On the occasion of the 9th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration

- South Korean government must resume dialogue
between the North and the South for peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula at the expense of any cost and sacrifice. –

The NCCK have been making every effort with prayer for peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula including " Declaration of the Churches of Korea on National Reunification and Peace" in 1988. It has also believed and supported that various dialogues, agreements and common projects on the level of government authorities and civil groups would be contributing to national reconciliation and cooperation, settlement of peace system and achievement of common prosperity.

Peace on the Korean peninsula should not be given up even in any difficult circumstance and a goal for all the people to achieve. On the occasion of the 9th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration by the South-North Summit Talks, however, we cannot but seriously worry about today"s situation in which peace on the Korean peninsula that has been well processed is seriously threatened by the possibility of local armed clashes on west sea as well as of large scale military battle. Recently high ranked authorities of respective countries to Korean peninsula are mentioning of inescapability of war and even raising from Japan of necessity of preemptive attack to North Korea.

We have expected in the beginning of Lee government that there would be practical developments on peace and reunification process on the Korean peninsula, even though there would be some differences from previous governments in relation to their policy toward North Korea. Having started with the terms of "Denuclearization, Openness and U$3,000", Lee Myung-bak government has ignored the spirit of June 15(2000) and October 4th(2006) joint agreements by North and South Summits, and we now are facing with stringent confrontational aspects due to the loss of mutual trust, slander to the other, and brokenness of dialogue which lead to the ineffectiveness of given agreements and to military confrontation.

Recently the Six Party talks for denuclearization on the Korean peninsula has lost its meaning of existence due to the rejection to participate by North Korea because of breaking of the principle of "action for action" and there has not been any hopeful progress in the relation of North Korea and the US. Meanwhile there have been missile launching and two times of nuclear tests by North Korea, and they have brought to raise the possibility of military punishment while discussing of various sanctions

In this moment which approaches to the 9th anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration, we explicitly express our point of view that the Lee government should not misuse the North-South relationship as an internal political use, not hold fast to his stringent policy toward North Korea and not bring Korean peninsula into war confrontation through blocking and isolating North Korea, and we urge as follows:

Firstly, we firmly declare that the North and South relationship should be resolved through their peaceful and diplomatic efforts by authorities of respective countries even in any worsening situation. We urge Lee government to take its initiative and to make its every effort to resolve the problem in diplomatic strategy with surrounding countries like the U.S, Japan, China and Russia in order to prevent local crashes or war possibility on the Korean peninsula.

Secondly, Lee government should take North and South dialogue as the foremost task at the expense of any cost and sacrifice. This national matter should necessarily be solved through direct dialogue and cooperation by authorities of the North and the South rather than through international foreign diplomacy. In this sense, we urge Lee government even now to succeed to the content and spirit of the June 15 and the October 4th agreements declared by the Summits of two Koreas and to declare it publicly. And on this basis, it should make its every effort for direct dialogue with North Korean authority with patience.

Thirdly, we urge Lee government to take necessary measurement for smooth progress of economic cooperation business including tourism to Mt. Keumkang and Kaesung Industrial complex as well as various exchanges and cooperation on the level of civil groups including religious organizations which are now in difficult situation. We especially expect that the government promptly resumes humanitarian assistance through various, direct and indirect channels to people in North Korea, especially for children and pregnant women who are suffering with severe food shortage.

We reassure that peace and reunification is our mission mandate which God entrusts churches in Korea to do and we will continue our prayer for this. And we also hope that Lee government will investigate and accept the above demands and build peace system firmly on the basis of dialogue, mutual trust and cooperation between the two Koreas which leads to mutual development.

June 11, 2009

Rev. Kwon Oh-Sung, General Secretary
Rev. Chun Byung-Ho, Chairperson of Unification Committee
The National Council of Churches in Korea