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S. Korea foundation scraps award for Suu Kyi
SEOUL, Dec 18, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – One of South Korean largest human rights
groups will strip Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi of its 2004
prize because of her “indifference” to the atrocities against the Rohingya
minority, organisers said Tuesday.
Suu Kyi was unable to receive the Gwangju human rights award at the time
because she was under house arrest by the military junta.
Her party has since taken office in Myanmar and the Nobel Peace Prize
winner holds the title of state counsellor, but the one-time champion of
democracy has been widely accused of apathy or complicity in the plight of
the Rohingya.
The United Nations has warned the Muslim minority continue to be targeted
in an “ongoing genocide”.
“Her indifference to the atrocities against the Rohingya runs against the
values the award stands for — protecting and promoting human rights,”
spokesman Cho Jin-tae of the May 18 Memorial Foundation told AFP.
As a result the foundation’s board decided on Monday to withdraw her award,
he added.
The foundation was set up in 1994 to commemorate the 1980 pro-democracy
uprising in Gwangju, which ended in a bloodbath by martial law troops that
left more than 200 people killed or wounded.
But the insurrection against then military dictator Chun Doo-hwan inspired
the country’s pro-democracy protests which culminated in a restoration of
democracy seven years later.
Last month, Amnesty International withdrew its prestigious Ambassador of
Conscience Award from Suu Kyi, citing her “apparent indifference” to the
atrocities committed against the Rohingya.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1101 hrs