Falun Dafa Practitioners in Korea File Lawsuit against Former Chinese Education Minister Chen Zhili

(Clearwisdom.net) On November 18, 2004, Korean Falun Gong practitioners Ms. Zhang Shu and her daughter Zhao Yingyi filed a lawsuit with the local procurator's office in Seoul, charging that former Chinese Education Minister Chen Zhili participated in genocide, used extraordinary violence, and interfered with people's normal lives, among other allegations. They requested punishment to the full extent of the law for Chen Zhili, currently the Deputy Prime Minister, who visited Korea from November 18-20, 2004.

On July 19, 2004 during a visit to Tanzania, charges were brought against Chen Zhili for her crimes in persecuting Falun Gong, and she appeared before the court.

Chen Zhili was Education Minister from 1998 to 2003. She used her special relationship with Jiang Zemin and her power to forcefully implement Jiang's policies for persecuting Falun Gong. As a result, the persecution in the educational system was extremely cruel. According to incomplete statistics, as of 2003, at least 435 Falun Dafa practitioners in 210 colleges and universities have been unlawfully sentenced to labor camps or sent to psychiatric hospitals for persecution. Since 1999, at least 61 practitioners have died from this branch of the persecution.

In addition, Chen Zhili held many meetings, personally planning the persecution of Falun Gong. She handed down documents under the banner of the Ministry of Education, forcing teachers and students in China to "declare themselves" [against Falun Gong] as in the Cultural Revolution. She made teachers and students watch movies slandering Falun Gong, and forcefully implemented the "Million Signatures" [petition drive against Falun Gong] in the educational system, thereby harming teachers and students by inciting them to join the persecution. Furthermore, she had contents slandering Falun Gong inserted in the school textbooks and exams, even into the entrance exams of colleges and graduate schools. She used materials from state-run CCTV which defamed Falun Gong as texts for study in colleges, to further incite hatred in future teachers.

Chen also pushed the persecution outside of China through foreign relations, cultural, and educational exchanges. On July 3-4, 2002, Chen attended the meeting of the National Education Foreign Affairs, and gave a speech. Her speech revealed that the Education Departments (offices) in each Embassy and Consulate did a lot of work towards suppressing Falun Gong. Instructed by Jiang and Chen, each Embassy and Consulate spread the persecution to overseas Chinese communities. Under the banner of "cultural/educational exchanges," Chen provided huge sums of money to other countries, trying to interfere in these countries in order to spread the persecution of Falun Gong throughout the international community.

These acts of persecution violate the Chinese Constitution and its laws on education, resulting in long-term injuries to the pure hearts of children. Chen cannot escape the net of justice for her crimes.

Falun Dafa practitioners wish to state that exposing Chen's crimes is for the purpose of stopping such villains from coming to Korea for public activities, and also to warn other persecutors that good deeds will be rewarded with good returns, and evil will be met with retribution.