South Korean churches have begun raising funds to support Myanmar’s democracy activists, chief of a church group here told the leader of Myanmar’s anti-junta National Unity Government on Wednesday.

So Kang-suk, pastor and leader of the United Christian Churches of Korea, one of the country’s biggest associations of Protestant churches, told Mahn Win Khaing Than, prime minister of the NUG, in a video call that he prays for democracy to come swiftly to Myanmar. 

The NUG was recently set up by opponents of Myanmar’s junta which staged a coup against the country’s elected government on Feb. 1 and killed more than 700 civilians so far.

Mahn Win Khaing Than requested for the prayers and help of South Korean churches, saying Myanmar is in desperate need of help from the international community as casualties rise.

Earlier, the UCCK chief also pledged support for a project to build shelters for refugees in Myanmar, dubbed “Korea Safe Zone,” which is being planned by nongovernmental group Myanmar Democracy Network in Korea.

The NUG includes Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the coup, and members of her ousted National League for Democracy government as well as anti-coup protest leaders and representatives of ethnic minority organizations.

The NUG’s objective is to establish an alternative government that can vie against the military junta for international recognition, and lead a campaign to vanquish it.

The country’s junta leader Min Aung Hlaing is scheduled to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit to be held in Jakarta on Saturday.

Protests have continued across the Southeast Asian country nearly three months, with people refusing to go to work as part of a civil disobedience movement,

At least 737 protesters and bystanders have been killed since the Feb. 1 coup while thousands have been jailed, according to a nongovernmental group for political prisoners.

(sophie@heraldcorp.com)