Myanmar community in South Korea stages protest against military coup

Members of the Myanmarese community in South Korea protest against the military coup in the Southeast Asian country, near the Embassy of Myanmar in Seoul's Yongsan District, Feb. 5. After the military seized power and occupied the country's capital Nay Pyi Taw, the country's leader Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other members of the National League for Democracy were detained by troops. Courtesy of Soe Moe Thu

• Published Feb 11, 2021 8:02 AM KST
• Updated Feb 11, 2021 9:50 AM KST

By Jung Da-min

When large crowds were participating in demonstrations on the streets across Myanmar to protest the military coup there, Myanmarese communities in other countries also rose up against the military regime.

Here, members of a community of Myanmarese people and local residents who support democratic values and people's rights in the Southeast Asian country organized street rallies in different regions. One such rally was held near the office of the military attache of the Embassy of Myanmar in Seoul's Yongsan District, last weekend, days after the military coup took place, Feb. 1.

Soe Moe Thu, a Myanmarese pro-democracy activist who came to South Korea in 1995 to work to support his family back home, took part in the rallies as a supporter of Myanmarese leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

“As massive demonstrations are prohibited under the South Korean government's quarantine measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been staging one-person protests or press conferences in which a total of nine people are allowed to attend, not only in front of the Embassy of Myanmar but also in different regions across the country where many people pass by, such as subway stations,” Soe Moe Thu told The Korea Times in a phone interview, Feb. 8.

“We have also been uploading messages of protest on social media platforms to inform the international community of the current situation in Myanmar.”

After the military seized power through a coup days before the beginning of a new session of the Myanmar parliament, which was set for Feb. 5, the country's leader Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other members of the NLD party were detained by the military. After occupying the country's capital Nay Pyi Taw claiming widespread fraud in the outcome of a general election held last November, the military's commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing declared a year-long state of emergency.

Soe Moe Thu said the military coup is unpardonable, because it dashed the hopes of the Myanmarese people for democracy. Under Myanmar's current Constitution, the military could declare a state of emergency if it sees there is confusion in state affairs, but Soe Moe Thu said the military was unjustly using the Constitution as it did not want Suu Kyi's civilian government to take power again.

In the 2020 November general election there, Suu Kyi's NLD party won by a landslide, securing about 83 percent of the seats in the country's bicameral Assembly of the Union. The military and the opposition demanded a revote claiming fraud, but the Election Commission saw no evidence to support their claims.

This was the second victory of the NLD party, five years after the country's civilian government first took power with the party's overwhelming victory in the 2015 general election.

Since then, the civilian government has pushed ahead with amendments to the country's current Constitution which was created by the military in 2008, in an effort to fully democratize the country. But the military has hampered such efforts.

“The military has tried to divide the people of Myanmar using the thorny issues of minority groups such as the issues of Rohingya people and conflict between Buddhism and Islam, but the civilian government again received overwhelming support from the people. … I believe the civilian government's victory in the two consecutive general elections showed the support of the Myanmarese people for the country's democratization,” Soe Moe Thu said.

“Before the military coup actually took place, we didn't think the military could carry out a coup as the Constitution requires other legal procedures such as the president's order for such a military movement. Besides, the current Constitution was set up by the military itself in 2008. But the military even destroyed their own rules to take power again.”

Soe Moe Thu said the coup shocked the Myanmarese people, not only those in the country but those living abroad, which led to the massive rallies in major cities in Myanmar such as Yangon or Mandalay, and small and big rallies in other countries including Thailand, Japan and South Korea.

Soe Moe Thu said Myanmarese people here ― mostly in their 20s or 30s as only those age groups could get a working visa to come to South Korea ― are desperately fighting for the country's democratization.

“There had been the 8888 (or the eighth day of August 1988) uprising for the country's democratization in 1988, but it was a past event for Myanmar's young generation. The military coup this time, however, is an act of overthrowing the results of the general election, in which many people, including those inside and outside the country, actively participated despite the COVID-19 pandemic,” Soe Moe Thu said. “Young Myanmarese here also actively participated in the vote by casting absentee ballots, despite the pandemic situation and all of the required documents.”

Soe Moe Thu said nearly 10,000 Myanmarese here participated in the general election by casting absentee ballots, showing their support for the country's democratization. About 28,000 Myanmarese were staying in South Korea in 2019, according to the South Korean government's statistics.

So Moe Thu also said Myanmarese communities outside the country are ready to raise money to support public officers in the country who are planning to carry out strikes to protest against the military regime.

Kay Thwe Aung, a Myanmarese here, staged a one-person demonstration near a subway station in Bupyeong District, Incheon, Feb. 3 and participated in a small group rally in front of the Embassy of Myanmar in Seoul, Feb. 6. She hopes more South Korean people would know what is exactly happening in Myanmar and that Myanmarese people are fighting against the military coup.

“The military is denying the result of last year's general election and it is the same as calling Myanmarese people, who actively participated in the election to support the leader Suu Kyi and her NLD party, liars. This is why Myanmarese people deeply resent the military coup,” Kay Thwe Aung told The Korea Times in a phone interview, Feb. 9. “I was born in 1979 and witnessed how the military suppressed the people during the 8888 uprising. I vividly remember the military's suppression and I feel that this year's coup is like the military trampling on the Myanmarese people with their shoes.”

Some South Korean people have also engaged in rallies here to support the Myanmar people's fight for democracy.

Chung Beum-rae, the founder and manager of an online community about Myanmar here called Myabiz, initiated demonstrations by community members through one-person protests in front of the Embassy of Myanmar on Feb. 3. Chung, who had lived in Myanmar for seven years before coming back to South Korea in 2007, has long been supporting democratization movements of Myanmar.

“The people of the Republic of Korea stand with Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Union of Myanmar. We also demand the release of politicians associated with the National League for Democracy party, the winners voted into leadership through a fair election,” read a statement by Chung, which was also printed on the placards he held during the protest. “The people of the Republic of Korea attained won democracy through our own hands and we shall stand firmly together with the people of Myanmar. We fully support your fight for democracy.”

Chung told The Korea Times in a phone interview, Feb. 8, that he hopes more South Koreans will support and help the Myanmar people's protests.

“South Korea should stand together with Myanmar for the Southeast Asian country's democratization, as South Korea also underwent similar periods of military dictatorship and the South Korean people also fought to achieve the country's democracy,” Chung said.