Seoul celebrations for Refugee Day

A day of events will be held in Seoul on Saturday to raise awareness of the plight of refugees both in Korea and worldwide.

The Refugee NGOs’ Network, which consists of some 10 organizations working on refugee protection and rights, is organizing the day along with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and the UNHCR-Korea, to celebrate World Refugee Day and Korea’s upcoming enforcement of an independent Refugee Act. The bill was enacted in February and will be enforced on July 1, 2013.

The event will run from 4-8 p.m. at Yeouido Park Floating Plaza, with booths offering visitors the chance to experience different cultures, food and books, and to gain a better understanding of refugees.

Three flashmob events arranged by Sung Ki-wan, leader of indie-band 3rd Line Butterfly, and Kim Min-jung, representative of Movement Dang Dang, will also be held throughout the day.

Dancers will first perform at Yeoido Floating Plaza at 4:30 p.m. before moving on at 6:30 p.m. to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea. They will then dance at the performance stage in front of the Korea Tourism Organization at 7:30 p.m.

A dance practice for the flashmob event will be held on Thursday from 5:30-7 p.m. at Movement Dangdang Practice Room near Sungkyunkwan University. Anyone interested in human rights is invited to practice the dance moves to Michael Jackson tunes ahead of taking part in Saturday’s event.

For more information, call Human Asia on (02) 723-1673 or e-mail humanasia@humanasia.org.