Mayor of Seoul and Preda Fair Trade Founder Celebrate World Fair Trade day.
May 11, 2015 ·
Seoul, South Korea. Preda Fair Trade founder and general manager Father Shay Cullen was the special guest of Park Won-Soon, the mayor of Seoul, South Korea on World Fair Trade Day, Saturday 9th May. It was celebrated in Seoul, South Korea with a Fair Trade festival. Booths were set up by many fair trade non-government organizations supporting Fair Trade.
The booths were set up along a leafy, shady side street close to the City Hall. It was a warm, sunny day. There were about forty booths with banners, flags and games. Preda partner Asia Fairtrade Network (AFN) had a game where participants threw plastic mangoes at a tower of plastic cups that represented the evil trade of human trafficking and child labor.
Hundreds of young people have volunteered to help and to be promoters of the products and are called Fair Traders. They were enthusiastic and committed to helping people in the developed countries. This is part for the missionary work of spreading the gospel values of compassion, faith in action and service among the youth.
Young people dressed as mangoes with a red cape representing the “super mangos” were promoting the Preda Fair Trade dried mangoes. These Fair Trade mangoes are imported and distributed through the AFN. Preda dried mangoes are very popular in Korean Fair trade.
Mayor Park Won-soon is an advocate of fair trade and has come up the political ladder over the past twenty years or so from the grass roots justice movement and the beginnings of fair trade in Korea.
Fr. Shay gave two slide show presentations one hour each that day also and gave several interviews to members of the media. Father Shay and the Mayor signed a joint declaration of solidarity to promote social justice through Fair Trade.
The Mayor of Seoul since 27 October 2011, Park Won-soon is the chief executive for the metropolitan government of Seoul, the capital and largest city of South Korea. The position is historically one of the most powerful in the country. He is charged with managing an annual budget of 23 trillion won. Many Seoul mayors have gone on to hold higher office. Yun Bo-seon and Lee Myung-bak both went on to become President of the Republic of Korea.
The support of the mayor for Fair Trade and for honoring Preda fair trade is in recognition of the pioneering work of Fr. Shay in promoting Fair Trade and social justice in Korea. end
