Gaby, Becky and others:
MediAct has not only been important in South Korea in leading the development of autonomous community based media, support for public service media, and supporting citizens' expression on the Internet. They've also been incredibly good world citizens, bringing people from all over to Korea, and acting in solidarity with groups everywhere.

 Yes, petitions are limited. Useful perhaps for first level attention. However, as Gaby points out, international pressure, especially at embassies and consulates in the northern hemisphere where trade agreements are  being negotiated could be very important. South Korea has a pending trade deal with the US, and is also in negotiations in Canada, right? (Becky,  tell me if they've already signed) .

Will update you on similar efforts in the US.

 Facebook page is below:



"http://www.facebook.com/l/205ff;www.gopetition.com/online/33662.html.

thanks Gaby, Sasha and everyone else,

Dorothy Kidd.

On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 6:42 AM, G G <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi Becky,

On 10-01-27 9:41 PM, "Becky Lentz" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Yes, thanks as well. I signed the petition yesterday, but I'm curious how
> effective online petitions like this are. Is there any way to follow what
> happens with it (next)? Are there other actions available? How does one
> intervene in policy in S.Korea from such a distance, i.e., from Canada?

G here. I'm sure MJ will update us on the progress.

According to a recent message from him, they hope to gather much
international support they can use in their own protest efforts (esp.
personal comments will help, many people, what kinds of institutions,
etc.)... I gather they are trying to challenge the process by which KOFIC
chose to select an unknown and apparently brand-new organization over
MEDIACT. If I understand correctly, KOFIC is supposed to be independent from
the Ministry of Culture, but the process shows that they are in fact tightly
controlled by the ministry. MEDIACTs goal now is to get them to cancel the
decision (to not support MEDIACT, the obvious choice) and officially
announce an apology.

You may want to consider working the S.Korean embassy in Canada and yes, a
phonecall to Korea from Canada (probably much better than e-mail).

> 3) Call KOFIC's Chairman Cho, Hee Moon  82-2-958-7521
> or email: [log in to unmask]
> cc: [log in to unmask]

There is also a list of others below.

For all it's worth, I'm also going to send copies of my research in which I
wrote about MEDIACT.

So long.
G

PS: The legal name under which mediact reorganized and applied to KOFIC is
<Korean association of visual media education.>
-----
Korean Film Council
http://www.kofic.or.kr/ (Korean Site)
http://koreanfilm.or.kr/ (English Site)
Tel_ +82-2-958-7500
Fax_ +82-2-2179-9801

Head of KFC
Cho, Hee Moon
[log in to unmask]
Tel. +82-2-958-7521
Fax. +82-2-958-7546

Dept of Promotion
Director Lee Gun Sang
[log in to unmask]
Tel. +82-2-958-7551
Fax. +82-2-958-7560

Person in Charge Joo Sung Choong
[log in to unmask]
Tel. +82-2-958-7555


Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
http://www.mcst.go.kr/main.jsp (Korean site)
http://www.mcst.go.kr/english/index.jsp (English site)
Minister, Yu In-Chon
tel. +82-2-3704-9000
fax. +82-2-3704-9009
[log in to unmask]

Dept. of Moving Image Contents Industry
Director Park Hyung Dong
tel. +82-2-3704-9671
fax. +82-2-3704-9689

Person in Charge Kim Min Jung
Tel. +82-2-3704-9676

--
Dorothy Kidd
Associate Professor
Department of Media Studies
University of San Francisco
2130 Fulton St.
San Francisco
94117-1080
415-422-5061
[log in to unmask]