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Churches call for steps towards peace on the Korean Peninsula

Churches from across the world have joined in calling for steps to be taken towards peace on the Korean Peninsula in a statement released on Monday ahead of the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War this week.

In a joint ‘Ecumenical Peace Message’, church ecumenical organisations from across the world called for an immediate formal declaration of the end of the Korean War and for “swift steps” to be taken toward the adoption a peace treaty to replace the 1953 Armistice Agreement as a “starting point for further progress towards the realization of a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula”.

“Seven decades after this war began, it is time to acknowledge that it ended long ago,” says the statement. “New challenges to peace and stability in the region have arisen in the meantime, but we do not believe that the resolution of those challenges will be facilitated by keeping that 70-year-old conflict open. On the contrary, we believe that the conditions for pragmatic dialogue and negotiation on current realities on the Peninsula could be greatly enhanced by recognizing the end of the war.”

The statement, which was signed by representatives of the World Council of Churches, Ecumenical Patriarchate, World Communion of Reformed Churches and World Methodist Council as well as various country-based church councils and denominations, also called for the suspension and cancellation of military exercises in the region and a resumption of dialogues between South and North Korea, and between the US and North Korea.

“The history of the Korean War has taught us that the reunification of Korea cannot be pursued by armed force and coercive means, given the tragic consequences of that conflict. It can only be achieved by peaceful means, through dialogue and cooperation,” it said.

“We pray that through dialogue and cooperation the long-divided Korean people may heal the wounds of division and conflict, find again their common identity and shared future, and provide leadership and inspiration for peace in the north-east Asian region and throughout the world.”

Speaking at an online event on Monday where the statement was released, Rev Prof Dr Ioan Sauca, interim general secretary of the WCC, said Christians were called to “take bold new steps for peace”.

“And so, we come together, from many countries around the world, to say that after 70 years, it is time to bring an end to the war that has lain always in the background of inter-Korean relations since that terrible conflict took place.”

Rev Dr Hong-Jung Lee, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Korea, described the division of the Korean Peninsula as a structural sin against God.

“People in the North and South have become antagonistic to strangers and against each other, deeply distorted by a cold war consciousness and culture,” he said. “The division of the Korean Peninsula was the most reckless compromise between the USA and Soviet Union based on a short term tactical expediency rather than a long term strategic vision for the suffering people under the Japanese forceful occupation.”

He said the “people of God” cannot “compromise our faith in Jesus Christ with any attempt to make any kinds of war, particularly nuclear war, which totally destroy God’s face as seen in the faces of people and nature”.

The World Council of Churches has released a new publication to help member churches understand and reflect on 70 years of unresolved conflict on the Korean Peninsula. The introductory booklet, The Light of Peace – The Churches and the Korean Peninsula, was released this week with a more comprehensive book to be released in September and a multi-media publication at a later date. 

 

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