Korean Media and Citizens Learn the Truth About Falun Gong By Falun Gong practitioners from Korea (Clearwisdom.net) Recently, Korean Falun Gong practitioners completed
50 days of clarifying the truth about Falun Gong. This event marked a new
starting point in the Korean Falun Gong practitioners' participation in
Fa-rectification. The outcome was that the Korean media and more and more Korean
people started learning the truth about Falun Gong in a positive way. Below is a
summary of the 50-day truth-clarification event.
On December 12, 2001 a very influential newspaper in Korea published an
article entitled "China is unfolding a vigorous campaign of resuming
Confucian ideals," written by the newspaper's correspondent in Beijing. The
article openly assaulted Falun Dafa and repeated the evil propaganda from
Jiang's regime.
This article immediately created a great disturbance in Korea, and without a
doubt, it added to the Korean people's inaccurate understanding of Dafa. The
Korean media was also shocked by the article. The article suddenly became the
focus of the whole country, especially in the journalistic community.
On December 12, practitioners started calling the newspaper to object to the
article. On December 13, two practitioners went to the newspaper office to
clarify why we felt the article was damaging. Because of this, the Beijing
correspondent hurriedly returned to the newspaper office in Korea on 13th.
The newspaper editor quickly made a decision and published a
"correction" on the second page on the 14th. It stated,
"Regarding comments about the article entitled 'China is unfolding a
vigorous campaign of resuming Confucian ideals' published on December 12, Falun
Gong has clarified that 'Falun Dafa is a cultivation practice for both body and
mind.'"
The newspaper did not use any polite expressions such as "regret"
or "apologize," but just attempted to half-heartedly assume
responsibility.
On the 14th, the Korean Falun Gong Association immediately
released an eight-point statement. Some of the points included were: Including bringing an accusation to court, we would
take all legal and necessary means to safeguard Dafa's reputation and to
safeguard our proper right to practice cultivation; We proposed to hold a
conference inviting thousands of attendants from the media and people from all
walks of life, in order to openly discuss questions related to Falun Gong's
reputation.
On the next day, 5000 posters containing the eight-point statement by the
Korean Falun Gong Association were posted in densely populated areas in Seoul,
including subway stations and bus stations. Everywhere there were practitioners
distributing Dafa flyers.
From December 14 to 16, the Korean media and their branches abroad received
thousands of emails containing Falun Gong truth-clarification materials and the
eight-point statement.
First, we presented an arbitration application to the speech arbitration
committee, and then, we engaged an attorney to begin a lawsuit accusing the
newspaper of damaging Falun Gong practitioners' reputation.
Thus, the Korean media had to take Falun Gong practitioners seriously. 4. Five days after the initial damaging report, the newspaper once again
published a "correction."
The newspaper office was finally astonished by our actions, and on 17th,
they once again published their view on the second page. The complete text is as
follows: "Correction: In the article entitled 'China is unfolding a
vigorous campaign of resuming Confucian ideals' on page 10 in the December 12
newspaper, the correspondent's report on Falun Gong contained mistakes. Now it
is corrected to: '[slanderous term omitted] such as Falun Gong is the
understanding of the authorities of China.' For this incident, that
unintentionally caused a misunderstanding, we deeply express our regret to the
Falun Gong practitioners in Korea. We also clarify that our newspaper does not
hold any prejudice towards Falun Gong."
Obviously, the newspaper's second declaration was an improvement, but it was
still not enough to eliminate the negative effects that the incident had brought
to the journalistic community as well as the rest of society. Therefore, the
Korean Falun Gong Association presented a reasonable plan to the newspaper to
resolve the damaging article.
In order to let people sufficiently understand the truth of Falun Gong,
Korean practitioners continuously exhibited the truth outside the newspaper
office. Every morning, practitioners exhibited a Dafa sign and many
truth-clarification photos in front of the newspaper office.
People changed their understanding about Dafa due to the practitioners'
tireless efforts. When the practitioners handed Dafa materials to some reporters
and clarified the truth to them, they always kept a peaceful and kind attitude.
Thus, people from the public security office of the newspaper office were
extremely puzzled, "Our report attacked Falun Gong, why do they treat us so
kindly?!" Those who originally did not know much about Falun Gong started
understanding Falun Gong through practitioners' compassionate behavior.
The middle and upper level managers of the consortium often came in and out
of the newspaper office. They sometimes carefully read the posters before they
left. Other practitioners distributed Dafa materials in nearby office buildings
and clarified the truth to the occupants. Many people expressed their
appreciation and sympathy towards Falun Gong.
