Univ. uses original song to protest defectors` deportation

Univ. uses original song to protest defectors` deportation. March. 14, 2012 08:10. run-juno@donga.com.

“Save my friend/Cold tears running down/Please, open your heart/To oppose forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees, stop your work for a moment and join us/Let’s work and chant together regardless of age and gender.”

More than 400 students, professors and personnel at Kyung-In Women’s University sang the song “Save My Friend” while holding pickets and balloons in front of the Chinese Embassy in Jongno, Seoul on Tuesday to protest China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors. Passers-by stopped at the new form of protest and encouraged demonstrators with applause.

The university made the song at a rally to protest the repatriation of defectors. To raise public awareness of the hardships of such escapees and urge participation in helping them, Goh Hoon-joon, a broadcasting and entertainment professor, composed the lyrics and Kang hyeon-koo, a music composition professor, wrote the music.

“We`ve composed the song to urge people to protect the human rights of North Korean escapees regardless of political ideology,” the two professors said in a statement.

With an appealing singing method, four students including Cho Ha-na, 20, who is majoring in broadcasting and entertainment, drew attention from passers-by. They also rapped in the middle of the song.

The students also issued a statement saying, “We couldn’t turn a blind eye to precious lives fading away,” adding, “Please help prevent the Chinese government from sending North Korean escapees back to North Korea.”

After the rally ended, the students visited a tent where Kim Kil-ja, the founder and honorary president of the university, staged a hunger strike in front of the Chinese Embassy and bowed to her.

One of the students said, “We grabbed the president’s hands and found that her hands had turned scraggy,” adding the students were moved to tears.

Kim said, “Watching the students and professors singing the song opposing the repatriation, I was very impressed,” adding, “This is a new paradigm for student human rights movements.”

Kim was sent to Ewha Womans University Medical Center in Yangcheon, Seoul during the day due to her deteriorating condition.