People Power!
This month of the PSPD
Information Release! What you should know before voting
PSPD has defined the 20th Assembly Election as the judgment and conversion, and released must-know-information for voters to make a right decision.
It has listed 37 lawmakers who representatively proposed 59 bad bills of the 19th Assembly and published an issue report <Who has proposed bad bills during the 19th Assembly?> on 13 March. It was followed by <The second half of the 19th Assembly, vote results of step stone and hurdle bills> on 16 March which examined who voted for or against 7 step stone bills and 12 hurdle bills that have passed the Assembly. <Remarks and attitudes of lawmakers of the 19th Assembly for major issues of Korean society> was also presented on 22 March that their comments and actions were described in detail in respect to interfering Sewol Ferry disaster investigation, defending National Intelligence Service’s involvement in the Presidential Election and opposing its reform, government-led national history textbook, beautifying the agreement between Korean and Japanese government on comfort women, and supporting unqualified candidates for government officers at hearings.
Policy proposal <We vote to the hope>
A certain figure can give a hope but PSPD would like to give a priority to policies. PSPD has written a series of articles <We vote to the hope> from 9 March at an internet media <Oh My News>. In prior to this, it presented <52 policy assignments to look into at the 2016 General Election> on 7 March, and proposed them to each parties and asked to reflect in election promises.
Campaign to check provision of my communication data
After Terror Prevention Act passed the National Assembly, it has become an issue that the National Intelligence Service, the police and the prosecutors are checking a personal and telecommunication data of a certain telephone number through mobile service providers. PSPD has dealt the problem of ‘Provision of communication Data’ seriously since 2010 that NIS has collected personal information of a telephone number and a writer of online post from mobile and internet service provider such as Naver under the excuse of investigation.
PSPS organized a civil campaign in February asking the citizen to check if their telecommunication data (identification) have been submitted to NIS or the police and has resumed it together with Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Jinbo Network. This can be done by contacting online customer service center of each provider and making a request. If provision to NIS or the Police is confirmed, please let PSPD know. A legal action will be taken to inquire the reason.
Published a Prosecutors report on three years of Park Geun-hye administration
PSPD published <Prosecutors report on three years of Park Geun-hye administration> on 23 March. It is the 8th on prosecutors since the first one was released in February 2009 at the first year of Lee Myung-bak administration.
Appealed problems with the Terror Prevention Act to the UN Human Rights Council
Representing 52 Korean civil society organizations, PSPD and Minbyun participated in UN Human Rights Council held in Geneva, Switzerland on 10 March and spoke about problems with the Terror Prevention Act. The speech was made during a bilateral talk with a special rapporteur on counter-terrorism. They asked a rapporteur to recommend the Korean government to dispose the Terror Prevention Act and stop abusing the authority of the NIS.
In addition, a resolution on the protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests was made so that PSPD has sent a joint letter with human rights defender organizations in overseas to UN human rights council member states urging to pass the resolution.
Presented the first issue report on household debt
Household debt problem is getting worse both in quantity and quality but the government is not actively doing something to resolve it. Therefore, PSPD presented <Household debt issue report Ⅰ, is household debt manageable?> on 22 March to judge if a decision of the government has been right.
‘Korean Peninsula Peace Forum’ was held to find peaceful measures for military dispute
The peace has disappeared from the Korean peninsula because of South-North dispute started early this year, closure of Gaeseong industrial complex and large scale military drills of both sides. Meanwhile, the first <Korean Peninsula Peace Forum> was held on 21 March at the Seoul Press Center in which religious groups and civil society have participated. PSPD supports the forum with administration.
It is a temporarily co-operation set up to find peaceful measures to resolve military confrontation and dispute in Korean peninsula and the Northeast Asia. The participants of the first forum presented a statement asking to stop all armed protests and start a peace talk. It also emphasized denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula including North Korea’s giving up of nuclear weapon development and working for a peace agreement in order to settle down Korean Peninsula crisis.