HONG KONG (SE): Andrew Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung, the archbishop of Seoul, expressed deep empathy with the people of Myanmar following a March 18 meeting with students and workers from the turmoil-wracked country who reside in South Korea.
Cardinal Yeom heard about the situation in Myanmar, noting that South Korea had gone through similar challenges and problems in the past, and encouraged the pro-democracy movement saying he would consider how actual help might be offered.
“He will stand with the people of Myanmar until they achieve full democracy,” said a press release from the archdiocese’s Committee for Communications.
One of the students (known in Korean as Han Soo-min) vividly described the situation in Myanmar saying that it is actually far worse than reported in the media. The military junta, which usurped power in a coup d’etat on February 1 (Sunday Examiner, February 7), cut the nation’s Internet and deployed extra troops around the country to fiercely repress protests.
“Since the junta decreed full martial law in Hlaing Tharyar and other districts of Yangon, they gave no sign of warning and shot the people,” Han said, adding that despite the escalating military violence “we, the people of Myanmar, consider that the pro-democracy movement is the last chance for us to acquire the realisation of democracy in our generation.”
Another student added, “I believe the ongoing situation of Myanmar is not merely an internal matter but a global issue which deserves immediate attention and support from the international community. And that is why I am here today, as a citizen of Myanmar, to raise awareness on the issue and ask for your support for the resistance in Myanmar.”
Cardinal Yeom by encouraging them with the words of Pope Francis’ address at the interreligious meeting on the Plain of Ur, Iraq on March 6: “Peace does not demand winners or losers, but rather brothers and sisters who, for all the misunderstandings and hurts of the past, are journeying from conflict to unity.”
