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Features Myanmar border trip

Though I might be able to become Jürgen Hinzpeter for Myanmar...

Sunin Do
Jeonnam Ilbo (Jeonnam Daily Newspaper)

Maesot is a border city between Thailand and Myanmar, and I haven’t heard of that name before February 2021. After the military coup broke out in Myanmar, I heard refugees who fled from military oppression and civil wars found their shelters in Maesot. The situation in Myanmar back then was quite similar to that of Gwangju in May 1980, making me feel like heading to Maesot because I wanted to hear what they had to say about the democratization movement in Myanmar.

Back in May 1980, there were also foreign journalists who covered the stories of Gwanju. Blue-eyed witness and German journalist, Jürgen Hinzpeter, Asia Wall Street Journal’s Norman Thorpe who made it to the then Jeonnam provincial government building first, and Asahi Shimbun’s social department reporter Tadaomi Saito and photo reporter Katsuo Aoi… they all got over the language barrier and put the stories of Gwangju in record.

Yet, a chance came much earlier than I expected one day when I received a call from Mr. Park Tae-sang, who is heading a multi-cultural commun>ity performance group called the “Dreamers” in Gwangju. We’ve known each other for some time as I have covered the Dreamers’ performances themed on the “Marching for Our Beloved”, the main song of the May 18th Democratization Movement. He was regretting that people’s interest and concerns are gradually waning about Myanmar’s democratization movement and invited me to join his visit to Myanmar to put things in record.



At first, we could not find flight tickets to Myanmar and I wasn’t even sure if my company would allow me to go. Still, however, there was a sense of duty surging inside of me as a journalist in Gwangju, just as those foreign journalists did back in May 1980. After that, we were joined by the May 18th Memorial Foundation, the Justice and Peace Committee of Catholic Archdiocese of Gwangju, Chonnam National University Hospital, etc. and I received an approval from my company, too. While people around me were concerned about my safety, I think I was lucky enough to be able to get there. No reason to back off from the valuable opportunity.

However, the expectations that I had as a journalist heading to a story were horribly torn apart the moment that I set a foot in Myanmar since I was too shocked by the brutal reality that I saw there. I was there to cover the stories of democratization activities who fled the military regime’s suppression but my mind was heavily weighed down whenever I met those who were wounded and lost homes to the civil war. It was never easy for a young, inexperienced journalist like me to ask those innocent people who lost part of their bodies to mines and weapons. I didn’t want to be a rude journalist who was just eager to collect stories for news, putting up a camera and all disregarding the tragedies of the victims.

I got much help from Su, a Myanmar student who was on my team throughout the visits. She was a student studying human rights in Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand. She previously studied politics and diplomacy in University of Yangon in February when the military coup broke out and then decided to join the democratization movement. After that, she came to attend Mahidol University as an exchange student to flee from the surveillance of the military regime and was still concerned about the family she had left behind in Myanmar.

It seemed she decided to join the team to check the situation of her home country in person, rather than through what’s covered by news programs and SNS. She was the only Burmese on my team and hence was able to answer all my questions about Mynamar’s politics and history. She said “Feel free to ask questions anytime” with a smile on her face and let me feel easy on my mind whenever I had to ask.

Myanmar’s military regime has held the rein for over 70 years and its control has become more rigid and stronger as time passed. During the period, Myanmar fell into one of the poorest countries in the world, making merely $1300 in per capita GDP, and a human rights violator killing and expelling dozens of ethnic minorities. Since the military coup in February, the death toll is estimated to exceed 2,000 people until August this year. Those who fled to the border cities are left in the blind spots of human rights.

Su wanted people to be aware of what’s happening in Myanmar more and better and willingly answered any questions about her country. It was indeed a relief for me to hear when she said “It’s a good question.” She was by far a more accurate and reliable source of information than the internet portals of Korea. Myanmar’s voting system, different stances among ethnic minorities, and all this delicate information not available on the Internet came from her.

And yet, I was still torn about my job in that place. Can I justify my legwork as a journalist despite the brutal reality? It is right to highlight victims’ sufferings to draw public attention to Myanmar? In the meantime, Su somehow gave me the answer. While I could not completely cross the language barrier with her and share all my thoughts deep inside, her saying “feel free to ask questions” sounded to me like she wanted me to write Myanmar’s stories in all detail and accuracy when I return to Korea.

We also talked about the May 18 Democratization Movement in Gwangju. She was aware Gwangju has a similar experience as Myanmar today. The fact is, Myanmar’s struggles triggered a wind of solidary across Gwangju right after the military coup broke out in February. It would have been best if Gwangju could still be a hope to Myanmar as she wished but, truth be told, people’s interest gradually declined as the military coup was protracted and domestic issues in Korea caught their eyes in the meantime. Yet, people in Myanmar seem to be dealing with an even more desperate situation than Gwanju back in 1980, as the coup is dragging foot and disputes among ethnic minorities are adding fuel to fire, leading to a civil war.

It’s been about a month since I came back to Korea and I have since written several articles on local newspapers in Gwangju. But I question myself if I did an OK job to share the reality of Myanmar to the readers in Korea. I miss Su every so often who said she would never forget what we’ve done together when we were parting. I wish Myanmar will find its way to democracy in peace just as she hoped for. In an age when asking questions could mean hurting victims, her kind answers to me make me think of the grave responsibility of a journalist