By Lee Kyung-min
An advocacy foundation asked the foreign ministry for cooperation in holding a commemorative ceremony for the May 18, 1980 Democratic Movement at the United Nations headquarters in New York, its officials said Wednesday.
The May 18 Memorial Foundation, a Gwangju-based fact-finding civic group that investigates the movement and manages commemoration projects, said it is awaiting answers from Cho Tae-yul, the Korean ambassador to the U.N., after sending an email request last week.
The foundation sent the email after Gwangju University professor Yombi Tona, who was named committee member of the U.N. Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS), consulted a fellow committee member there about holding the ceremony. The member rejected his request saying the foundation was not a non-governmental organization (NGO) registered under the U.N., and asked that Ambassador Cho send the request.
In order for any NGO event to be held at the U.N. headquarters, a request must be submitted by the country’s U.N. ambassador to the agencies that manage affairs concerning NGOs. The request is then referred to the headquarters.
The foundation believes the event is crucial to promoting accurate history amid its continued efforts to compile books and detailed accounts from survivors and bereaved family member of victims.
A book titled “Gwangju Diary: Beyond Death and Beyond Darkness of the Age,” the revised English version written by Lee Jae-eui of the Korean edition was republished this year after it was first translated into English in 1999.
Overseas Koreans, noted scholars and other dignitaries are willing to attend the event, the foundation said.
“The event, if materialized, will be an effective way to counter efforts by right-wing groups that continue to perpetuate prejudice and misinformation about the truth of the movement,” foundation executive director Kim Yang-rae said.
“To this day, some people with a conservative agenda are spreading rumors that defames and dishonors the victims of the movement, and insults the bereaved families,” he said.
One such case involves Jee Man-won, an ultra right-wing pundit, who was indicted last year on charges of defamation for claiming that victims of the democratic movement were North Korean spies dispatched by the isolationist regime. The trial is ongoing at the Seoul Central District Court.
The event will be different to the one annually held on May 18 by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs at the May 18 National Cemetery in Gwangju, the foundation added.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs failed to respond on whether it plans accept the foundation’s request.