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The conference was organized by the Korea Peace Appeal Campaign.
WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay shared a message, noting that the WCC has accompanied the search for peace on the Korean Peninsula and for the peaceful reunification of the divided Korean people for almost 40 years.
“I take this opportunity to pay special tribute to the faithful work for peace carried out over these several decades by and through the National Council of Churches of Korea, as well as through the wider Korean peace movements,” reads the message.
Peter Prove, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, delivered a presentation on ''70 Years of Ceasefire, Efforts and Challenges for Peace on the Korean Peninsula & East Asia.”
He touched upon the history of the armistice agreement. “On 27 July 1953 – 70 years ago today – the Korean War Armistice Agreement was signed in Panmunjom by senior representatives of the United Nations Command, and military leaders of North Korea (the Korean People's Army) and China (the Chinese People's Volunteer Army),” said Prove. “It was an agreement among military commanders for a temporary ceasefire between their forces, not a peace treaty or an agreement for the normalization of relations between governments.”
Prove noted that a formal declaration of the end of the Korean War “could be a powerful circuit-breaker and catalyst for peace.”
Conference participants are advocating for their governments to help usher in peace on the Koran Peninsula. Other presentations address where the future should go, as well as strategies for hope and peace.
Statement on the 70th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice Agreement
