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As a WCC-convened forum on peace on the Korean Peninsula came to a close, participants from around the world, representing many churches, vowed to work together in accompanying the Christians of North and South Korea in their efforts for peace, reconciliation, and development.

Around 60 participants from Christian churches all over the world gathered in Beit Sahour for peace consultations two weeks ago.

The World Council of Churches reiterates (WCC) the urgent appeal issued by its Executive Committee in June for “all states engaged in the perilously escalating military confrontation in the [Korean] region to refrain from further escalation and to pursue instead initiatives to reduce tensions and to create a window for new dialogue initiatives.”

“In the face of escalating confrontation and heightened risks of catastrophic conflict” on the Korean peninsula, the World Council of Churches has urged that “a paradigm shift in approaches to the resolution of the geopolitical challenges of the region is urgently needed.”

The WCC joined the National Council of Churches in South Korea in expressing grave concern at the redeployment of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group to the seas surrounding the Korean peninsula.

Improved inter-Korean relations and peace on the Korean peninsula were the focus of a conference attended by 58 people from churches and related organizations from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and 11 other countries. They gathered in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China from 14-16 November.

This year a “Sunday of Prayer for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula” will be observed on 14 August by the WCC with the peoples and churches of Korea and of the world. The WCC invites all member churches and people of good will to join in prayer, to achieve reconciliation and healing of the divided Korean peninsula, and to foster an environment that will see peaceful reunification in the peninsula by the conclusion of a peace treaty.

This year's “Sunday of Prayer for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula” will be observed on 14 August. The special day of prayer follows a visit from a delegation of the National Council of Churches in Korea and the National Council of Churches USA with USA policymakers. The delegation is advocating for a permanent peace treaty between North and South Korea.

In a letter to Park Geun-hye, president of South Korea, the WCC expressed disappointment over sanctions and fines imposed on members of the National Council of Churches in (South) Korea after they participated in a dialogue encounter with representatives of the (North) Korean Christians Federation.

Following the recent nuclear test conducted by North Korea, the WCC is calling on all parties involved in the current situation on the Korean peninsula – especially South Korea, North Korea, the USA, Japan and China – to “invest in initiatives to reduce tensions, to promote dialogue and to encourage negotiations for an end to the suspended state of war, and for peaceful co-existence on the Korean peninsula, rather than measures that increase the risk of catastrophic conflict“, according to WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Reflections from the International Conference on Peace and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula in Arnoldshain, Germany

A delegation representing churches and ecumenical bodies around the world met for an historic international ecumenical visit and meeting in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea from 23 to 30 October.

To revitalize and strengthen the ecumenical commitment for justice, healing, reconciliation and peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula, the Ecumenical Forum on Peace in Northeast Asia was held in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The WCC is alarmed by the escalating tensions and exchanges of fire on the Korean peninsula. “The governments of South and North Korea are engaged in a dangerous game of provocation and counter-provocation,” said director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs Peter Prove, “which puts the lives of the people of the peninsula into jeopardy.”

“The first thing that is required of us is to live the courage of our convictions. For the World Council of Churches, our conviction is that the world must be freed of nuclear weapons,” said the Rev. Dr Sang Chang, WCC president for Asia, in her address at the Nuclear Disarmament Symposium held in Hiroshima.

The World Council of Churches invites its member churches to join in prayer for peace and reunification of the Korean peninsula on Sunday, 9 August.

Church leaders from seven countries currently making historic choices for or against outlawing nuclear weapons will embark on a pilgrimage in early August to the two Japanese cities that were decimated by atomic bombs 70 years ago.

Should robots make life and death decisions? Religious leaders are asked to tell governments “Never”.

The WCC has extended congratulations former staff members Mathews George Chunakara and Young-Cheol Cheon who have been appointed to new positions leading two ecumenical organizations in Asia.

The “pilgrimage is both a way to continue working for the one ecumenical movement and a way to move forward in our times that offer new dimensions, opportunities and practices,” said the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.