Rest in Peace “Jimmy” Kyaw Min Yu

On July 23, 2022, the military in Myanmar secretly executed four leaders of the country’s freedom movement. The martyrs’ families, like the men themselves, were not given advance notice. Final goodbyes were never said. Only after the dictatorship publicly announced the hangings two days later, on Monday, July 25, did the families and the world learn about these cold-blooded murders. To add to the pain, the remains of the deceased have disappeared. The regime is being as brutal as possible in order to make clear that opposition to their rule will result in maximum pain and suffering. Among those killed were some of the most loved and popular leaders of the ongoing movement to overthrow the dictatorship: hip hop artist and elected parliamentary representative, Phyo Zeya Tha, leader of Generation Wave, which followed the 2007 Saffron Revolution; Hla Myo Aung; Aung Thura Zaw; and Kyaw Min Yu – better known to his friends, among whom I count myself, as “Jimmy.”

A Doctor for the Weak and Displaced: Interview with Dr. Cynthia Maung, Winner of the 2022 May 18 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 

On May 19, 2022, Doctor Cynthia Maung was interviewed for GFN’s face2face program. Dr. Maung had just been awarded the May 18 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights award by the May 18 Memorial Foundation for her work providing health services to displaced persons and migrant workers at the Mae Tao Clinic, which she founded in 1988. The clinic is located in a refugee camp on the border of Myanmar and Thailand to provide medical assistance to Myanmar refugees who fled to the Thai border due to the oppression of the Myanmar military. Here is our interview with her.

Crisis in Myanmar

Interview by Melline Galani. For months now, many have witnessed the cruelty and abuses made by Myanmar’s military against its own civilians. Demonstrations and a deadly crackdown have embroiled the … Read More

Korea in the World: A Korean Cuisine Pioneer in Myanmar

One woman’s life’s work of bringing authentic Korean cuisine to Myanmar!

The Lady Comes To Gwangju

And here’s Gwangju News’s cover story for the month of March to explain why it’s a big deal, courtesy of longtime GN writer Seth Pevey.

Lady of No Fear

This year the annual Gwangju Film Festival featured Lady of No Fear, a documentary Aung San Suu Kyi. The film’s director was gracious enough to grant Gwangju News a private interview.