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South Korean anti-bullying activist and journalists among Magsaysay awardees

  • The awards, known as Asia’s Nobel Prize, went to five recipients from South Korea, Thailand, India, Myanmar and the Philippines

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Winners of the 2019 Ramon Magsaysay awards pose for a picture. Photo: EPA
Associated Press
A South Korean anti-bullying campaigner who lost his son to suicide and a Thai housewife turned human rights defender were among the five people honoured on Monday as this year’s winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, regarded as Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize.
The others who received the prize at a ceremony in Manila were two journalists from India and Myanmar who advocated independent, ethical and socially relevant journalism and a popular Filipino musician credited with helping to shape modern Philippine musical culture.

The awards are named after a Philippine president who died in a 1957 plane crash. That year a foundation was established to give out the annual awards to honour “greatness of spirit in selfless service to the peoples of Asia”.

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After losing his 16-year-old son to suicide following bullying in school in 1995, Kim Jong-ki changed from being a successful business executive to a crusader who has worked for more than two decades to fight school and youth violence in South Korea, which has one of the world’s highest suicide rates.
Awardee Kim Jong-ki, left, with Philippine Vice-President Leonor Robredo at the ceremony. Photo: AP
Awardee Kim Jong-ki, left, with Philippine Vice-President Leonor Robredo at the ceremony. Photo: AP
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The year his son died, Kim established the Foundation for Preventing Youth Violence, which developed a programme to help detect, protect and manage youth violence and campaigned widely against bullying. The foundation operates a hotline, which now receives 30 to 50 calls daily, developed the capacity to dispatch staff to respond to emergencies and lobbied for needed government policies and legislation, the Ramon Magsaysay foundation said.

A 2018 survey showed that since Kim’s foundation launched its campaign in 1995, incidents of school violence have dropped, the awards body said, adding it recognised his “quiet courage in transforming private grief into a mission to protect Korea’s youth from the scourge of bullying and violence”.

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