New South Korean President receives WCC delegation, affirms commitment to dialogue with North, supports role of churches for peace on Korean peninsula
On 30 May 2017 a delegation led by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit met with President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, who took office on 10 May 2017 in an election following the impeachment of his predecessor, Park Geun-hye. Mr Moon is a former human rights lawyer, who once served as a member of the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) Busan Chapter for human rights.
“That President Moon received us so early in his term is in recognition of the important role played by the WCC and the ecumenical movement in promoting democratization, human rights, peace and reconciliation in Korea for more than 45 years,” noted Tveit.
President Moon received the delegation – comprising WCC general secretary Tveit, Dr Chang Sang (WCC President for the Asian Region), Mr Peter Prove (director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs), Metropolitan Ambrose-Aristotle Zographos (of the Orthodox Church in Korea, and President of the NCCK), Rev. Dr Kim Young Ju (NCCK general secretary), and Rev. Shin Seung-min(NCCK Programme Executive) – in his executive office, known as the ‘Blue House’, in Seoul.
Acknowledging WCC’s leadership in enabling North and South Korean Christians to meet and engage in ecumenical encounter and dialogue, President Moon affirmed that such religious and civilian exchanges are important in helping to reduce tensions and to promote normalization of relations. He stressed that his administration is committed to engaging in dialogue with North Korea, but that recent repeated missile tests by the North obstruct this intent and force the South Korean government to join with the international community in supporting the application of stronger sanctions. He called for North Korea to help create the conditions for inter-Korean dialogue by suspending such tests.
President Moon underlined that achieving a peace treaty, establishing a ‘peace regime’,and the de-nuclearization of the Korean peninsula are key priorities for his administration. He expressed the hope that the WCC and the NCCK would continue to work for these purposes too.
An international conference convened by the WCC in Hong Kong in November 2016,with participants from North and South Korea and from 11 other countries,called for future ecumenical initiatives to be purposefully and explicitly configured to model and exercise leadership towards a peace treaty for the Korean peninsula, to replace the Armistice Agreement by which the Korean War was suspended in 1953.
“Everywhere I go around the world, especially in these times of heightened geopolitical tensions,”remarked general secretary Tveit, “I am asked about the situation in the Korean peninsula and about how WCC can do more to help reduce tensions and to promote peace and reconciliation in this region. We have a long history of supporting encounter and dialogue between Christians from both North and South Korea, and we are committed to doing more.”
However,under the previous South Korean government, encounters by South Korean citizens with North Koreans were penalized, resulting in substantial fines being imposed on South Korean church leaders participating in meetings with North Korean Christians. Referring to such challenges, Tveit expressed his hope for more encouragement and support from the new South Korean government for ecumenical peacebuilding initiatives.
“We and our member churches place much hope in your leadership for a fresh startfor peace among the divided Korean people,” concluded Tveit.
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