Dear All,

As many of you know the Appeal against the suspension of work on the
Saemangeum Reclamation was due to be heard on October 31st. The hearing
went ahead, and according to representatives from the Korean Federation
for Environmental Movement (KFEM), Korea's largest environmental NGO, the
"expert witnesses" called by the pro-reclamation Ministry of Agriculture
and Farming (MAF) added very little to the arguments that have already
been set out. The current feeling is that a final decision on Saemangeum's
future will now not be made before the beginning of next year at the
earliest.

Rather than sit back and wait while the decision is made we feel that the
extra time should be used to move the campaign to publicise the importance
of this huge wetland to new highs. WBKEnglish, with the full support and
backing of KFEM, are proposing an event called "Samboilbae for
Saemangeum" - timed to co-incide with World Wetlands Day on February 04,
2004.

The samboilbae is a uniquely Korean form of protest (see
[www.wbkenglish.com] or
[www.wbkenglish.com] )
where participants perform a ritualised march, taking three steps and then
a deep, kneeling bow where the forehead is touched to the ground. It is
slow, quite arduous, a little painful (for those of us with ageing knees
at least!) - but is also great fun and will be a deeply moving experience.
Our plan is to help co-ordinate as many people as possible to perform the
samboilbae at as many wetlands worldwide as possible.

The potential effect of a "mass" samboilbae is very great indeed:

1) Making this a "Korean" event will draw attention to Saemangeum (and the
wetlands of the Yellow Sea and surrounding region), and show huge support
for the Korean people - effectively negating any argument that
international opposition to Saemangeum is really just "anti-Korean"
sentiment.

2) It will make the event very interesting to the media - both inside
Korea and overseas. With KFEM's help the resulting publicity will put
further pressure on pro-reclamation Ministries within the Korean
Government, and keep the issue and "the final decision" very alive.

3) The event can also be used to highlight the threats facing wetlands
worldwide - and attention will be drawn to wetlands and activists wherever
it is performed.

There is not much time left to organise "Samboilbae for Saemangeum" (who
could have guessed that saving Saemangeum would still be a valid cause at
the end of 2003?), so we plan to make taking part as easy as possible. We
will set up a section on the WBKEnglish website which explains the
concept, performance, and historical significance of the samboilbae, post
updates as the campaign develops, and co-ordinate the publicity for the
event. Of course many of you may have already planned events for World
Wetlands Day, but it would be fairly easy to incorporate a samboilbae of
perhaps 30 (or more) people into the day. To simplify things still further
we don't intend to ask participants to arrange sponsorship or anything
similar - just to take part and get publicity.

We do of course need help - regional co-ordinators and volunteers,
participants, benefactors, etc. We need organisations and webmasters to
promote "Samboilbae for Saemangeum". We will be sending out press-releases
and we need to these to be placed in as many media as possible. Our first
press-release will go out at the end of next week, and hopefully we will
be able to include a list of organisations offering support or individuals
willing to take part.

Destroying Saemangeum will threaten thousands upon thousands of migratory
waterbirds and could cause the extinction of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.
We at WBKEnglish will do whatever we can to ensure that the huge and
critically-important wetlands at Saemangeum don't simply disappear
quietly - please help us...

Thanks as always for your support,

Voyages et Observations

Samboilbae for Saemangeum