To: m.busdachin@agora.stm.it, mfettes@magi.com, o.dupuis@agora.stm.it
Prof. LEE Chong-Yeong
Shinsegae Town Apt. 5-1001, Soosung-Dong,
TAEGU 706-031, Koreio (Suda)
Fakso: 82-53-765-0881(H),
E-po to: keast@soback.kornet.nm.kr
7 Sept 1996
Mr. Olivier Dupuis
(Fax: 32-2-284-9198. E-mail: O.Dupuis@Agora.stm.it)
Dear Mr. Dupuis,
It was my pleasure to have met you in Praha, and had a chance to discuss with you and Mr. Busdachin. I have tried to have more frequent contacts with you but it was difficult as we stayed in different hotels.
I appreciate your good presentation at the Nitobe Symposium. At the same time, I hope that the Esperanto Congress gave you an opportunity to observe Esperanto in action.
Mr. Hans Erasmus has sent me a copy of your draft proposal to the
European Parliament regarding Esperanto. Europe Parliament is the
"strategic international organization", because if any intergovernmental organization is to adopt Esperanto as a common language, perhaps the European Parliament may be the first one.
Therefore, we must be very careful in our approach to EP. I believe we should first suggest a sduty on the present status of international language and feasibility of adopting Esperanto as the common language, and then suggest experimental use of Esperanto as a bridge language for translation and also experimental teaching of esperanto to facilitate language learning. Therefore, I agree with your proposal, in general. I would only add that the Parliament entrust a special Language Committee to do the recommended work and report the result to the general assembly for discussion and follow-up.
My only comment is that the introductory and justifications (from A to Q) are too detail and may cause a lot of discussions on some details, thus derailing the main point of discussion. It seems to me that the information contained in A-G can be orally explained when presenting the draft resolution, but the introductory and explanatory part of the written draft resolution should be concise, so that the main resolutions will draw attention.
In the mean time, we are discussing the idea of holding a half-day roundtable, as I mentioned at Hotel Forum in Praha, on 20 March to
create atmosphere favorable to the draft resolution. I also would like to attend the roundtable. Mr. Erasmus will write you regarding the details of our plan.
Taking advantage of the roundtable, I would like to have an honor of meeting the president of the European Parliament to discuss our common interests. In the near future, I am planning to write to the president asking for an appointment. Would you please be kind enough to help us on this matter?
We are planning a similar half-day roundtable in New York in February, and Mr. Mark Fettes will visit New York to discuss the plan with Mr. Busdachin and other NGOs who favor Esperanto.
We hope these activities will help create favorable atmosphere for adoption of the international common language. I will always be glad to hear from you, either in Esperanto, English or in French.
Sincerely Yours,
LEE Chong-Yeong, President
Universala Esperanto-Asocio
P.S. Should you or your colleague wish to attend the 82-nd World
Esperanto Congress to be held in Adlajde, Australia (July 1997) or the 83-rd Congress in Montplliers in France (July 1998), please let us know, and you are always welcome.
