[May 2013] Greetings from GS

[May 2013] Greetings from GS

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Global Church,

Spring time greetings from Korea, where the flowering plants are sharing their fragrance with all

the world. It is like the anointing of God’s peace flowing through the world.

This month the issues on my heart are very much about peace in the Korean Peninsula – peace

in opposition to strife. The strife come in two ways – labour strife, and political strife.

In the labour field, the Ssangyong Motors layoff issue has torn at our society since 2009, when

this company, claiming impending bankruptcy, laid off 3000 workers. Some have been able to

return to work, but a number, although promised reinstatement, have been left in limbo. Twenty-

four labourers or their family members have died in the time since the layoff, some from poverty

and stress-induced illness and many from suicide caused by the shame and anxieties of

unemployment. The former workers have done many things to keep their plight before people

– visible actions like the tent city and memorial to those who have died outside Daehan Gate

of Doeksu Palace near City Hall in Seoul, and the 3 members who have been occupying

a transmission tower in a strike action for over 160 days outside the Ssangyong plant in

Pyongtaek. This perch is a very dangerous place to live.

On May 7, on behalf of NCCK, I visited Pyongtaek with a medical doctor, who examined

these protestors, finding them in very poor health. The doctor urged them to come down from

the tower and change their tactics, while I promised them that NCCK will stand behind their

struggle and continue to work with them. Today (May 9) they have descended the tower and

have been taken to hospital to recover.

There are three ways we will support these labourers – first, we will organize negotiations

between Mahindra Group, the Indian owner of the company (which just posted highest sales in

April since 2000, and revenues of KRW 751.6 billion in the first quarter of 2013), the Union

leaders and the struggling labourers to settle the situation in a just and responsible manner;

second, we will advocate on their behalf with Members of National Assembly to conclude

its investigation into wrongful dismissal by the company; and third, we will call on the

world community of Christians to pray and support labour justice for Ssangyong.

In the political realm, the situation between North and South is truly grevious. Gaesong Industrial

Complex, the symbol of Korea’s striving for reunification, is closed. NCCK, along with its

members and its partners in Korean civil society, is praying and striving to find a solution to

this issue. We grieve the situation between North and South Korea, in which we face each

other through the lens of a ceasefire which threatens to break at any time. No other country

has existed in such a ceasefire situation for 60 years, and we strongly call for a peace treaty to

be negotiated and brought to normalize our situation.

Next week, NCCK members will attend a Peace Conference in Atlanta, USA, in which the

American Methodist Church has organized a Peace Treaty Campaign in solidarity with NCCK

and with the WCC.

In conclusion, we hope that the Peace Train will be an enduring symbol of the 10^th General

Assembly.

May God enable all our efforts towards life, peace and justice in the entire world.

Kim Young Ju

General Secretary