<원문>
STATEMENT
FROM CHURCHES’ FORUM ON PEACE AND
SECURITY IN NORTHEAST ASIA ON NUCLEAR ENERGY
The Churches’ Forum on Peace and Security in Northeast Asia is an organization which represents Christian groups from the entire Northeast Asia region, and stands, as the name suggests, for peace and security of our land and peoples.
Especially as we meet at this time of disaster in Japan, when the natural disaster of earthquake and tsunami has been exponentially compounded by the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, we, representing Christian ecumenical bodies in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, call on the governments of all our countries to witness our deep concern over the use of nuclear power to fuel our nations’ energy needs. The very real dangers of nuclear power are being exhibited in Japan at present. Plants built by the very strongest of human standards cannot withstand the onslaught of nature or the problems of human failure, and the resulting radiation leakage puts land and people in extreme danger of life and health. In human arrogance and ignorance we are prone to say, “this design, this plant, this production will be safe”, but again, we point to our brothers and sisters in Japan, a nation in which people were confident there could not be a disaster of these proportions. Let us be humbly realistic. If it can happen there, it can happen anywhere.
The wastes of nuclear power plants, as we see at Fukushima, are dangerously radioactive for many life spans of the people creating them and not only in the area of the plant, in this case Japan, but around the world. We protest the saddling of many generations of our children with the results of this technology. We call to mind that in 1990, a World Convocation of the World Council of Churches’ was held right here in Seoul. At that meeting the Christians affirmed the creation as beloved of God and committed themselves to building a culture that can live in harmony with creation’s integrity and preserving the gift of the earth’s atmosphere to nurture and sustain the world’s life. We reaffirm those words today.
Therefore, as the Churches’ Forum on Peace and Security in Northeast Asia,
We call on the governments:
1. To stop the building of new nuclear power generating plants
2. To commit to the reduction of dependence on nuclear energy for society’s use
3. To seek alternatives to the use of nuclear energy, through a commitment to develop ‘clean’ and ‘sustainable’ technologies, such as wind, solar, etc.
Additionally,
We call on our own Christian communities in our nations, and on all people of goodwill:
1. Be aware that each one of us bears responsibility for our governments’ use of nuclear energy to generate power because of our insatiable desire for more and more electricity.
2. Let us each explore ways to reduce consumption and reduce our dependence on electricity.
3. Let us affirm the whole world as beloved of God and commit ourselves to build a culture that can live in harmony with creation’s integrity.
So be it. April 2, 2011
, the earth as the Lord’s, the dignity and commitment of the younger generation, and human rights* as being given by God. The participants at Seoul also entered into covenant regarding four concrete issues: a just economic order and liberation from the bondage of foreign debt; the true security of all nations and peoples and a culture of non-violence;; the eradication of racism* and discrimination on all levels for all peoples and the dismantling of patterns of behaviour that perpetuate the sin of racism.
