South Korea visit as part of a U.S./Canada tour. The Charlotte meeting was arranged by the Action Center For Justice.

A representative of the Action Center read a statement of solidarity on behalf of the Charlotte progressive movement to the South Korean movement for social justice.

Yoomi Jeong, a fighter for democracy, self-determination and unification of Korea and the rights of immigrants in the U.S., read a strong statement of solidarity from the South Korean movement to the U.S. movement.

A short video documented the brutal repression of the people of Gwangju by the South Korean military. It interviewed a U.S. journalist who proved that the Pentagon was behind the massacre that followed. The U.S. was apparently worried that the nearby revolution in Iran that overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah could happen in Korea.

Lee Shin, who was only 13 years old at the time of the Gwangju People’s Uprising, drove home the point that, like Iraq, South Korea does not have control of its own military. It is under the control of the United States. He explained that the movement in South Korea holds demonstrations demanding the U.S. leave their country and that South Korea end its participation in the occupation of Iraq.

--David Dixon

BUFFALO, N.Y.
Friends of Korea


Buffalo, N.Y.

Buffalo, N.Y., on May 29 hosted the tour of South Korean speakers commemorating the anniversary of the Gwangju People's Uprising. The program was sponsored by the Buffalo Friends of Korea.

Local activists presented a banner to the delegation that had been held in the May 1 rally for global nuclear disarmament in New York City.

--Beverly Heistand