WCC concerned over tensions on Korean peninsula
Christians from North and South Korea celebrated worship together with church leaders from other parts of the world at a 2009 church consultation on Korean reunification. Photo: Peter Williams/WCC
Deep concern over the precarious situation people on the Korean peninsula are facing was expressed by the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a letter to WCC member churches in South Korea.
"While we join with the people and the churches in South Korea in their national grief, we also share your common concern that the unfolding events have endangered the prospects for peace on the Korean peninsula and also in the entire North East Asia region," the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit wrote in the letter dated 3 June.
"Experience has shown us that violence can never be the way to settle disputes either on the Korean peninsula or anywhere else," the letter continues. "Therefore, the World Council of Churches reiterates its strong condemnation of all sorts of violence."
Last October, the WCC had co-sponsored an international church consultation on Korean reunification. The consultation held in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, strongly affirmed that “the gospel of Jesus Christ commits Christians to work against evil, injustice and suffering in all its forms, and to pray and work for God’s justice, peace and unity in the world. The Korean people have suffered for too long from their forced division. They are one people, one culture, one nation, yet they remain divided. Justice demands that they be reunited in peace and in common commitment to one another.”
The South Korean city of Busan will be the venue for the next WCC Assembly in 2013.
Full text of the letter by the WCC general secretary
Statement by the National Council of Churches in Korea, 31 May 2010
Tsuen Wan Communiqué, October 2009
Country profile and WCC member churches in South Korea
