|
October, 2015
Brothers and sisters of the Global Church,
In this autumn time of the year, I greet you in the name of the Lord of Peace and Truth. A few weeks ago, Koreans celebrated the autumn harvest feast of Chuseok, the celebration of the harvest. How thankful we are to be nourished by the loving commitment of our rural people to our land.
This fall the Christian bodies in Korea are very involved in the work of justice in our immediate world of Northeast Asia and of the wider world. We ask your prayers, and thank you for your solidarity and support for our work.
We at NCCK were shocked this week at our government's announcement that they would again produce the authorized history books for our education system. This is a dreadful step backward away from democracy. Instead of a balanced view of the recent history of Korea, we fear and protest, the whitewashing of things inconvenient to the present regime. Worse, children will be forced to learn history with the banking concept of education, which will destroy the objective viewpoint and creativity of our children. This will be a blasphemy of life.
Our government should be consulting with the Northern government to find how to be reconciled one to the other and make a positive life for all the people of Korea, but our Southern government is ignoring our compatriots for any real progress that will be relevant to our future.
We do give thanks for the connections taking place between North and South this month – the family reunions, NCCK-WCC visit to Pyungyang, the Buddhist-Buddhist visit, the North-South Labour football match. Through these meetings and others, we pray for reconciliation and friendship so that peace and understanding will grow.
Another sorrow of Northeast Asia is the relationship between Japan and Korea. We witness hate speech against Koreans in Japan increasing, and the redefinition of Article 9, normalizing the use of troops throughout the world, is causing great anxiety within Korean society.
This week we look forward to frankly talking about the situation with our colleagues from NCCJ. We want this consultation to become a symbol of how to work for the peace of the world.
I commend the articles of this newsletter to you, so that you will see some of the activities we are carrying on for the work of God. In the name of Jesus the Christ, our hope for peace, I pray for the abiding health of you and your community.
Rev. Kim Young Ju
General Secretary
| 
