No sign language at summit

People at Seoul railway Station watch the live TV broadcast of the inter-Korean summit on Friday. / AP-Yonhap

By Lee Suh-yoon

The government's live broadcast of this historic summit at the main press center offers interpretation services in nine languages. But sign language is not one of them.

"Disabled citizens' right to information is just as important as that of foreign reporters in a historic event like this," said Kim Cheol-hwan, a disability rights activist. "But the government ignored our repeated requests to provide sign language services."

Videos uploaded on Cheong Wa Dae's summit website also lack sign language.

The inter-Korean summit was held at the Panmunjeom border truce village on Friday, exactly one week after the country held its 38th National Disabled Persons' Day.

Public service broadcasters KBS and MBC have taken matters into their own hands, adding independent sign language translations on their channels.

But public broadcaster SBS, as well as other commercial broadcasters and internet portals, have not done so despite requests from disability rights groups.

Korean sign language, also called "suhwa," was declared an official language of equal status to Korean in 2016.

Some citizens expressed disappointment that the Moon administration ― which prides itself as a liberal product of the candlelight revolution ― left out the disabled.

"I wonder if the Moon administration remembers the huge sign language translations it provided at the last candlelight demonstration," said citizen activist Jeon Jy Yun, 46.

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