Min remembers US shooting victims

Prof. Min Byoung-chul, second from right, holds a book of condolence messages for people killed in a shooting rampage at the Sandy Hook Elementary School with U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Sung Kim, second from left, at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Park Si-soo

Professor Min Byoung-chul of Konkuk University who has led an anti-cyber bulling campaign presented a book of condolence messages to U.S. Ambassador to Korea on Tuesday in a move to offer condolences to people in Newtown, Connecticut, who were devastated by the December shooting rampage that killed 26 people.

The presentation event was held at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul with U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Sung Kim in attendance.

“The tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School has touched many people around the world, including many young people in Korea who felt moved to post a message of condolence for the people in Newtown, Connecticut,” Min said.

The book contains nearly 5,000 condolence messages Min picked among postings on a website he established following the tragedy and major social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook. His website was created in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese, enabling people from multiple countries to post condolence messages.

Ambassador Kim expressed his thanks, saying “I appreciate Min’s work to gather these messages of condolence for those who lost loved ones on that tragic day, and we will deliver these caring messages to the people of Newtown.”

The event was the latest in a series of Min’s efforts to encourage the posting of positive comments in cyber space. He launched a non-profit organization in 2007 to fight bullying and hateful comments posted on the Internet, a campaign named “Sunfull.”

The word “sunfull” mixes the Chinese character “sun” meaning good or virtuous with “full,” which pronounced in the Korean way is synonymous with the shortened version of how Koreans say “reply.”

The Sunfull movement started in response to a Korean celebrity being driven to suicide by malicious comments posted on the Internet.

Over 6,000 elementary, middle, and high schools and organizations in Korea are now participating in the campaign. More than 3.7 million positive comments have been posted on the Internet through the campaign, the organization said.

Min was appointed as Korea’s first ambassador for cyber diplomacy in November by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade with a charter to encourage a positive online exchange between the peoples of different countries.