A six person delegation representing the World Council of Churches and the World Communion of Reformed Churches visited Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, late last week.
Led by Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, and Rev Dr Chris Ferguson, general secretary of the WCRC, the delegation made the 3rd to 7th May visit at the invitation of the Korean Christian Federation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. They met with representatives of the KCF as well as HE Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme Peoples Assembly of the DPRK, and Prof Dr Ri Jong Hyok, president of the National Reunification Institute.
In a statement published after the visit, the ecumenical delegation gave thanks that they were able to celebrate with the KCF and the National Council of Churches in South Korea, the political commitments expressed in a declaration signed last week by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un following an historic summit.
They said the declaration expressed “so many long-held ecumenical hopes and aspirations for peace on the Korean Peninsula” including commitments to alleviate military tensions, to promoting inter-Korean exchange and cooperation, to achieving a peace treaty to replace the 1953 Armistice Agreement, “and the solemn declaration that there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula”.
They also “celebrate and affirm the joint declaration of commitment to realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula – in the context of our efforts for a nuclear-free world through advocacy for universal ratification and implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)”.
Rev Dr Tveit said the visit to Pyongyang took place in a “beautiful new spring season, not only in the natural world but also in the relations between the people and governments of the Korean peninsula.”
“We know that spring is also a season in which to work, to ensure that we reap a good harvest of what has been sown,” he said.
Rev Dr Ferguson, added that together, the WCC and the WCRC are “committed to mobilising our churches around the world in support of these new steps towards the peace that we have so long sought and desired for the people of the peninsula and the north-east Asian region”.
Concluding its statement, the delegation urged “all churches, all Christians called by our Lord Jesus Christ to be peacemakers, and all people of good will around the world to join in supporting the Korean-led initiatives for peace expressed in the Panmunjom Declaration, as a foundation and framework for achieving a sustainable peace for the Korean people, for the region, and for the world”.
