wfn.org | ABCUSA: Korean Crisis Was Focus of Ecumenical Gathering

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 7/11/03)--Participants at
an ecumenical consultation on the Korean crisis held June 16-18 in
Washington, D.C. acknowledged that this is "a terribly dangerous time" in
U.S.-North Korean relations but believe there is cause for hope for a
peaceful resolution.

Sponsors of the gathering, the National Council Churches of Christ (NCCC)
and Church World Service (CWS), together with their 36 member denominations
have been working with their North and South Korean counterparts for more
than two decades in peace building, reconciliation and humanitarian
assistance. Escalation in the tensions between the United States and North
Korea prompted consultation participants to "bring their particular voice in
favor of a peaceful resolution of the Korea crisis."

"A clear statement from the White House that North Korea will not be
attacked will establish a political climate for progress in negotiations,"
participants noted in a formal statement, adding, "It is our conviction that
diplomacy and negotiations remain the best approach for finding durable
solutions."  They also called for a non-aggression pact and peace treaty
between the U.S. and North Korea, the exchange of liaison offices between
the two countries, and immediate action to address the grave humanitarian
needs of the North Korean people.

Consultation participant the Rev. Benjamin Chan, area director of East Asia
and India for American Baptist International Ministries, commented on the
need for diplomatic initiatives in pursuit of a peaceful resolution of the
crisis.  ""When I visited the DMZ last year I was so frustrated and sad
seeing a line of just a few inches that separated 100,000 Korea families
between the South and the North," said Chan, who represented American
Baptist Churches USA at the event. "Many people I talked to asked when the
hostility between North Korea and the U.S. and South Korea could be ended so
that people of two Koreas could become one unified nation again."

Maurice Strong, advisor on Korea issues to United Nations Secretary General
Kofi Annan, maintained that if the United States were to take the lead in
effecting a peaceful settlement, it would get universal support.  Strong
also said he was optimistic about the likelihood of success for a
comprehensive settlement that guarantees North Korea's security and
sovereignty and helps North Korea solve its food and energy crises, develop
economically and normalize relations with other countries.  Strong and
others have emphasized that North Korea needs to agree to dismantle its
nuclear program in exchange for those guarantees.
  
NCCC General Secretary Robert Edgar told consultation participants that
their task was to help break the downward spiral of hatred--"to advance not
a view of preemptive war but of diplomatic priorities, not of first strike
but a view of care for one another." 

The 50th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement that divided the Korean
peninsula into North and South will be noted on July 27.  "We continue to
mourn the separation of the Korean people," said CWS Executive Director John
L. McCullough as he called on church leaders from the United States and from
Korea "to come together and merge our voices and passion to effect a
different future." 

American Baptist International Ministries has been involved in relief and
development assistance to North Korea in partnership with Baptist World Aid,
the Hungarian Baptist Aid and the Baptist Missionary Society of the United
Kingdom.  Many American Baptist churches have given to the relief assistance
and the orphan support through the OGHS offering.  

"I am very happy to tell our churches that the malnutrition rates were
considerably improved, according to a survey conducted by Central Bureau of
Statistics and Institution of Child Nutrition in collaboration with the
United Nations Children's Fund and World Food Program," Chan noted.  "The
proportion of children underweight fell from 61 percent in 1998 to 21
percent in 2002; and acute malnutrition fell from 16 percent to 9 percent in
the same period of time.  We will continue to explore relevant ways to help
the most needy people of North Korea, while we join with the global
Christian community to seek a peaceful way to resolve the Korean crisis."

K/2003ABNS/03ABN87

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org