61 lawmakers awarded by youth for making positive remarks

The Sunfull Foundation has held a ceremony to present an award in collaboration with the National Assembly to 61 lawmakers who make positive remarks, the organization said Thursday.

The Sunfull Foundation is a non-governmental organization founded by English educator Min Byung-chul in 2007 to counter cyberbullying, hate speech, and human rights violations on the internet.

The recipients were chosen by 300 high school and college students, the organization said.

The students selected 30 members of the National Assembly by analyzing the transcripts of the plenary sessions and the standing committee recorded in the National Assembly minutes (likms.assembly.go.kr/record) over two months starting in September last year.

They were added to 31 who did not receive awards due to COVID-19 last year.

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug, who won the Sunfull Grand Prize, said, “It is all the more meaningful because it is an award selected and given by teenagers. In the future, we will further enhance the dignity of the National Assembly by using language that respects and cares for others.”

More than 7,000 schools and organizations at home and abroad participate in the movement to encourage netizens to post positive and supportive comments on the internet, and 810,000 members have posted more than 9.5 million positive comments on the Sunfull Foundation website, the organization said.

And, 287 out of 300 members of the 21st National Assembly signed the “National Assembly Sunfull Political Declaration,” and some foreign politicians from the US, Japan and the Philippines also participated in the movement, the foundation said.

At the event, the young representative of the movement for positive comments online declared May 23 as “no malicious comment day.” The organization said it aims to practice good words at least one day of the year and prevent people from suffering from malicious comments.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)