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Conference day II – 8 January 2013 The second day of the North-East Asian youth conference “The World We Want” in Seoul starts with discussions around a first draft of the declaration that will be handed over to politicians and decision-makers tomorrow. The draft document incorporates many of the points raised by the young participants so far and will serve as a basis for further discussions in the working groups and the plenary sessions today.

The focus of the media team is on minorities and vulnerable groups on day II of the conference. The Chinese delegation interviews Popo Fan in the morning. Popo is an independent filmmaker and LGBT activist and is very outspoken. “There are two main points which make it difficult for gay and lesbian young people in China. Number one is the strict family traditions that make it very

hard for young gays and lesbians to come out. And the second point is the restriction of freedom of speech. For example, it is forbidden to show films with gay or lesbian characters in official cinemas, so we are pushed into the underground scene.” Next is an interview with Hyungmoon Choi from Korea. Hyungmoon lost his hearing as a child and can now only communicate through a sign language translator. He tells us about the difficulties he faces in daily life and adds that he wants a world in the future where more people make an effort trying to communicate better with people with disabilities.

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In the afternoon the working groups go into the details of the draft declaration and try to define exactly which topics they want to focus on and how to best demonstrate the urgency of the demands of the young people in North-East Asia. Jongbeom Choi from Korea describes the tedious process: “Despite our tough schedule, the group discussion today was very active and also very constructive. We split up into two task forces to share our opinions concerning the world we want and the world we want for our children. Some of the most interesting issues were food security and the issue of peace in North-East Asia. Concerning food security, the representatives of China,

Mongolia and Japan were all concerned about the food they were consuming but the cause for such concerns was different from country to country. While China and Mongolia’s food security concerns were caused by neglect on the side of the food producers, the Japanese team members were concerned with nuclear radiation due to the devastating natural disaster that occurred a few years ago. Also it was interesting to discuss peace issues in North-East Asia in our working group. By frankly speaking about this sensitive issue, we acknowledged that our common knowledge of historical/land disputes was biased towards our government’s opinion and it was refreshing to hear from other country’s stance about the issue.” Japanese participant Rikako Takada from the same working group agrees: “We talked about the territorial and historical disputes between Japan, China and Korea. I was worried at first because I thought my country was hated by the North East Asian neighbour, but my peers said that they love Japan despite the diplomatic rows. I was so moved, I almost started crying.” Qingling Kong from China is also moved, but not by her peers but by moderator Yuko. “When our moderator said that she only has the right to vote because other women years and years ago fought for it, I felt that we have a huge responsibility here today. What we fight for today, our children and their children and people we might never meet will benefit from. This really gives me a feeling of importance.” Later, 23-year-old Qingling adds another one of her major points in an interview when she says: “I want a world where everybody cherishes and protects the environment. I want my children to enjoy wildlife the way I did in my childhood. I want my children to see pandas.”