More than 100 South Korean lawmakers on Friday signed on to a campaign promoting positive online messages, saying they will lead efforts to improve the cyber culture, especially ahead of December’s presidential election.

The campaign, dubbed the “Sunfull Movement,” was launched by a university professor in 2007 after two celebrities were driven to suicide by hateful comments on the Internet. “Sunfull” is an abbreviation of the Korean term for “kind reply” and also carries the English meaning, “full of sunshine,” according to the organization.

Participants in the campaign, most of whom are students in middle and high school, post positive comments online to counter bullying at schools and discourage the use of foul language on the Internet.

With fewer than 50 days to go before the Dec. 19 poll, malicious messages have targeted South Korean politicians,

In August, the words “Park Geun-hye condom” and “Ahn Cheol-soo hostess bar” briefly became two of the most popular search terms on the country’s most-visited portal Naver following a media report that independent presidential candidate Ahn had visited a hostess bar in the past. The search for “Park Geun-hye condom” did not actually produce any results that were related to the ruling party’s presidential candidate.

“We will widely promote the importance of kind comments and lead efforts to create a new political culture based on beautiful words, writing and action,” Rep. Suh Sang-kee of the ruling Saenuri Party said during a news conference at the National Assembly.

Rep. Kim Choon-jin of the main opposition Democratic United Party added, “We will lead efforts to create an advanced political climate through a parliamentary environment in which everyone respects each other’s opinions.”

The two lawmakers will co-chair a new parliamentary committee launched earlier in the day to promote the use of positive and encouraging comments in politics.

As of Wednesday, more than 100 of the 300 members of parliament had signed on to the campaign.

“It is meaningful that lawmakers of the rival parties declared ahead of the presidential election that they would take part (in the campaign) and realize beautiful politics with compliments and encouraging comments instead of groundless slander and negative propaganda,” said Min Byoung-chul, the founder of the Sunfull Movement. (Yonhap News)