Sons, daughters to be honored for filial piety

Min Byoung-chul, second from right in the front row, chairman of the Sunfull Movement Headquarters, poses with Xie Shuhua, center, a retired teacher from China’s Jiangsu Province, at the Raum Art Center in southern Seoul, Sept. 24. Xie gave a speech about her story of filial piety. In the same row are three lawmakers — Suh Sang-kee, left, Min Byung-joo, second from left, and Kim Choon-jin, right. / Courtesy of Sunfull Movement Headquarters

Sunfull Movement to hold event in Korea, China

By Park Yoon-bae

A Seoul-based anti-cyberbullying network plans to recognize devoted sons and daughters from 17 major Korean cities and provinces as well as China’s 33 provinces, the civic organization said Thursday.

The Sunfull Movement Headquarters plans to select candidates in collaboration with the South Korean branch of China’s People’s Daily Online (People.com.cn) and finalize the list by the end of March.

The two organizations got the idea from a retired Chinese teacher who had traveled around China with her nonagenarian mother in a rickshaw, said Sunfull Chairman Min Byoung-chul, who is also a professor at Konkuk University.

Xie Shuhua of China’s Jiangsu Province spoke Sept. 24 at the Raum Art Center in southern Seoul at the invitation of the Sunfull Movement and the People’s Daily Online. She told the audience that her mother’s last wish before her death was to see the beautiful scenery in China, and Xie had decided to honor that wish.

Xie’s devotion to her elderly mother drew significant attention in Korea, where filial piety is considered a core value within Confucianism.

“The event will help promote the value of filial piety in Korea and China,” Min said. “I also expect that the event will help foster friendly relations between the two countries.”

The two groups will soon put together a screening committee, Min said, and the winners will have opportunities to visit each other’s countries.

He also expressed his hope that the event will advance the movement’s initiative against cyberbullying. The name “Sunfull” comes from a Korean expression meaning “good replies,” which refers to positive comments on the Internet as opposed to attacking and malicious comments.

On Sept. 18, the movement launched the “Young Korea-China Adults Sunfull Cyber Public Diplomatic Corps” jointly with the People’s Daily Online.

Eighty high school and university students from both countries were appointed members of the corps, and they promised at a ceremony to write only positive comments on the Internet.

Min kicked off the movement in 2007 in the belief that good messages filling up cyberspace would create a more beautiful and peaceful world.