Asian youths to campaign for healthy online culture

Youths from Korea, Japan and China will gather in downtown Seoul on Saturday to participate in a music festival and ceremonial events to counter widespread cyberbullying and hateful Internet comments.

Sunfull Movement, launched in 2007, said Thursday that it would hold a concert and ceremonies to showcase their campaign for benign Internet comments. The event will take place at 1:30 p.m. at Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul.

The festival will be attended by 3,000 youths from Korea, Japan and China, with an aim to build multinational friendship and peace. Similar events will also be held simultaneously in China, the organizers said.

The event at the Beijing Language and Culture University will be broadcast real-time via Chinese Internet TV People’s Daily Online. The event in Sichuan province will include ceremonies to pledge an end to posting negative Internet comments and to send peaceful messages.

There will be concerts featuring popular Korean and Chinese singers, including ALi and opera singer Yisabel, b-boy group Fusion MC, K-pop band Sunny Days and Chinese singer Re Chan-Chan.

“I sincerely hope that the event will foster friendship among the young people of Korea, Japan and China, and allow them to commit themselves to staying away from hateful Internet comments,” said Min Byoung-chul, chair of Sunfull Movement and professor at Konkuk University.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)