Here’s some interesting news you may not have heard about. Today, a thirteen-year-old American boy campaigning to transform the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea into a park that would signify peace attempted to get the Chinese president’s attention. He began a brief protest near Tiananmen Square before swiftly being led away by Chinese police.
The young American, Jonathan Lee, unrolled a sign saying “Peace Treaty” and “Nuclear free DMZ children’s peace forest” as he stood at Tiananmen Gate in Beijing. Tiananmen Square was the sight of a student-led pro-democracy movement in 1989, in which hundreds of protesters were killed.
Right now you are probably wondering why and how a thirteen-year-old American boy was in Beijing, China at Tiananmen Square. Apparently, his mother allowed and aided in his protest by informing and planting journalists nearby to witness the Chinese reaction to their son’s message. Within one single minute the boy was escorted away by a plainclothes police officer. The police officer grabbed the boy’s sign and waved away the reporters as four uniformed police officers sped to remove the boy’s mother away from the site with as little commotion as possible.
Police held the two for a few hours before releasing them to their hotel where they met with the boy's father and sister. Soon after, the four headed to the Beijing airport, unescorted, and caught a flight with Korean Airlines to Seoul. The family’s treatment by Chinese authorities was mild compared to the more common rough handling and instant deportations of other foreigners who have protested in China in the past.
The boy, from Ridgeland, Mississippi, is trying to persuade the leaders of North and South Korea, China, and the United States to work together to reunify the two Koreas. His father, Korean-born Kyoung Lee, claims that his son has sent letters to President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, but was unable to send a letter to Chinese president Hu Jintao. This is the reason they felt the brief protest in Tiananmen Square was necessary. In August, young Jonathan Lee made a visit to North Korea to propose his idea of a children’s peace forest to Kim Jong Il. The best result he could get was an assurance by North Korean officials that they would give Kim Jong Il his letter.
That is one of the most bizarre stories I’ve read in a while; such a young boy protesting such a huge issue, parents who are willing enough (or perhaps crazy enough) to put their son at the site where hundreds of other young demonstrators were killed not so long ago for protesting their own government, and traveling to North Korea with the hopes of communicating with Kim Jong Il. Absolutely bizarre!
Aside from how unbelievable this young boy and his story is, and how dangerously driven his parents are to see him succeed regardless of how unsafe his circumstances become, Tiananmen Square and what happened there in 1989 stand as atrocious examples of what governments are capable of when they refuse freedom and the ideas of the people it governs. The Chinese students who died during that protest at the hands of their own government live on, at least in my mind, as a reminder of how blessed we are to be citizens of America and how important it is to never even glance, as a nation, at the slightest possibilities of communism, not even the socializing of health care or other major industries.
1,849.8 miles to go.
The young American, Jonathan Lee, unrolled a sign saying “Peace Treaty” and “Nuclear free DMZ children’s peace forest” as he stood at Tiananmen Gate in Beijing. Tiananmen Square was the sight of a student-led pro-democracy movement in 1989, in which hundreds of protesters were killed.
Right now you are probably wondering why and how a thirteen-year-old American boy was in Beijing, China at Tiananmen Square. Apparently, his mother allowed and aided in his protest by informing and planting journalists nearby to witness the Chinese reaction to their son’s message. Within one single minute the boy was escorted away by a plainclothes police officer. The police officer grabbed the boy’s sign and waved away the reporters as four uniformed police officers sped to remove the boy’s mother away from the site with as little commotion as possible.
Police held the two for a few hours before releasing them to their hotel where they met with the boy's father and sister. Soon after, the four headed to the Beijing airport, unescorted, and caught a flight with Korean Airlines to Seoul. The family’s treatment by Chinese authorities was mild compared to the more common rough handling and instant deportations of other foreigners who have protested in China in the past.
The boy, from Ridgeland, Mississippi, is trying to persuade the leaders of North and South Korea, China, and the United States to work together to reunify the two Koreas. His father, Korean-born Kyoung Lee, claims that his son has sent letters to President Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, but was unable to send a letter to Chinese president Hu Jintao. This is the reason they felt the brief protest in Tiananmen Square was necessary. In August, young Jonathan Lee made a visit to North Korea to propose his idea of a children’s peace forest to Kim Jong Il. The best result he could get was an assurance by North Korean officials that they would give Kim Jong Il his letter.
That is one of the most bizarre stories I’ve read in a while; such a young boy protesting such a huge issue, parents who are willing enough (or perhaps crazy enough) to put their son at the site where hundreds of other young demonstrators were killed not so long ago for protesting their own government, and traveling to North Korea with the hopes of communicating with Kim Jong Il. Absolutely bizarre!
Aside from how unbelievable this young boy and his story is, and how dangerously driven his parents are to see him succeed regardless of how unsafe his circumstances become, Tiananmen Square and what happened there in 1989 stand as atrocious examples of what governments are capable of when they refuse freedom and the ideas of the people it governs. The Chinese students who died during that protest at the hands of their own government live on, at least in my mind, as a reminder of how blessed we are to be citizens of America and how important it is to never even glance, as a nation, at the slightest possibilities of communism, not even the socializing of health care or other major industries.
1,849.8 miles to go.
