Min Byoung-chul, center in the second row, chairman of the Sunfull Foundation, poses with other participants at the 9th National Assembly Members Sunfull Award Ceremony held in the Assembly's conference room, Wednesday. The anti-cyberbullying organization has awarded lawmakers for their use of good words during parliamentary sessions. This year, all 299 lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties signed the Sunfull Declaration to showcase their support for the campaign. Among the participants, from left in the second low, are Indonesian Amb. Gandi Sulistiyanto Soeherman; Rep. Suh Jung-sook of the People Power Party; Cambodian Amb. Chring Botumrangsay; Min of the Sunfull Foundation; Rep. Lee Che-ik of the People Power Party; Rep. Back Hye-ryun of the Democratic Party of Korea; and Designated Turkish Amb. Murat Tamer. The ambassadors pledged to encourage students to join the Sunfull campaign in their countries. Courtesy of the Sunfull Foundation

By Sah Dong-seok

All 299 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties have signed the "National Assembly Members' Sunfull Political Declaration," according to the Sunfull Foundation.

The anti-cyberbullying organization gave prizes to 35 lawmakers who have used good words during the National Assembly's sessions at its Sunfull Awards Ceremony held in the conference room of the National Assembly Library on Dec. 7.

The group, National Youth Sunfull Social Media Reporters, consisting of 300 high school students and college students, also known as the Sunfull SNS Youth Monitors, selected the winners by analyzing the language in the transcripts of the plenary and standing committee sessions over the past year as recorded in the National Assembly minutes system.

The Sunfull Foundation, founded in 2007 to tackle hate speech, cyberbullying and human rights violations on the internet, has been giving awards to National Assembly members every year since 2013.

The winners of this year's "Sunfull Grand Prize" were National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK); Rep. Lee Che-ik of the People Power Party (PPP) who is chairman of the Public Administration and Security Committee; and Rep. Hwang Hee of the Democratic Party of Korea. The foundation also presented Sunfull Awards to 28 lawmakers and Achievement Awards to four lawmakers.

On receiving the prize, Speaker Kim said, "I think it's meaningful to receive this award selected by young people who will lead our future." Kim said that lawmakers will continue to spread the culture of good comments in the National Assembly so that they can set a good example through their use of good language.

Indonesian Ambassador Gandi Sulistiyanto Soeherman, Cambodian Ambassador Chring Botumrangsay and Murat Tamer, the Turkish ambassador-designate, participated in the awards ceremony and showed high interest in the Sunfull Movement, an online peace campaign fighting against derogatory and malicious comments. The envoys said they would like to introduce the Sunfull Movement to students and lawmakers in their own countries.

At the same time, all 299 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties have signed the Sunfull Political Declaration, pledging to use good words during their parliamentary activities.

The declaration reads, "I declare that I will take the lead in achieving the politics of national harmony and unity the whole nation desires by greeting political colleagues with beautiful words, writing, attitudes and actions and participating in the good-natured and caring campaign to create a bright and beautiful world."

Min Byoung-chul, founder of the Sunfull Foundation, said, "It is significant that the ceremony took place, and for the first time in 15 years, all 299 lawmakers have signed the pledge to support using good language during their political activities."

Min said that the declaration will lead to a politics of harmony rather than of political strife. "I believe their commitment to using good words will have an impact on young children's language habits," he said.