Sunfull awards lawmakers for speaking politely

The Sunfull Movement, which campaigns for positive online comments, awarded 13 lawmakers on Tuesday for speaking politely in parliament.

The award winners were chosen by a Sunfull youth press corps of 118 high school and college student reporters.

They analyzed the National Assembly minutes from September 2012 to July 2013 to select the winners of the 2013 Sunfull prize for polite speech.

The winners consisted of seven representatives from the Saenuri Party and six from the Democratic Party. The Saenuri lawmakers were Kim Jae-won, Kim Jong-tae, Kim Tae-whan, Shin Yee-jin, Yun Jae-ok, Cho Myung-chul and Hwang Young-cheul, while the DP members were Kang Chang-il, Kim Yung-rok, Park Ki-choon, Oh Jae-sae, Lim Nae-hyun and Choi Kyu-sung.

The press corps found that the lawmakers addressed senior government officials with polite and considerate expressions on many occasions during the parliamentary audit of the government.

The award ceremony was held at a National Assembly restaurant for dignitaries and also marked the 6th anniversary of Sunfull Day.

“If elders will be the first to praise and consider others, they will be a good example for youngsters to follow, not to mention reducing the social cost of conflict,” said professor Min Byoung-chul of Konkuk University, who founded the Sunfull Movement.

The name of the movement came from “sun,” a Korean word meaning good, and “full,” which means a reply in Korean.

Initiated by Min in 2007, it has grown into a nationwide movement joined by about 6,000 schools and civic groups across the country. So far, participants in the movement have generated some 4.6 million positive and encouraging comments on the internet.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)