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Message from General Secretary
The month of August has been quite busy this year. Several large events have transpired and we have done some traveling as well. I particularly want to emphasize the importance of three events.
First, the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) has finally had its first meeting of the Special Committee on the SEWOL Ferry Disaster. Before we could only form a task force, which was smaller. Now, after a meeting of the Executive Committee we can form a full Special Committee that will focus on tasks such as urging the government to pass a special SEWOL law that could give an investigation committee the powers it needs to find the truth and punish those responsible. You have seen Mr. Kim Young Oh, whose daughter died in the SEWOL disaster, has been hospitalized as he continues his hunger strike urging the President and the National Assembly to pass the special bill. Specifically, the bill would remove all hindrances to the committee’s ability to investigate government agencies, which up to now they have been prohibited from doing.
It would also give them the power to indict any officials they found to be responsible for the SEWOL disaster and the mistakes made in the rescue attempt. We believe, along with the families of the victims, that this is the only way to find out the true causes of the accident.
We are seeing our culture coalescing into a system that prioritizes profit over the safety of our people. Our society is becoming more and more hierarchical with competition as a focus so that some people are constantly on the bottom. We have forgotten our roots in a culture that values equality and community all for the sake of theorized economic development. Our system of opposing political parties focuses more on taking from each other than they focus on humanity and the lives of people like the victims of SEWOL. If we do not transform our society and these systems, we are in danger of a similar disaster happening again.
Also, in the second week of August, I traveled with an NCCK delegation to Pyongyang, North Korea where we participated in a joint worship along with the Korean Christian Federation of the North where we prayed a prayer that the NCCK and KCF co-wrote on behalf of the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula. This visit was in accordance with the World Council of Churches (WCC) acceptance of the Declaration on Peace and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula at the Busan Assembly 2013. We sent nineteen delegates including two female delegates and two young adult delegates to improve the diversity of our group. Likewise, the KCF responded with a delegation of female and young adults, and we agreed to push for further exchanges and cooperation with these two groups. Having prayed and worshipped together to observe, along with the WCC and churches of the world, the week leading up to August 15th, Liberation Day, we also agreed to hold an international conference next year in 2015 on the Korean peninsula to mark the 70th anniversary of Liberation Day.
Finally, I had the opportunity to meet Pope Francis on his visit to the Republic of Korea. I was very grateful for his visit because I believe it was an opportunity for Christians in Korea to learn about what our position of Christianity should be. I learned from the pope that we must mourn alongside those who are mourning. We must take action for those who are struggling in the midst of poverty and for those who are denied power in our society. I also learned that we should be working together alongside all those who are suffering. I also took the opportunity to request that the pope have deep concerns for the situation of peace and reunification on the Korean peninsula. I suggested to him that if the Catholic Church in Korea could set reunification as their highest priority then we could work alongside each other as a united church struggling together for reunification. I asked him to visit North Korea with us someday.
I have a dream that one day we will walk hand in hand with the president of the WCC and with the pope to cross the border of North Korea. I hope this may someday come true.
General Secretary Kim Young Ju
National Council of Churches in Korea
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