Condemning the Brutal Oppression of the People and Freedom of Press by the Myanmar Military: A Joint Statement by the Korea Foundation for Press Freedom, the Donga Struggle Committee for Free Press, the Chosun Struggle Committee for Free Press, the Association of National Journalists Resisting against 5.17 Coup d'e'tat, and the Korean Unionized Media Workers’ Forum

On the 1st of February this year, the Myanmar military led by General Min Aung Hlaing staged a coup, by which they overturned the democratically elected government. The coup was met by a series of civil disobedience and boycott movements across Myanmar, to which the military responded by means of savagery and violence, including killing and persecuting peaceful protestors; rigging public opinion via press censorship and newsroom raids; and shutting down communications. At least five hundred people have lost their lives when the military and police opened indiscriminate fire at people demanding justice and democracy. They have also shut down a majority of media outlets in the country except for the state-owned ones and begun cracking down on conscientious journalists, to which foreign media workers and journalists were no exception. Some of them were arrested or had their work interrupted on site. They even opened fire at one of the vehicles owned by a Korean company in Myanmar, which resulted in the death of one Korean employee of theirs. The situation for the nation of Myanmar and its people is growing direr as the military seeks to monopolize power and wealth in the country.

For the people of South Korea, such a situation is nothing but a familiar one, as they have experienced decades-long military dictatorships and the Gwangju Uprising on May 18, 1980. Not unlike what is happening in Myanmar at the moment, the South Korean military responded to the Gwangju Uprising by means of violence and opinion rigging. In the spirit of the struggle for free press during the Park Chung-hee regime, journalists and media workers had refused to comply with media censorship imposed by the Chun Doo-hwan regime and went on strike, for which they were forcibly laid off. As South Korean journalists and media workers, we understand and identify with the pain of the people of Myanmar, caused by the military junta’s greed for power and wealth.

Democracy that is firmly rooted in the notion of human dignity was a decisive moment where a great progress in human civilization and geisteskultur has taken place. The international community has endorsed democracy despite a series of authoritarianism-related crises. The citizens of the world are pained by the brutal sight in Myanmar where violence and oppression of press freedom are taking place on a daily basis. The international community is faced with a tragedy where the people of Myanmar cry in despair as the value of human dignity and democracy crumbles down. This tragedy is exacerbated by the powerlessness of the United Nations and the leaders of the international community caught in the power game of international politics. Those who work hard to expose the wrongdoings of the military are being targeted and persecuted.

The international community is at a critical juncture where we are just beginning to seek solidarity and mutual aid amidst the COVID-19 crisis and the rise of racism and extreme right-wing movements. The Myanmar crisis will serve as a litmus test that determines whether we are headed to the era of peace and coexistence or relapse into barbarism and state of conflict. The United Nations and the leaders of the international community ought to put an end to the violence taking place in Myanmar by quickly proclaiming that they will no longer allow the brutality perpetuated by the Myanmar military and active intervene by dispatching the UN peacekeeping forces and imposing sanctions against the Myanmar military to protect the people of Myanmar. Otherwise, the current situation will soon escalate to a civil war, which may result in an astonishing number of death toll, a direct consequence of the international community’s inaction and neglect. We vividly remember how the people of South Korea have fallen victim to those very inaction and neglect when the US government turned a blind eye to the ruthless massacres carried out by Chun Doo-hwan in Gwangju forty-one years ago.

As we have struggled against the authoritarian military rule for press freedom and democracy in the spirit of the Gwangju Uprising, we stand ready to support and in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and their righteous protest. We also warn the leaders of the Myanmar military that, no matter how brutally they oppress their people and the media, the people and justice will prevail. We express our deepest respect for the Myanmar journalists’ and media workers’ sacrifice for and devotion to their people.

The international community must take humanitarian responsibility for the people of Myanmar and take immediate action in response to their painful cry. We urge them to do so to restore firm faith in human dignity and democracy. It is evident that the people of Myanmar chose not the military regime but the democratic government during the election in November 2020. The country belongs to the just people of Myanmar, not the pack of corrupt military leaders.

April 13, 2021, Seoul, Korea