WCC presses for US-North Korea talks
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has urged the United States of America and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to hold bilateral talks within the context of resumed Six-Party Talks on North Korea's nuclear programme.
In a 12 November letter to the governments of North and South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the US, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia conveyed "alarm and disappointment" at the "breakdown of the Six-Party Talks", which has "led to actions that escalate tensions and confrontations".
A multilateral framework launched by these governments in 2003 to address the North Korean nuclear programme, the Six-Party Talks have been stalled since the beginning of 2009, when a contentious rocket launch put the North Korean government and the other parties at loggerheads. Further North Korean nuclear testing contributed to the stalemate.
"We urge each of you to return to the negotiating table prepared to deal with the difficult but eminently solvable issues before you", wrote Kobia. He expressed the conviction that "negotiations which could build a lasting peace in the Korean peninsula are within your governments' power".
As "an incentive for progress" and "an essential part of multilateral success", Kobia called for "direct talks between the United States of America and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea" in the context of the Six-Party Talks.
Kobia said that negotiations on North Korea's nuclear programme cannot ignore the fact that "five of the six parties are recognized nuclear-weapon-states or are protected by such states". Therefore, "steps toward a nuclear-weapon-free world, under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, would greatly facilitate progress in the Six-Party Talks".
The WCC general secretary suggested taking "bold and concrete steps towards a nuclear-weapon-free Korean peninsula and ultimately a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Northeast Asia". "It is time to make the Korean peninsula a setting for successful disarmament rather than a focus of regional instability and international failure", Kobia stated.
The WCC member churches have pursued peace and reconciliation in the Korean peninsula for several decades. In October, at an international consultation held in Hong Kong, some 140 church representatives from more than 30 countries supported the Korean reunification.
Full text of the WCC letter to governments involved in the Six-Party Talks
More on WCC advocacy for nuclear arms control
