wfn.org | NCC/CWS Consultation Takes Steps to Address Korea Crisis

["Natl Council of Churches/Church World Service News"]

National Council of Churches/Church World Service
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC/CWS CONSULTATION TAKES STEPS TO ADDRESS KOREA CRISIS

See Related Story 4/11/03:
CWS Flour Distributed in North Korea; Helps Mother, Child Nutrition

April 14, 2003, CHICAGO - U.S. and Korean churches are building on their
longstanding relationship to launch a new effort to address the burgeoning
political and humanitarian crisis on the Korean peninsula, related to the
recent breakdown in dialogue between the United States and North Korea and
the escalation in war rhetoric.

Friday (April 11) in Chicago, the top executives of the National Council of
Churches (NCC) and Church World Service (CWS) convened an urgent meeting
with representatives of member churches to outline a common advocacy
strategy on U.S. Korea policy.

They began to lay plans for a consultation in Washington, D.C., with North
and South Korean church leaders, proposed for June 2003, and for a U.S.
ecumenical delegation visit to North and South Korea later this year.  And
they resolved to continue humanitarian assistance to the millions of North
Koreans whose survival depends on external food aid.

Our partners in Korea have urged us to work with them to find ways to lower
tensions and to stave off the potential of a greater humanitarian crisis,
said the Rev. John L. McCullough, Executive Director of Church World
Service, New York City, and a United Methodist.  We believe that there is
an imperative for a diplomatic resolution to these issues, he said,
expressing CWS opposition to Washingtons apparent new pre-emptive strike
policy.

Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, New
York City, also a United Methodist, encouraged consultation participants to
also be thinking about how our response to the pending crisis on the Korean
Peninsula relates to an overall U.S. foreign policy.  My fear is that were
going to find ourselves in a very violent century if we dont find a way to
live as brothers and sisters with one another.

In Fridays consultation, participants agreed on the need to address the
United States confrontational policy toward North Korea and refusal to
engage in direct talks with North Korea.  The current political impasse must
be resolved by peaceful means and not military means, and the United States
should not use food as a weapon, they agreed.

The growing tensions between the U.S. and North Korea (DPRK) have severely
disrupted the political climate conducive to continued improvement in
inter-Korean talks and the flow of urgently needed humanitarian food aid,
the Rev. McCullough said.  Humanitarian workers in the field say that
halting humanitarian aid to North Korea will not break this political
stalemate; rather, it will leave millions of people in a situation where
they could easily slip back into a state of crisis.

According to the World Food Program, North Korea will need about two million
metric tons of grain - a subsistence ration of about half a pound of grain
per adult per day -- from external sources, purchased or donated, in 2003.
In February, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell announced an initial U.S.
contribution of 40,000 tons of commodities, adding that a further 60,000
tons would be made available if improvements in the World Food Programs
ability to access the needy and monitor distributions are allowed.

The situation this year is certainly grave given that the international
community will be able to bring in at most 250,000 metric tons, leaving the
country short by 1.75 million metric tons, said Victor W.C. Hsu, Senior
Advisor to the CWS Executive Director, New York City, and a member of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  North Korea does not have at its disposal the
foreign currency to buy and import the deficit amount, he said.

Church World Service, the global humanitarian agency of the NCCs 36 member
denominations, has provided $4,250,029 in food aid to North Korea since the
outbreak of the food crisis in 1996, and has played a leadership role in
InterAction in encouraging humanitarian assistance to the famine-stricken
DPRK.

In March 2003, CWS sent 660 metric tons (1.5 million pounds) of fortified
wheat flour to North Korea in response to a direct appeal from the World
Food Program.  Mr. Hsu spent April 1-5 in North Korea monitoring delivery of
the flour.  He visited seven of the 20 beneficiary institutions, which serve
two especially vulnerable groups: children under age seven and pregnant and
nursing mothers.

The Koreans kept asking me, When is the next shipment? Mr. Hsu said.
They are in need of all sorts of aid, whether its medicine or food.  The
need is massive.

Regular visits by U.S. denominational and ecumenical leaders to the DPRK
since 1985 and return visits by church leaders from both North and South
Korea provide an indication of their significant ecumenical commitment to
advocacy for peace and justice on the Korean peninsula and their pioneering
role in opening ecumenical and political relationships with North Korea.

The consultation in Washington, D.C., among church leaders from the United
States, North and South Korea - proposed for June 16-20,2003 - would be the
first since 1997 and would include advocacy with U.S. policy makers.  The
primary Korean partners would be the National Council of Churches of Korea
(South Korea), the Korean Christians Federation (North Korea) and the Korean
Church Women United.

The proposed CWS/NCC ecumenical delegation visit to North and South Korea
later in 2003 would continue the dialogue and common advocacy and would
include delivery of humanitarian assistance to North Korea.

The 17 participants in the April 11 planning meeting included
representatives of several denominations active on Korea issues, including
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Methodist Church, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, Episcopal Church, Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ), American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., and Church of the
Brethren.  A program officer for International Orthodox Christian Charities,
Inc., also attended.

-end-

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