News
Church representatives from North and South Korea as well as from other parts of the world involved in the issue of Korean reunification have been invited to a 17-21 October consultation organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) in Tozanzo, Japan.
"Korean Peninsula - a flashpoint in North East Asia" is the theme of the meeting, that will review and analyse present developments in the Korean Peninsula, and is expected to produce a common plan of action for advocacy at the national, regional and international levels for peace and reunification of the Peninsula.
The risk of nuclear proliferation, including its implications for the region and its people, is on the agenda. Participants will also discuss the prospects of the six-party talks between North and South Korea, Russia, Japan, China and the US that started in 2003 and are working towards a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. The meeting also aims at strengthening the churches' commitment to peaceful reunification by improving their mutual communication and opening possibilites of joint prayer, reflection and action.
The WCC and CCA leadership is hopeful that the meeting will contribute to defusing tensions and overcoming the present stalemate in the Korean peninsula. The results of the meeting will be widely shared with WCC and CCA member churches as well as with governments engaged in the six-party talks.
At the meeting, former US ambassador to South Korea Dr James Laney will offer an assessment of the six-party talks and the possiblities of an amicable settlement. Former director of the WCC Commission of Churches in International Affairs (CCIA) Prof. Ninan Koshy will review the major geopolitical trends in Asia two decades after Tozanzo, and Prof. Han Bae Ho will address the prospects of bilaterial relations with North and South Korea.
The WCC has had a strong involvement in Korean affairs, and actively supported the development of human rights and democratization during military dictatorship in the South. In 1984, as a result of a consultation organized by WCC in cooperation with the CCA, an ecumenical initiative for peace and reunification in Korea was put in place. The upcoming meeting commemorates its 20th anniversary.
In August this year, the WCC executive committee issued a statement on Korea, and the CCIA recently decided to give priority regional focus to the Korean Peninsula until the WCC's 9th Assembly in 2006.
The executive committee statement on Korea is available at:
www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/korea-korea.html
Press releases about the executive committee meeting in Seoul and WCC general secretary's recent visit to Korea are available at: