Rev. Shin Seung-min, programme executive of the National Council of Churches in Korea, firmly believes that Christians live by the power of prayer. As he looks back at one of the largest global prayer campaigns in which he’s ever been involved, he sees that the year 2020 brought forth the power of prayer in unprecedented ways, even amid a year that brought grave suffering to the world.
Recently the World Council of Churches (WCC) published “The Light of Peace: Churches in Solidarity with the Korean Peninsula.” The article below is linked to the questions in Chapter 15 in the book, a chapter that highlights the road ahead for peace and reconciliation on the peninsula. In this interview, Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, president of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, reflects and shares his deep wisdom, and emphasizes the importance of working for peace and justice.
Am 14. August wird der Ökumenische Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK) Das Licht des Friedens: Kirchen in Solidarität mit der koreanischen Halbinsel veröffentlichen, eine Sammlung von Informationsmaterial, das die ÖRK-Mitgliedskirchen verwenden kann, um den 70 Jahre andauernden Konflikt auf der koreanischen Halbinsel im Jahr 2020 anzuerkennen.
On 14 August, the World Council of Churches (WCC) will publish The Light of Peace: Churches in Solidarity with the Korean Peninsula, a collection of resources WCC member churches can use to recognize 70 years of unresolved conflict on the Korean Peninsula during 2020.
Am 6. August hat die interreligiöse Gruppe eine „Gemeinsame Erklärung anlässlich des 75. Jahrestages der Atombombenabwürfe über Hiroshima und Nagasaki“ veröffentlicht und darin erneut auf die existenzielle Bedrohung der Menschheit durch Atomwaffen hingewiesen.
On 6 August, a “Joint Interfaith Statement on the 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” was released, reaffirming the existential threat to humanity that nuclear weapons pose.
A Declaration for the People’s Korea Peace Agreement was launched on 23 July at a global Zoom convention initiated by the National Council of Churches in Korea, along with civil organizations.
Über das gesamte Jahr 2020 engagiert sich der Ökumenische Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK) gemeinsam mit dem Nationalen Kirchenrat von Korea in einer globalen Gebetskampagne unter dem Motto „Wir beten für Frieden jetzt, beendet den Krieg“. Im Rahmen dieser Gebetskampagne veröffentlicht der ÖRK persönliche Geschichten und Gespräche, die andere Menschen bei ihrer Friedensarbeit inspirieren. Bei der nachfolgenden Geschichte geht es um die Perspektiven von US-Veteranen, die ebenfalls alle in Video-Interviews zu Wort kommen.
Throughout 2020, the World Council of Churches (WCC), together with the National Council of Churches in Korea, has been observing a Global Prayer Campaign,“We Pray, Peace Now, End the War.” As part of the campaign, the WCC is sharing personal stories and interviews that inspire others to work for peace. The story below features the perspective of U.S. war veterans, all of whom are also featured in video interviews.
August 2020 will mark 75 years since the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - attacks which devastated those cities and killed or injured several hundred thousands of people. Many more suffered for years afterwards, from having been exposed to the deadly radiation released into the air and water on those days.
At a Peace Convocation on 20 June, people holding blue umbrellas as a symbol of unity prayed, walked and called for peace together. The convocation, coordinated by the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, commemorated 70 years since the start of the Korean War. Held at the White Horse Hill Memorial in Cholwon, the observance took place on one of the most ferocious battlefields of the Korean War.
As members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) fellowship and national councils of churches gathered online on 22 June, they pledged to walk beside their sisters and brothers on the Korean Peninsula in their quest for peace.
Anlässlich des 70. Jahrestags des Beginns des Koreakrieges wurde im Rahmen einer Online-Veranstaltung am 22. Juni, die live im Internet übertragen wurde, eine ökumenische Friedensbotschaft verlesen. Absender der Botschaft waren verschiedene Kirchen und Kirchenräte aus aller Welt, insbesondere aus Ländern, die an dem Krieg beteiligt gewesen sind. Sie bezeichnen den Koreakrieg in der Botschaft als einen „entsetzlich destruktiven Konflikt“, den kein Friedensvertrag je beendet habe.
A Joint Ecumenical Peace Message for the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War was publicly delivered on 22 June during a live-streamed event. Co-sponsored by churches and councils of churches around the world, especially from countries that participated in the Korean War, the message describes the Korean War as an “appallingly destructive conflict” after which no peace treaty was ever concluded.
A Joint Ecumenical Peace Message for the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War will be presented at the online event “Ecumenical efforts for peace on the Korean War’s 70th Anniversary,” hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) at 13.00 CEST on 22 June.
Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary, expressed both alarm and dismay at the destruction of the joint liaison office in Kaesong - opened in 2018 to facilitate communication and cooperation between the two Koreas - and renewed threats of military action on the Korean Peninsula.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned violence, racism and police brutality in the US, following the death of George Floyd, a black man who was unarmed, at the hands of a police officer.
In remarks at an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the May 18 Democratic Uprising, World Council of Churches director for International Affairs Peter Prove reflected on “The Prospective Future of the Korean Peninsula After Peaceful Reunification.”
The National Council of Churches (USA) has joined with other humanitarian and human rights organizations in writing the US Congress to urge that obstacles keeping nongovernmental organizations from addressing the “devastating potential for COVID-19’s spread” within the nation of North Korea be removed.