NCCJ"s involvement with Korean Peninsula
Toshimasa Yamamoto
National Christian Council in Japan (NCC-J)
NCCJ"s involvement with democratization process in Korea
The NCCJ"s relationship with Korean Peninsula in the recent modern history is highlighted and underlined with the involvement of the democratization process in South Korea. According to the "Letters from South Korea", which was a 15-year long series of moving stories carried in the monthly magazine, "Sekai," from the May issue of 1973 to the March issue of 1988, it is clear that NCCJ was with people of South Korea and with the KNCC as a counterpart. These articles told the world about the Korean politicians, religious persons, writers, and journalists, students and workers who stood up against their nation"s military regime in pursuit of restoring democracy. The letters were written by a certain anonymous "T. K."At that time, this underground correspondence was organized by a Christian group in Korea, and"T. K." in Tokyo and they compiled the documents together with others then wrote the "letter from South Korea."In 2003, the Christian group in Korea held a press conference and disclosed the whole story of the underground project. "T. K." was finally identified as Dr. Chi Myung-gwan."Letters from South Korea" was a great achievement for Korea"s democratization movement, and at the same time, it was a product of unprecedented solidarity between the Christians of Japan and of Korea. The whole scope of the project needs to be re-appropriated in light of the church history of these two countries. It also was the product of a global ecumenical Christian network since so many people, including missionaries and individuals from Europe and North America, were involved and committed to this project.61 years after WWII, Japan is changing ahead into a country, which is capable of initiating a war. Japanese government is in the process of changing Peace Constitution, targeting article 9.It is Article 9, the "war-denouncing clause," that bears the most upon the future course of Japan. As democratization in Korea becomes more mature, this might be a time for Japanese Christians to ask our Korean friends for support of"democratization " in Japan."
Humanitarian Aid to DPRK
The Japanese government pledged, when former Prime Minister Koizumi met Mr. Kim Jong IL in Pyongyang on May 22, 2004 for the second time, that they would provide $40 million to WFP. The WFP did purchase 125,000 tons of grain and other food items for delivery using funds from Japan. The Japanese government also provides $5milion to Unicef and other health organizations such as WHO formedical aid. Before this pledge, the Japanese government sent 100,000 tons of rice to the DPRK in 2001. The provision of food assistance through WFP was the fifth of its kind since Japan had sent 67,000 tons of rice in October 1997.The way that the Japanese government sends their assistance to DPRK is that under the aid program, Japan contributes funds to WFP to purchase the rice from Japan"s own stockpile. Therefore, it is, in a sense, a good way for the Japanese government to get rid of their left over rice before it pilesup in the warehouses.The assistance of the Japanese government to DPRK stopped in 2004 due toissues surrounding the case of the" Japanese abductees " and the missile testsof the DPRK.On the NGO level, as food shortages persist in DPRK, Japanese NGOs have been continuing their efforts to send their humanitarian aid, even with a limited amount, to the DPRK since 1995. NCCJ has been closely working with NGOs in Japan such as RCCJ (Relief Campaign Committee for Children, Japan) of which JVC (Japan International Volunteer Center), Earth Tree, the Caritas Japan and Kansai based HANKnet-Japan. NCC-J has sent edible oil, flour, medicine, maize, bicycles, new factory outlet garments and infant cereal. (Please sees the details of our shipment with an attached chronological summary report.) Funding has been a big problem for all the NGOs in Japan as donations from the general public varies depending on the political situation in the DPRK and its relationship with Japan. There was also a growing sense of " Aid Fatigue " around the year 2000 on the part of many NGOs and many decided to withdraw from their involvement with humanitarian aid work to the DPRK. At the moment the Kansai based HANKnet-Japan is still sending infant milk powder to the DPRK.
Diplomatic relations with DPRK.
It is a historical fact that Japan was directly involved in the peninsula as its colonizer for about 35 years, and that the Korean Peninsula was divided by the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. Although Japan established normal relations with South Korea in 1965, it still has no diplomatic ties with DPRK 61 years after the war"s end. Japan was moving to restarting stalled talks aimed at establishing diplomatic relations with the DPRK after the Summit between former Prime Minister Koizume and Mr. Kim Jong Il four years ago. When the Pyongyang declaration was issued, NCCJ sent a letter of congratulations to Mr. Koizumi, which was very unusual as we always send a letter of protest or demands to him, on the success of the meeting that he opened the new door for the diplomatic relations. We gave him credit for his eagerness to move things forward but it has not been producing all the expected results. On the contrary, it created a"@massive negative campaign against the DPRK by the Japanese media due to theinformation released by the DPRK at the Pyongyang Summit on the " Japanese abductees " stating that many of them had already died.A group of conservative lawmakers submitted a bill to bar DPRK ships from entering Japan and this bill was cleared at the Diet in July, 2004 as a result of the negative campaign. The Diet also has revised the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Law to enable the government to unilaterally impose economic sanctions on the DPRK, including a halt to cash remittances. As we all know that these laws and sanctions are imposed after nuclear testing in Oct, 2006.
