(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.
1. The incident that sparked the whole 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.
2. Because of public protest, the newspaper published a "correction" two days later in an attempt to make it appear that they had been fair.
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.
3. The strong protest by Falun Gong practitioners in Korea
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.
5. Practitioners continuously clarify the truth to the media.
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.
6. The newspaper agreed to publish the Korean Falun Gong Association's statement as well as truth-clarification articles by practitioners.
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."
7. The publishing of the statement by the Korean Falun Gong Association shakes the entire country's media.
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.
8. MBC radio station broadcasts a live interview with Dafa practitioners and raises a second wave of the Fa-rectification.
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.
9. A whole page of Falun Gong articles in the newspaper "Agreement of Speakers" raised the third wave of Fa-rectification.
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.
10. Inspiration and reflection on what we gained from this event of Fa-rectification
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.
