Korean-American Campaigns for Human Dignity
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
``This is not a historical issue but a current issue about the dignity of humanity,'' a Korean-American woman said Wednesday.
Annabel Park, 40, a filmmaker and activist, played a leading role in helping pass the Comfort Women House Resolution in the United States with a speech delivered during a rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. A group of Korean activists have held rallies there every Wednesday to protest Japanese atrocities during World War II.
``I have seen pictures of the demonstration. I remember feeling that these women are so strong, so courageous. … I feel really inspired by them,'' Park said in an interview with The Korea Times after the rally.
Park, who first learned about the ``comfort women" at a hearing in February 2007, didn't know how she was going to be involved in the issue.
However, comfort women's testimony moved her. ``Once I listened to their testimonies, I decided to devote myself totally to pass the resolution.''
Park immediately volunteered as a grassroots lobbyist. To make the most use of her occupation as a documentary filmmaker, she decided to film the comfort women issue and post it on YouTube.
She filmed and uploaded video clips of actress and friend Park Jung-sook, who recently earned her master's thesis on ``hallyu," or the Korean wave at Columbia University, and Yul Kwon, the first Asian-American winner of CBS's Survivor, speaking up for comfort women. Kwon's clip attracted more than 17,000 views.
``We tried to attract younger people,'' said Park. ``They got introduced not only to the resolution but to the entire incident through our video, which is amazing because a lot of young Asian Americans don't know anything about the war.''
Her effort to get more people involved in the movement was successful and the resolution passed through the House of Representatives in July 2007.
Park volunteers for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign through YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/unitedforobama). It is not an official campaign but a grassroots group of filmmakers supporting Obama.
Among some 25 uploaded, the most viewed clip on the Web site is ``Si Se Puede Cambiar,'' which means ``Yes, Change is Possible'' in Spanish. It shows support for Obama from the Spanish-speaking and other minority communities in the USA. She also produced a Korean-subtitled version of the clip.
Under the name ``Through Our Lens,'' she is also working on an interactive documentary on immigration issues with Eric Byler.
When asked about the expenses of filming, she said it doesn't cost that much but is all ``sweat and labor.''
``I think that people liked that we're just ordinary people, we're talking from our heart and we're not being paid,'' said Park.