(2003.06.26)

(This writing was announced from "an Ecumenical Consultation on the Korea Crisis" at June 16-18, 2003, Jurys Washington Hotel, Washington D.C.) The Korea Crisis and the Korean Church    * Jongwha Park / Vice Moderator, NCCK   [Facing an Endgame on the Korean Peninsula]   Five decades of the Cold War era, of a zero-sum confrontation in the peninsula are gone with the time, but its scars remain uncured and still soaring. The Koreans on both sides know that to overcome division and to achieve unification might be a longer way to go than expected, when they are crying for a peaceful reunification of the peninsula. Recent developments culminating in the June 15th Summit of 2000 between North and South Korea could, however, signal quite a new possibility of living together, of a coexistence in peace. Considering the deep-rooted enmity in which each side sought to conquer the whole peninsula red-colored or to absorb the other to be blue-colored, as coincidently shown in the South Korean flag, we dare to speak of a epoch-making and marvelous change of mind of people. In the course of half a century long division conflicts there stands the Korean War in the center having costed millions of people"s lives including both Koreans and foreign military people including US Americans. A collective yes to reunification and peace but not through war at any rate!   The change of people"s mind is "epoch-making", because the world has shown that the collective collapse of the communist powers which brought the ideological block conflict to an end was made without war and the Koreans could believe that their yearning for a unified Korea will be accomplished peacefully in the end. In mutual encounters and cooperations people began getting to know each other, if limited in scope, and came to a firm conviction that either a conquest or an absorption should necessitate a war, which is to be more cruel and disastrous than the former one from which we still suffer tremendously. Just a peaceful means to reunification is considered to be acceptable, and for that purpose a series of actions together was put into practice in offering emergency assistances, enhancing social and cultural exchanges, making possible reunion of separated families and mutually visiting Christians and churches in Korea and abroad.   It is also "marvelous" to mention that most South Koreans get to know the truth of the North Korean situation more realistically. Bellicose utterances of the North, often deadly threatening and intimidating, signify rather stereotyped brinkmanship tactics to get more concessions in negotiations and to more effectively control its domestic politics. In the South Korean political arena the North Korean "threats" function no more effective in attracting the "fearful" voters for the sake of mostly ruling government parties, which had often been the case in the Cold War era. We might speak of a political disenchantment of North Korea In the South Korean situation. This means that people in the South take serious any military provocations and possible Invasion from the North, when it feels it lies in the boundary and no way out for survival. A suicidal attack or war using WMD is not to be ruled out, and a massive disaster on both sides is clearly to be seen. We seek a common national identity and interest of two Koreas on the basis of a peaceful coexistence aiming at peaceful reunification. We know that a Korean war, if any, invites consequently surrounding countries" involvements, whichever they may be, and it ruins peace and common security on the peninsula and also in the region.   The Korean "crisis" is twofold : it contains a significant "danger" of a tragic war and at the same time a flourishing "opportunity" of a lasting peace, At the moment we see we face an end phase of decisions to make above all in face of issues of North Korean nuclear weapons on the one hand and its system survival on the other. Regarding the situations of the peninsula just after the War in Iraq we are very keenly alert to the critical moment of crisis on the peninsula. In the following let me introduce some core elements of "Peace Statement Against War and Nuclear Weapons" signed by 300 ecumenical leading People belonging to KNCC and some to evangelical circles (issued 77arch 31, 2003 in the name of Christian Solidarity for Peace).     [Free of Nuclear Weapons on the Peninsula]   "We urge the North Korea clearly state its intent to immediately stop its nuclear weapons development program, and to participate in peace settlement in Korea and North East Asia".   We oppose the production, development, possession, deployment and use of nuclear weapons which can lead to mass destruction. We call for the implementation of the Basis Agreement on a Nuclear-Free Korea which was signed in December 1991 by the governments of both Koreas. We know that non-nuclear states are deeply frustrated because they are not allowed to develop nuclear weapons, whereas those states already possessing nuclear weapons are highly arrogant. We believe that the question of whether we can maintain peace and security with or without nuclear weapons is not simple. Any attempt to possess nuclear weapons will endanger security and can result in enormous tragedy and destruction.   