New Tibetan leader cites Koreans’ democratic movements in 1970s, ’80s


NEW DELHI (Yonhap News) ― The new leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile said he believes South Korea sets an example of the vibrant democracy his people have been seeking to achieve through their decades-long struggle against Chinese rule.

Lobsang Sangay, a 43-year-old Harvard-trained legal scholar, was officially sworn in as prime minister on Aug. 8 in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala where the Tibetan movement is based. He told Yonhap News Agency he learned about South Korea and its recent history from his Korean friends in the United States.

“What Tibetans are seeking is very much enshrined in the Korean Constitution ― that’s freedom, equality, and dignity,” he said in a recent interview at the New Delhi office of the Tibetan government-in-exile. “That’s what we want. You all fought for it. You all are example of how important democracy is, and that’s what we want and I hope you all will support us.”

He said the student-led protests of the 1970s and 1980s in South Korea served as an example of the “assertion of democracy and human rights all over Asia.”

With Tibetan territory under the control of Beijing, Sangay said his government plans to emulate South Korea’s development by focusing its investments in education over the next 20 years. By doing so, they hope to produce some 10,000 experts in various fields to lead the Tibetan movement for autonomy, he said.

“What Tibetans are seeking is genuine autonomy within China. We’re not trying to challenge China’s sovereignty or territorial integrity,” the prime minister said. “With that, Tibetans can have their own identity and dignity, and China will be a united country. Both interests will be fulfilled.”

He also argued that the world has much to lose from leaving the situation as it is. Not only does it risk losing the Tibetan civilization and rich literature, but more than 2 billion people in Asia will be affected by China’s damming of the 10 major rivers flowing from Tibet, he said.

“Communist China have been ruling Tibet for the last 50-60 years. They initially came to Tibet with the promise to establish a ‘socialist paradise,’ like what sometimes you might hear in North Korea,” he said. “But after 50 years, it’s very clear there is no socialism in Tibet, there is colonialism. There is no paradise, there is a tragedy.”