Welcome to BASE21

As representatives of eleven human rights organization, we decided on October 13, 2000 to secede from the ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) People's Forum, the NGO counterpart conference to the ASEM summit which brings together the heads of state from both continents. It is our belief that the members of the People's Forum should be united in resistance to further trade liberalization which is on the agenda for the ASEM meeting. Though we have seceded from the People's Forum, we do not intend to create factionalism among the participating NGOs and plan to cooperate within our capacity to do so. However we feel it is necessary to take an independent stand in light of the fact that the government has organized to suppress the people's right to assembly. As a result there is a high likelihood of human rights violations taking place. The People's Forum alone may not be able to monitor and make a timely response to such situations due to the fact that a substantial portion of its funding derives from the government.

Just yesterday, 28 NGO participants arriving in Seoul for the People's Forum were refused entry to the country by the South Korean government for their presence and participation in protests in either Seattle or Prague.

We also demand the legal right to organize in peaceful demonstration! So far the government has moved to obstruct any sort of legal protests from happening. A group of volunteers from within our group has committed itself to the monitoring of human rights violations for the duration of ASEM. Meanwhile the government has mobilized 40,000 police in the city of Seoul and 3,000 riot police in the immediate vicinity of ASEM.

WE PROTEST THE FOLLOWING:
▶The ASEM agenda is focused on the liberalization of trade and investment which threatens the right to livelihood of the world's people.

▶Lack of transparency of ASEM contents and proceedings, the outcome of which will affect the lives of the citizens of the countries involved.

▶Lack of initiative by the South Korean government in proposing any economic policy alternatives to the trend toward neo-liberalism at the ASEM meeting.

▶One month government ban for all of October on civil rallies, protests and gatherings of any kind in the vicinity of the ASEM conference. In effect this relegates all NGO activities to a site far from the ASEM building.

▶Police blockade (of 3,000) announced one month ago obstructs access to the original venue for the People's Forum. This announcement forced organizers of the People's Forum to scramble to find an alternative site far from ASEM, inconveniencing both domestic NGOs and our visitors from abroad.

▶Acceptance by the leadership of the People's Forum of government funds, hindering their accountability to the interests of the NGOs they are said to represent and potentially compromising their autonomy and integrity.

The wave of economic globalization sweeping the globe is guided by pro-corporate neo-liberal policy decisions at both the national and international level, that threaten people's right to livelihood. Transnational capital along with the government elites aim to eliminate barriers to free trade and the movement of capital to maximize profit generation through economic re-colonization of the Third World.

The main topics of discussion at the third ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) conference to be held in Seoul, Korea this week is the liberalization of trade (including finance) between the markets of Europe and Asia, and ways to launch talks for the WTO New Round. As the people in Seattle, Geneva and Prague have stood up to demonstrate their resistance to a co-optive economic globalization based on closed-door economic agreements, so will the people in Seoul.

It is of serious concern to us that the content of the ASEM proceedings and issues to be discussed are kept secret from the people who will be directly affected by the resulting agreed-upon policies. Like other inter-governmental meetings that have concerned economic policy considerations (WTO in Seattle and IMF in Prague), ASEM too lacks tranparency and public accountability.

The South Korean Government recognizes the ASEM meeting as a large international forum for enhancing their national status. However, the government, though it is the Asian country host, has no guiding philosophy of its own, nor alternative principles proposed, to bring to the table, concerning the overall opening of the Asian market. Above all, there are no plans to address the social and environmental costs that have resulted from the implementation of neo-liberal economic policies.

Because the South Korean government views ASEM as an opportunity to capture the international spotlight, it has taken many steps to prevent being embarrassed on the world stage. These attempts at cosmetic surgery do nothing to address the root causes of why people have protested at previous world summits involving discussion of trade and investment liberalization. The measures they have taken are also an insult to citizens rights, by narrowly and deviously skirting legal boundaries, obstructing people's right to peaceful assembly.

In preparation for ASEM...
1) The South Korean government found legal means to prevent the assembly of any groups near the ASEM venue or ASEM-designated hotels where the heads of state will be staying. The government pressured various pro-government organizations and business companies to register with the government for the permit to assembly in the given areas. By Korean law, their registration permit would supercede the right of any other group to gather around the ASEM Building. This would effectively prevent NGOs, trade unions, and student groups from being able to gather anywhere in the immediate area near the conference. Any groups that assemble without a permit will be removed, and may be subject to detainment or arrest. Thus we must ask the question, 'For whose good is ASEM being held?'

2) The ASEM People's Forum is the NGO conference held in parallel to ASEM. The leading organizations of the ASEM People's Forum have in fact, limited autonomy because of their dependency on partnerships formed with the inter-governmental meeting and their focus on increasing NGO negotiation clout in relation to ASEM.

The government abruptly announced one month ago that the police blockade around the ASEM conference would also obstruct access to the ASEM-PF venue, Bongun-sa (a Buddhist temple) located opposite the ASEM building.

The original location of the PF's agreed-upon venue, Bongun-sa (a Buddhist temple) was located across the street from ASEM. (This site had been decided on three months earlier.) By forcing the PF to relocate their venue to a site (Konkuk University) far removed from ASEM itself, any opportunity for contact or communication between the PF and ASEM itself was eliminated.

ASEM People's Forum's finances are largely provided by the government. When the government announced that the police blockade around ASEM would make the PF inaccessible, the leaders of PF immediately capitulated to the government without a word of protest.

NGOs can function independently when they are self-reliant in their operational finances. So we are bothered by the compliance of the secretariat of the ASEM People's Forum in response to the government's demand. Accepting government funds threatens the credibility and integrity of ASEM PFs' decision-making process.

If you have managed to read all the way to the bottom of this very long e-mail which we are sending out at 3 in the morning,... : )
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To our Friends Abroad:

The Human Rights Forum Against the Globalization of Capital would like to request that you help us to ensure that both ASEM and the ASEM PF proceed peacefully. To this end we ask that you write to South Korea's President, Kim Dae-Jung for his assurance that:

1) people's organizations (NGOs, trade unions and student groups) are granted the legal right to organize in peaceful demonstration without obstruction under false pretenses by the government

2) no human rights violations take place during the week of the ASEM conference
(Oct. 19th - 21st)

President Kim Dae-Jung's e-mail address: webmaster@cwd.go.kr

Finally we would appreciate it if you could forward a copy of the letters you send to the President to us.

Thank you in advance-
And PEACE!
Jaehun Choi

For more information, contact us :
Korean House for International Solidarity
Tel.:82-2-3675-5808, Fax. : 82-2-3673-5627
E-mail : khis21@nownuri.net, khis21@hotmail.com
Website : www.khis.or.kr