News
US Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said in the recent televized debate with George Bush that he favours bilateral talks between America and North Korea. The president, on the other hand, said that he favours the Six-Party Talks on the peaceful reunification of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.
But former US ambassador to South Korea Dr James Laney finds President Bush's statement "amusing" because, he says, Bush prefers not to negotiate at all with Pyongyang, which Washington has included in the so-called "axis of evil".
Speaking at a 17-20 October consultation organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) at Gotemba, near Toyko, Japan, Laney said that "President Bush's branding North Korea part of the so-called axis of evil has put back the normalization process of the Korean peninsula several years".
Laney, who is also president emeritus of Emory University in Atlanta, US, was questioned at the consultation about the prospects of negotiations on North Korea.
The former ambassador, who was stationed in Seoul from 1993-1997 during the Clinton era, gave his views on "An assessment of the Six-Party Talks - possibilities of an amicable settlement".
The multilateral Six-Party Talks, involving North and South Korea, the US, Japan, China and Russia, began in 2003, with China hosting two rounds. A working group met in mid-May 2004 to prepare for the third round, to be held in Beijing, but failed to make a breakthrough.
"The US election next month will be a tight race, but don't discount John Kerry winning," Laney observed, predicting that if Kerry enters the White House, US policy towards North Korea will improve. In his view, the Bush administration's policy towards North Korea is pandering to people's fears - which is not a Christian virtue.
He suggested that a Democratic administration would pursue bilateral talks with Pyongyang, although he said it was important for the Six-Party Talks to run concurrently.
<span style="font-weight: bold; "»» Churches' role
The three-day WCC-CCA consultation in Gotemba focused on the stalled initiatives towards peace, unification, and a resolution of the conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
In particular, it sought to encourage and inspire churches in both the North and South towards greater people-to-people contact, mutual exchange of ideas and confidence-building, easing regional tensions, and to facilitate meetings of churches and civil society to run parallel to the Six-Party Talks of the major political stakeholders.
"We also want to find ways to encourage WCC-CCA member churches in consultation with churches in Korea to reflect together on and engage in common prayer to reinforce their advocacy efforts for a just and lasting peace," noted WCC International Affairs programme executive Clement John.
The October consultation also sought to encourage greater economic and cultural cooperation for North Korea by extending developmental aid and lifting sanctions against Pyongyang.
In his welcoming remarks, CCA general-secretary Dr Ahn Jae-Woong said that a divided Korea is a tragedy and painful reality for people living on both sides.
"The unification of Korea is neither rhetoric nor a slogan, but a permanent mandate to be achieved by peaceful means," he said, adding that the Korean people cannot achieve unification alone but need the help of the global community.
About 50 delegates from North and South Korea, other parts of Asia, Europe and North America attended the consultation, which was hosted by the National Christian Council in Japan and marked the anniversary of a similar ecumenical gathering 20 years ago that brought together church leaders from 20 nations of Asia, Pacific, the Middle East, Latin America, Eastern and Western Europe and North America.
The final communiqué of the consultation is available on our website
www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/tozanso2004.html
See also our press release of 13 October, 2004
www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pr-04-47.html
The executive committee statement on Korea is available at: