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Starting from 31 August to 8 September, the Korea Peace Appeal Campaign attended the World Council of Churches' 11th General Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany. With the help of NCCK, we opened a signature booth for the Korea Peace Appeal and disclosed the situation in Korea. During the assembly, we collected over one thousand signatures.
Many people were willing to sign for the campaign and also commented, “The Korean War must end now,” and “I can’t believe that there is no peace treaty on the Korean Peninsula yet.” There were some people who were concerned and asked questions about the situation where the dialogue has recently stopped and military tensions are rising. We handed out our campaign merchandise such as stickers, badges, brochures, and fans with the word “peace” written in Korean to people from various regions. This gave us the time to reflect on the relationship between Korea peace and World peace.
During the assembly period we ran a workshop, <The Korea Peace Appeal : A Religious and Civil Society Coalition to End the Korean War>. We reviewed the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula and East Asia, discussed the end of the Korean War, signing of a peace treaty, and the cooperation between religions and civil society for disarmament and world peace.
At the <Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification & Development Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula>, several church representatives from the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, Korea, and peace activists gathered. They shared their previous actions toward Korean peace and reconciliation, and discussed their future prospects and plans. The Korea Peace Appeal Campaign also shared the achievements and challenges of the past two years, as well as plans for an intensive campaign in 2023, which marks the 70th anniversary of the Armistice, and everyone promised cooperation.
Particularly, the WCC general assembly adopted the <Minute on ending the war and building peace on the Korean Peninsula> as a Public Issue Committee document. As mentioned in the minute below, the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches meeting urges WCC member churches and partners to renew their solidarity and to actively support and accompany the Korean churches in their advocacy through the Sunday of Prayer for the Peaceful Reunification on the Korean Peninsula, the Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification and Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula (EFK), and the Korea Peace Appeal Campaign - a campaign for ending the war and replacing the 1953 Armistice Agreement with a peace treaty - which aims to collect signatures from 100 million people around the world by the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement in 2023. It is significant that churches from around the world are gathering strength for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
We also had a meeting with the Korean diaspora in Berlin, Germany. It was nice to meet people who were a big help in our campaign in a far away country, Germany. We had the time to discuss the situation in Korea, the campaign’s achievements and tasks, concerns and ideas each of us had, and pledged upcoming plans.
In addition, we visited the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Headquarters, which has been supporting the campaign since the beginning, and the International Peace Bureau(IPB), an international partner and valuable colleague of the campaign, to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula and future cooperation details.
Photo : Korea Peace Appeal Campaign, National Council of Churches in Korea
▶ For Korean version click here
🕊 Signature Campaign to End the Korean War
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