Leading Nepalese social activist and this year’s Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Award-winner, Arjun Karki accepted his prize yesterday at a special presentation ceremony in Seoul, Korea. Karki, who is chairman of Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN), received a medal and a US$10,000 cash prize from Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Foundation chairman, Monsignor Philip Kim Byeong-sang. The foundation said Karki won the prize for his contribution to the protection of human rights and the development of impoverished and marginalized communities in Nepal. In his acceptance speech, Karki, who is also chairman of LDC Watch, said he wanted to share his award with his co-workers and pledged to “keep working to build a world which is based on justice, peace and humanity.” LDC Watch is a global alliance of civil society organizations working in “Least Developed Countries’’ in Africa and Asia. He also said he wished to donate his prize money to a worthy cause. “I would like to draw your attention to the upcoming 4th UN conference on the least developed countries that’s going to be held in Istanbul this year. I would like to hand over the prize money to a committee to ensure that it gets utilized for promoting the cause of peace and justice,” he said. The Tji Hak-soon award was introduced to honor Bishop Tji, former bishop of Wonju, in 1997 to promote justice, peace and human rights, which the late bishop championed throughout his life. KO13604.1644