Star campaigns for Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama: Barred from South Korea

The film star and Tibet activist Richard Gere has called on South Korean president Kim Dae-jung to grant an entry visa to the Dalai Lama.

A South Korean Buddhist group has invited the Tibetan spiritual leader to visit the country in November, however immigration authorities have told the group he will be refused a visa.

President Kim has himself just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

The move follows concerns among South Korean officials that the visit would damage sensitive relations with China.

The Dalai Lama's proposed tour comes shortly after a visit to the country by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongi for the Asia-Europe summit meeting.

In September the Chinese Embassy in Seoul wrote to Korean officials expressing Beijing's "strong displeasure" over the visit and saying it should be postponed until 2001.

Beijing has repeatedly warned its Asian neighbours against giving the Dalai Lama a forum to promote his campaign for Tibetan autonomy.

In April the governor of Tokyo cancelled a meeting with the Dalai Lama amid fears that it could hurt Japan's ties with China.

'Unfortunate signal'

Writing in his capacity as head of the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet, Mr Gere said that refusing the Dalai Lama a visit "would send an unfortunate signal to the rest of the world and undermine [South] Korea's unique authority in Asia".

Richard Gere: A vocal supporters of Tibetan independence

Mr Gere said in his letter that it was "mystifying" that such a widely respected figure and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize should be barred from entering the country which, he said, had a "proud and long-standing Buddhist heritage".

The letter was written shortly before Mr Kim was himself awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition for his efforts to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.

"I am sure that His Holiness's visit will be a great cultural and religious event in your country and something for the Korean people to be proud of," Mr Gere wrote.

The Dalai Lama has not seen the Tibetan capital Lhasa for more than 40 years

China annexed Tibet in 1950 forcing the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers to flee into India in 1959.

Since then the Tibetan Government in exile has estimated that 1.2 million Tibetans have died as a result of the Chinese occupation.

Beijing itself routinely denies human rights abuses in Tibet and points to the construction of roads, factories and hospitals as evidence of its "benevolent" rule.