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I bring greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace from the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK). We have some news of progress made in terms of peace building activities, but also continued frustration with government intransigence around the SEWOL disaster. I wish to share the good news of progress first, and then I will make a request to you, our world church partners.
This last month, a delegation of three people from the World Council of Churches (WCC) visited North Korea and the leadership of the Korean Christian Federation (KCF) in the North. After their visit, they came to Seoul and met with me and other NCCK leaders to discuss the results of their visit and share new information.
Especially, they shared the WCC and KCF interest in planning another international consultation on the peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula. We were able to share our respective hopes for the consultation, that it may be held somewhere on the Korean peninsula, and that it may be held around the time of August 15th to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Liberation Day from Japanese Occupation. This would correspond to the statement on peaceful reunification of the peninsula adopted by the WCC Busan Assembly in 2013. To that end, the NCCK International Relations Committee and the Reconciliation and Unification Committee (RUC) met together to create a joint preparation committee for the consultation. This joint committee will organize a working group to design and propose a date, venue, theme, purpose, and schedule for the consultation. We will then share this proposal with the WCC and the KCF and together negotiate between similar proposals to be submitted by the KCF.
In addition, the RUC has created a plan for future actions toward peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula. The will particularly focus on the 70th anniversary of Liberation Day with events in addition to the international consultation. One special event will be a Peace Walk that will begin on Jeju Island walking all the way up the peninsula to the border with North Korea, and hopefully to cross that border. The walk will include lectures, workshops, worship, and other special events. We hope to invite our overseas partners to join the peace walk, especially 2nd and 3rd generation Koreans living overseas. This will give them a chance to enjoy the nature and scenery of Korea, but also to understand and experience some of their history and the Korean situation to which they are related.
Finally, I would like to request a favor of you, our partner denominations around the world. If you are willing, please send in a message of encouragement and support to the families of the SEWOL disaster who continue fighting for the government to reveal the true extent of responsibility. We hope that these messages from you, along with a theological discussion regarding the significance of a SEWOL theological concept will not only encourage the families to persevere, but also inspire the world church into action to reform a global system that leads to suffering for so many. We want you join with us and lifting up what the church has to say to the forces of neo-liberalism and economic systems that place money, wealth, power, and profit as a higher priority over human rights, peace, and the health and well-being of our people. I fear that the SEWOL ferry sinking may become the metaphor for our Korean society if we do not work for transformation now. When humans seek first to amass wealth, they discard justice, peace, and human rights thus leading to disasters.
Yet Jesus told us, “Do not worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’…. but seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness….” So help us to encourage the church to three actions: 1. Weeping with the families that weep over their lost children. We must develop a close relationship with those who suffer so that we may better understand them. 2. Reveal the reality of the disaster. Reveal the attitude of the government as it dragged its heels in the rescue operation. Reveal the extent of the government decisions and policies that created a situation where this kind of disaster is more likely. 3. Have our society take responsibility where it is due, and seek transformation of systems that perpetuate unsafe environments.
Please send us what you can; messages for the families that continue to suffer, tired and lonely; also financial support for maintaining the basic needs of those devoting their entire life to this effort now; also join us in calling out the attitude of the government seeking to cover the incident hoping we will all simply forget. We will deeply appreciate anything you are able to send.
Peace to you,
Kim Young Ju, General Secretary, NCCK
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