Yonhap photo exhibit seeks to promote U.N. development goals

SEOUL (Yonhap) - A unique exhibition of photos goes on display in Seoul this week, capturing the plight of poverty-stricken people around the world and the environmental threats faced by our planet. The award-winning works are a chilling reminder of the work that remains to be done as the United Nations strives to meet its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the 2015 deadline.
The exhibition, hosted by Yonhap News Agency, showcases powerful images from around the world, including the suffering of cholera victims in Haiti, violent anti-government riots in Thailand and a Japanese man weeping following this year's devastating tsunami. It comes as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged world leaders last month to step up efforts toward meeting the eight MDGs they agreed on during the U.N. Millennium Summit in September 2000.
The goals include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achievement of universal primary education, promotion of gender equality, reduction of child poverty, and ensuring environmental sustainability.
"Already, the MDGs have helped to lift millions of people out of poverty, save lives and ensure that children attend school," Ban said in an MDG report released last month. He also warned, however, that not everyone is benefiting from the goals' achievements.
"Progress tends to bypass those who are lowest on the economic ladder or are otherwise disadvantaged because of their sex, age, disability or ethnicity. Disparities between urban and rural areas are also pronounced and daunting," he said.
The exhibition, displaying the more than 80 winning entries from the Yonhap International Press Photo Awards (YIPPA) announced last month, will run from Wednesday through Sept. 30 at the Old Seoul Station Museum in Seoul, with Ban scheduled to attend the opening ceremony.
The contest was held under the slogan of "Share the Moment, Share the Future," and drew a total of 1,938 entries, or 5,536 photographs, from photojournalists and freelancers working in 71 countries. The works were evaluated for more than a month by a board of judges chaired by Santiago Lyon, director of photography for The Associated Press (AP).
"I think photojournalism is all about communication, and about visual communication," Lyon said during a recent interview in New York. "(It is about) telling stories through photographs in a way that is effective and immediate and unforgettable because of the power of the still photograph."
Cho Bo-hee, the photo desk editor of Yonhap who served as a member of the board of judges, said he was impressed by the quality of the submitted works.
"The contest was the first of its kind for a South Korean media company, and the judges had a hard time choosing because we received so many remarkable pieces," he said. "The reality depicted in the photos could burden the heart and sometimes move it deeply, so I was prompted to look back on my own life."
Emilio Morenatti, an AP photojournalist, won the contest's top prize with "Cholera Victims," which connects 10 photos in story form to depict the plight of cholera victims in Haiti last year.
Other winners included Mohammad Moniruzzaman of the Daily Samakal; Bethany Clark, a freelance photographer; Alex Masi of Corbis; Nicolas Asfouri of the Agence France Presse; Hiroto Sekiguchi of The Yomiuri Shimbun; and Cho Young-ho of The Hankook Ilbo.
Their winning entries showed a child laborer in a paint factory, a mother with her ill infant, seal-hunting in Greenland's melting glaciers as well as other striking images from across the globe.
The same exhibition will run from Aug. 22 to Sept.9 at the U.N. Headquarters Visitors' Lobby in New York and tour seven major South Korean cities, including Busan, Daegu and Gwangju, starting in September.
The proceeds of the exhibition will go to U.N. funds for disaster and poverty relief and environmental protection.