Within one week, we heard that the staff of the newspaper office and in the
offices in buildings near there now knew that Falun Gong is righteous and Falun
Gong practitioners are good people!
The director of the newspaper office realized that persisting in publishing
Jiang's evil propaganda would result in legal action from Falun Gong
practitioners. As a result, the newspaper's reputation would be destroyed. After
careful research and discussion, the newspaper agreed to publish the Korean
Falun Gong Association's eight-point statement to the Korean media as well as an
article written by a practitioner. They published the articles provided by the
Association without changing a word, in a prominent section of the paper. One of
the main reasons for making this decision came from their observation of Dafa
practitioners during this period. The newspaper office and a very big consortium
understood that "Falun Dafa is righteous, and Falun Gong practitioners are
compassionate."
On January 4, 2002, this very influential newspaper published, in very
prominent place, the statement by the Korean Falun Gong Association "Our
stance on the Korean media's report about Falun Gong" and an article
entitled "Falun Gong is a righteous Fa" by professor Wen, a Falun Gong
practitioner. For several days, Falun Gong and that newspaper were a hot topic
of conversation in media circles and in the rest of society.
After that, many media outlets one after another expressed their desire to
reprint the statement. Several media wanted to interview Falun Gong
practitioners. One big newspaper claimed that they would like to use a whole
page to report a special interview with the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li
Hongzhi.
The big newspaper's report on January 4 was a breakthrough in the Korean
Fa-rectification. We received numerous phone calls from many media. One daily
newspaper at central level called us and said that their newspaper had never
printed a single sentence that defamed Falun Gong. Another newspaper directly
expressed that they would publish the statement by the Association on the second
page the next day.
At 11:10 a.m. on January 10, MBC radio station broadcast a live 30-minute
talk show with a professor and practitioners in charge of the Korean Falun Gong
Association, discussing the Falun Gong issue and concerns of the Korean people.
The professor appraised Falun Gong positively. The practitioners used this
opportunity to clarify the truth and to spread Dafa to the Korean people. For
several days in succession, the MBC radio station as well as many assistants at
various assistant sites received hundreds of phone calls from people wanting to
learn Falun Gong. This is the second wave of Fa-rectification after January 4,
when the newspaper published articles provided by KFGA.
Immediately after that, the president of the Association of Korean speakers
requested an interview with the practitioners in charge of the KFGA. He
expressed his deep concern that some media misrepresented Falun Gong and
improperly quoted news about Falun Gong. He said frankly that he himself did not
know much about Falun Gong, but he had read several related articles. He said
that Falun Gong is good for both mental and physical health. He added that so
many people are practicing it, and there is nothing bad about it. He said that
as speakers of public opinion, they would not follow what others had said. Then
he and the editor sent words that if KFGA agreed, they would provide a whole
page for KFGA to publish Falun Gong information.
The "Agreement of Speakers" is a newspaper aiming at all Korean
media as well as reporters within the country and abroad. It holds a very
special and important position. This newspaper directly influences every Korean
news medium.
On January 30, 2002, Korean newspaper "Agreement of Speakers" used
one whole page to publish various articles including "What Is Falun Gong
Telling Us?" The articles used real stories to clarify the truth to people.
The column "Falun Gong Changed Me in Such a Way" talked about the
experiences of how the mental and physical health of 5 Dafa practitioners was
improved through practicing Falun Gong . The 5 practitioners included a director
of a Chinese medicine hospital, a CEO, a housewife, a PhD, and a member of the
armed forces in active service. In addition, an introduction to Falun Gong as
well as Teacher demonstrating the 5-sets of exercises were also published. The
KFGA directly mailed 5000 copies of this newspaper to Korean organizations,
groups, and individuals, to help more people to learn the truth about Falun Gong
in a positive way.
This event of truth-clarification, which shook all of Korea, effectively
eliminated evil Jiang's slander of Dafa in this country. It led many people to
change their incorrect understanding of Falun Dafa and enabled them to
understand Dafa in a positive way. In addition to their astonishment, Korean
media and reporters started thinking deeply and began to boldly say that Falun
Dafa is good. People started to obtain the Fa. Reporters from every media took
the initiative to contact us, requesting Dafa materials and to ask us to teach
them the 5 sets of exercises. Even the mid-level manager of the newspaper that
started this event of Fa-rectification also told us that because of our effort
to rectify the initial incident, a considerable number of reporters from this
newspaper are respectfully reading Zhuan Falun.
Posting date: 2/24/2002 |