Korea's democracy is threatened by President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law and impeachment at the end of last year. 

Against this backdrop, 1,000 reporters from more than 30 countries from the Asia Journalist Association (AJA) held an emergency press conference on March 4 at Korea press-center in Seoul, calling for the restoration of democracy in Korea and are still holding a signature-collecting campaign in Asian countries. 

A TheAsiaN Publisher and founding president of AJA Lee Sang-ki said, "I deeply appreciate the cooperation and support of reporters from Pakistan, Kyrgistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Japan, and Iran etc. I am confident that Korea will contribute more to Asian countries by overcoming this crisis." 

AJA is also receiving signatures from non-Asian reporters from the U.S., Brazil, and Egypt in addition to Asia. AJA said in a statement, "we hope that the chaotic situation in Korea will be settled early and that Korea will serve as a role model for Asia with more advanced democracy and outstanding leadership." "Democracy is impossible without strong will, tolerance, and compromise," said Sophal Chay AJA president (Cambodia) and former Vice president Eddy Suprapto (Indonesia), Vice president Kang Seok-jae (Korea) who attended the press conference. "We believe that intellectual people and ruling and opposition politicians of Korea will overcome the difficult situation through dialogue." In a related development, AJA has adopted a statement calling for the restoration of democracy in Korea after collecting opinions from the executive committee since mid-February, and has been receiving signatures from more than 1,000 reporters from Asian countries. 

The press conference was reported by KBS and MBC, Korea's leading broadcasters, along with on-site coverage, and was reported by more than 20 media in Korea and Asia, including the Chosun Ilbo and Hankyoreh newspapers, Korea Times. 

The following is the full text of the statement.

Our the Asia Journalist Association(AJA) members make the following statement on the recent events of martial law and impeachment in Korea. Through our statement, we hope that Korea’s chaotic situation will be settled early and that Korea will serve as a role model for its Asian neighbors with more advanced democracy and outstanding leadership.

Since its foundation in November 2004, the Asia Journalist Association has played a consistent role in the development of journalism, shedding light on and reporting events in Asia through the perspectives of Asians based on human peace and human rights protection. From this point of view, the incident in Korea was not only unexpected but also disappointing for us.

We gathered our members’ opinions and adopted the following statement and delivered it to Korean society with our signature. Korea had to suffer from extreme poverty economically and dictatorship for a while due to 35 years of colony of Japanese Imperialism and three years of the Korean War since the early 20th century.

However, Korea has stood as a model country for Asia by achieving industrialization and democratization at the same time during the past half century due to the ‘lamp of the East’. We are well aware that Korea’s growth and development, along with its outstanding political and economic leadership, were supported by the hard work and cooperation of the Korean people, the spirit of independence and high educational zeal. 

Korea was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature by Han Kang in December last year, raising the pride of Koreans in Asia to the fullest.

Korea has been attracting the attention of the world in recent years by generating the word K-OO, K-XX not only in soft power such as music and film but also in semiconductor and medical fields etc.

Our AJA members hope that Korea will overcome the current difficult situation as soon as possible and play a more important, leading and exemplary role as the leading country in Asia. 

Thus, we present the following six points.

First, we hope that Korea will successfully overcome the tunnel of martial law and impeachment that it is facing now through this historical and empirical power of its people and spread K-democracy to Asian countries and beyond.

Second, as the Korean proverb goes, “The earth hardens further after rain,” the latest incident is seen as both a growing and mature pain for Korea to restart its stalled democracy train. We hope the pain will be stopped as soon as possible by the unity of the whole Korean people.

Third, the ruling and opposition parties of Korea should make concessions and in the opposite direction as a common destiny. Divide will lead to Korea’s regression, and unity will lead to progress. We believe and support Korea that it will generously demonstrate its people’s dynamism and strong unity against crises this time.

Fourth, we hope that Korea will overcome this situation early and contribute to human peace by working together to solve the problems of its Asian neighbors as a true leader of Asia.

Fifth, We support that the division and conflict that Korea is experiencing will be reborn as a ‘Korean-style democracy’ of tolerance and coexistence through integration and communication.

Sixth, Our Asian journalists are deeply sympathetic and encouraged to see Korean media do their best to report based on truth and fairness despite various difficulties. 

In response, Asian journalists belonging to AJA and non-Asian journalists who have participated directly or indirectly in AJA will make a statement today with one mind.