North Korea clearly declare its willingness to give up its nuclear weapons development program for the sake of the life and very existence of its people and for the survival guarantee of its regime. We urge North Korea to return to the NPT, fulfill its agreement on a nuclear-free Korea, and return to the Inter-national inspection system. We hope that both Koreas will work together to build a nuclear-free peace.     [For Peace Negotiations of Washington and Pyongyang]   "We call upon the United States to make concrete responses to North Korea in guaranteeing the regime survival and the life of its people in return for North Korea"s renunciation of its nuclear weapons programs".   We cannot support any policies leading to armed conflict and, potentially, war In Korea. We cannot accept the US administration"s branding of North Korea as an"axis of evil" or an "outlaw state". We cannot agree with the US policy of pre-emptive nuclear strikes, becauee such a policy can lead to war on the peninsula.   On the other hand, we support the US position to solve the Korean nuclear crisis by diplomatic efforts and dialogue, In accordance with North Korea"s cancellation of its nuclear weapons programs, the US must resume its supply of oil which was promised under the Geneva Agreed Framework and which was suspended in the wake of the North Korean nuclear crisis. We urge the US to immediately enter into dialogue with North Korea to negotiate about the issues of very existence of its people, guarantee of its regime, and a non-aggression pact.     [For Inter-Korean Solidarity and US-South Korean Alliance]   "We urge the South Korean government to make every effort to eliminate the threat of war and pave the way for a peace settlement by combining our commitment to solidarity between North and South and our commitment to the US-South Korea alliance"   We denounce war under any circumstances in Korea. We do not want repeat the agony and suffering of the Korean War. We call on the South Korean government to do its best to dismantle the Cold War structures by extensively enhancing the on-going South-North peaceful coexistence. Peace between North and South Korea is not possible without peace with surrounding nations. We, therefore, urge the South Korean government to work on a framework of multilateral dialogue and cooperation including the US, which has armed forces stationed in South Korea, the surrounding nations and if possible, the EU.   This multilateral framework may contribute to the construction of peace and security not only on the Korean peninsula but in all of Northeast Asia.   We call upon the South Korean government to contribute to strengthening the South-North cooperation, US-North Korea dialogue and a multilateral security framework to ensure a sustainable and permanent peace in the region.     [For Christian Solidarity for Peace]   "We ask sister churches around the world and the churches in North and South Korea to work together to plant the seed of peace in the world and on the peninsula".   We appeal to all peace-loving people in the world to join together in preventing war and building peace, and to work for justice and the welfare of all people. We firmly believe that we can achieve a new vision of church unity by participating in peace without war and nuclear weapons, beyond the barriers of theological doctrines and historical and cultural differences.     [For A Lasting Peace in Korea and the Region]   A non-nuclear, democratic, reconciled, prosperous and unified Korean peninsula may well be accepted as future vision by Koreans and also by the world including the USA. A peaceful resolution of the Korean division conflict is in compliance with the wishes of the Korean people. Furthermore they want the US and allies to effectively manage the conflicts in a way that Cold War structures in the peninsula could peacefully, that is, without war, be dismantled up to the stage sawing the seed of security and peace in Northeast Asia.   An agreement of non-nuclear assurance by North Korea and its survival guarantee by the US is pivotal in the conflict resolution. At a lower level there should be a follow-up negotiation of the reduction, redeployment and restructuring of forces and arms confronted against each other, which includes also the issues of pullback of their forward-deployed conventional forces. We Koreans want badly in such a severe process to suggest a common security formula containing surrounding nations like China, Japan, Russia. In this respect the US may play best a peace-making role in the region as in the case of Europe.   Reunification and peace are in separable in the minds of the Korean people. When the two are, however, in the short term period optional, then the Koreans make a clear stance in my observation that a peace in division and coexistence has the priority over a reunification through war. Here we are clearly aware of the fact that a reunification aims at building peace on the Korean peninsula and in the region. Koreans have a dream of a drastic change of situation, a dream of building a "world peace garden" in Panmujom making the whole of the DMZ a "peace zone", if and when the security and peace on the peninsula and in the region has to have its concrete shape.