wfn.org | WCC NEWS: WCC presses for US-North Korea talks

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World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 12/11/2009 16:35:07

>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 ( http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6834  )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-wea pon-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 ( http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/artic le/1634/church-leaders-call-for-a.html )held in Hong Kong, some 140 church  representatives from more than 30 countries supported the Korean reunificat ion.

Full text of the WCC letter to governments involved in the Six-Party  Talks:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7302

More on WCC advocacy for nuclear arms control:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3255

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363media@wcc -coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness  and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of  churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,  Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million  Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman  Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from  the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.