Hello, I am forwarding a message which seems worth passing on.

Eduardo Navas
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Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 14:05:56 -0700
From: "Ken Marchionno" <kmarch99@earthlink.net>
To: "brian moss" <bcmoss22@adelphia.net>
Subject: Photojournalist Imprisoned in China





(Please forward this to anyone who might be interested)

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I'm writing this letter to tell you about a friend of mine who is
currently in jail in China. His name is Seok, Jae-hyun, a South Korean
photojournalist, and he was recently sentenced to two years for
covering
the story of North Korean refugees in that country. Because both North
Korea and China are embarrassed by their treatment of these refugees,
they have tried to censor the coverage of the situation. It seems the
length of this sentence–which is unusual for a foreign national–is
meant to intimidate journalists and keep them from covering this story. =

Forty journalists are currently in Chinese prisons, thirty-nine are
Chinese, only one is from another country.

Jae is a freelance photojournalist and a regular contributor to the New
York Times and Geo. Because he is a freelancer he has no institutional
support and the Chinese government does not recognize his status as a
journalist.

Jae's best hope is a major public outcry. In 1999 freelance
photographer Tyler Hicks was arrested while shooting a story in
Chechnya. His situation was covered in the international news and he
was freed after only two nights. Jae has already been in prison for
over five months.

June 23rd is the date set for Jae's appeal. If the Chinese Government
understands that there is international outrage, it is possible the
case
will be thrown out. The aim of the arrest was to quiet interest in the
North Korean refugee situation. And if by arresting Jae they call more
attention to the story, their tactic will have backfired and they may
think twice before jailing another foreign journalist.

Please help me in this effort. As I'm sure you know, the wellbeing of
journalists is extremely important to the integrity of news reporting. =

Jae has been put in jail for covering a story of international
importance, he is being persecuted by a government that censers its own
journalists and is now imprisoning foreign reporters.

What I'm asking you to do is simply e-mail the Chinese Embassy in
Washington. I also ask you to e-mail major US media outlets, alert
them
to the story, and tell them how important it is that they give this
story the coverage it deserves. All the information you need is below;
it will only take a few minutes to make a difference.

Thank you in advance for your time and effort, for my friend and for
the
integrity of journalistic freedom. If you wish to read the story of
Jae's arrest, please go the following web page where I've placed links
to some articles and other information.

http://www.kenmarchionno.com/JaeLinks.html

Sincerely,
Ken Marchionno




To the Chinese Ambassador:
chnvisa@bellatlantic.net <mailto:%20chnvisa@bellatlantic.net>

(If you don't want to write something yourself, just click on the
address above, paste the following into the body, and sign your name.)

Dear Ambassador Yang Jiechi,

I am writing to express my outrage over the imprisonment of South
Korean
photojournalist Seok, Jae-hyun, and to request his immediate release.
His arrest was in direct violation of international law.

Mr. Seok is a well respected photojournalist who regularly contributes
to the New York Times and Geo. As a journalist his rights under
international law are covered in Article 19 of the United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:

"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this
right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek,
receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers."

China, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council,
should be aware that the arrest and detention of Seok, Jae-Hyun, who
was
trying to "seek, receive and impart information " regarding North
Korean
refugees, is a direct violation of Article 19 of The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and of international law.

I join in the international call for Seok Jae-Hyun's immediate and
unconditional release and request your attention and consideration on
this urgent matter.

Sincerely,




To the Media:
(paste the following into the body, and sign your name)


This letter is in reference to Seok, Jae-hyun, a South Korean
photojournalist being held in a Chinese prison for photographing the
plight of North Korean refugees. I am concerned with the integrity of
news reporting when journalists must fear imprisonment for doing their
job. Please cover this story so that the world will know of this
situation and so that Chinese government will understand that
imprisoning foreign journalists will only cause greater interest in a
story they wish to censor. For further information, please contact Ken
Marchionno at: kmarch99@earthlink.net.

NBC
Today Show
today@nbc.com
Nightly News
Nightly@NBC.com

CBS
The Early Show
earlyshow@cbs.com
Evening News
evening@cbsnews.com

ABC
Good Morning America
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/GoodMorningAmerica/GMA_email_form.html
World News Tonight
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/WorldNewsTonight/WNT_newemail_form.html

CNN
Comments@cnn.com
or write to your favorite news anchors or shows
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/

PBS
News Hour
newshour@pbs.org

NPR
All things Considered, hosted by Robert Siegel
atc@npr.org

New York Times
(they have published two articles on this in late May, a total of 530
words)
news-tips@nytimes.com

Washington Post
Phil Bennett, Assistant managing editor, foreign news
bennettp@washpost.com

LA Times
Marjorie Miller, Foreign Affairs Editor
Marjorie.Miller@latimes.com

Chicago Tribune
Colin McMahon, Foreign Editor
cmcmahon@tribune.com

Wall Street Journal
Press Release
nywireroom@dowjones.com