[E-rundbrief] Info 1082 - Non-violenst activists - deportation from South Korea

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 1082 - Trident Ploughshares (GB): Nobel Peace Prize 
nominee Angie Zelter and French activist Benjamin Monnet face 
deportation from South Korea - non-violent resistance against 
US-Navy-base at Gangjeong village on Jeju island, South Korea. (Siehe 
auch Info 1079)

Bad Ischl, 15.3.2012

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Trident Ploughshares

Press Release: 15th March 2012

Nobel nominee faces deportation from South Korea

Current Nobel Peace Prize nominee Angie Zelter and French activist 
Benjamin Monnet are being held in an immigration centre prior to 
deportation following their arrests on Sunday (12th March) during a 
protest against the construction of a new naval base at Gangjeong 
village on Jeju island, South Korea.

For five years, and intensively in recent months, the villagers have 
been peacefully resisting the construction of the base which will have 
a huge environmental impact in an area with three Unesco Natural 
Heritage sites and will disrupt and disfigure the village itself. The 
base will act as a port for US destroyers equipped with the Aegis 
missile defence system and this is seen as critically heightening 
tensions with China. While there is considerable public and political 
opposition to the base within South Korea, Seoul is understood to be 
responding to heavy US pressure to complete the project.

Angie is charged with misdemeanours relating to cutting through the 
perimeter wire with bolt-cutters and entering the site on Sunday. 
Benjamin’s charges arise from entering the site and occupying a 
drilling rig. Also being held is Korean activist Seri Kim.

Korean authorities have also refused entry to South Korea to three 
members of the US Veterans for Peace who intended to offer support to 
the villagers.

A spokesperson for the Gangjeong International Team said:
“We strongly condemn the Lee Myung-bak government which, in addition 
to the illegal construction (destruction) and arrests, is forging 
ahead with the forceful deportation of international activists who are 
dedicating themselves to protecting the Island of Peace. The 
construction and the human rights violations in relation to the 
construction cannot be explained without the United States’ undue 
desire for domination as it tries to utilize the Jeju naval base as a 
springboard to contain China. The threatened deportation is also a 
move to undermine international solidarity against the construction.”

Angie's reports and photographs are available at 
www.tridentploughshares.org

Photos of Sunday’s intrusion at 
http://www.seogwipo.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=77218

Notes:

Jeju: Jeju island in South Korea was named "Island of Peace" in 2005 
in belated acknowledgement of the repression and massacres its people 
suffered in the period following the Second World War.

Online:
Facebook page of No Naval Base on Jeju
   http://www.savejejuisland.org/
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament www.cnduk.org

Angie Zelter is a resident of Knighton in Powys. She is a winner of 
the Right Livelihood Award and has been nominated for the 2012 Nobel 
Peace prize.

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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
Impressum in: http://www.begegnungszentrum.at
Spenden-Konto Nr. 0600-970305 (Blz. 20314) Sparkasse Salzkammergut,
Geschäftsstelle Pfandl
IBAN: AT922031400600970305 BIC: SKBIAT21XXX

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Ausgezeichnet mit dem (österr.) "Journalismus-Preis von unten 2010"

Honoured by the (Austrian) "Journalism-Award from below 2010"