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Twenty-one WCC 10th Assembly participants visited Jeju Island for a weekend program of the event, meeting with those protesting about the building of a naval base on the south of the island.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the division between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) has separated North and South Korea since the military armistice agreement was signed on 27 July 1953 at the close of the Korean War. Since

On 1 November, in the exhibition hall at the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea, former general secretary of the WCC Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser discussed his book Religion, Power, Politics. Raiser is a theologian from Germany and author of many works in the area of political ethics and public theology, including For a Culture of Life: Transforming Globalization and Violence.

A plenary session of the 10th Assembly of the WCC delved deeply into the question how, in a world faced with violence, conflicts and discrimination, the “God of life” can lead people, communities and churches towards “justice and peace”.

“They’re coming, they’re coming,” shouts a young women, looking toward the train pulling into platform 6 at Busan Station. When the doors open, people get off with large suitcases. They look tired – yet incredibly happy at the same time. They’ve traveled from Berlin to Busan, 20 days across Europe and Asia. Their objective: To send out a signal against the division of Korea – and for peace in the country which has been split in two for 63 years.

In preparation for the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea (South Korea), pastors and peace activists in that nation are holding a 40-day “fasting prayer” in front of the Busan City Hall. They are protesting the dangers of nuclear radiation and asking to shut down South Korea’s oldest and incident-prone Kori Nuclear Power Plant, some 20 kilometres from the venue of the WCC assembly.

The 10th Assembly of the WCC begins at the end of October and promises to be one of the most diverse gatherings of Christians in the world.

During a recent visit, members of the committee responsible for hosting the upcoming WCC assembly in Busan shared their hope for a “meaningful and successful assembly” which will bring together the worldwide fellowship of WCC member churches in the Republic of Korea for celebration, deliberations and prayer.

Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church has addressed the United Nations (UN) in New York at its High Level Forum on the Culture of Peace.

The ecumenical calling of churches and exploring different ways of renewing their commitment towards justice and peace was a significant focus during the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit‘s recent visit to churches in the United States.

Events in Northeast Asia this year “dramatize how much the region and the world still live in the shadow of mass destruction”, the WCC general secretary said in a comment on the 68th anniversary this week of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. “The God of life calls all of us to take up [the survivors’] tireless cry and make certain that a Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombing can never happen again.”

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed deep admiration for the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada for holding their first-ever joint assembly in Ottawa, Canada.

At the Human Rights Defenders Forum, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called the abuse of women the “most pervasive and unaddressed human rights violation in the whole world.” This abuse, he stressed, is contrary to the basic premise of every religion, including Christianity.

While the WCC 10th Assembly is several months away, a foretaste of what young people will bring to the assembly and experience is already developing a rhythm.

Talk about peace on the Korean peninsula part of discussions at ecumenical consultation on peace and security issues in Asia.

During a visit to the Ecumenical Centre and the WCC in Geneva, the officers of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (PCK) announced that Pentecost Sunday 2013, which it celebrates on 19 May, will be a special day of prayer for the WCC Busan Assembly throughout the 8,300 congregations of the denomination.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, offered prayers and support for advocacy against violence on behalf of the WCC member churches in light of the bombing at the Boston Marathon on Monday, 15 April.

Campaigners for the civil society coalition Control Arms say radical changes are still needed in the latest draft of the Arms Trade Treaty under negotiation at the United Nations if the treaty is to save lives. Christian voices joined the criticism of the latest developments at the Final United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty currently underway in New York, United States.

Church representatives at a recent Oikotree Global Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa stressed the need to support peoples'€™ movements promoting justice in the economy and ecology, a concern, they say, that lies at the heart of the faith.

Arrests of Palestinian civilians and vandalism of their homes at the hands of Israeli military forces is not a new phenomenon in the West Bank. Natalie Maxson, a volunteer for the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel speaks from her experience of meeting a family in Azzun faced with a similar situation.