WCC NEWS: Korea: WCC calls for return to peace negotiations

From WCC media <[email protected]>
Date Fri, 26 Nov 2010 11:09:50 +0100

>World Council of Churches - News

WCC GENERAL SECRETARY CALLS FOR RETURN TO PEACE NEGOTIATIONS ON KOREAN

>PENINSULA

>For immediate release: 26 November 2010

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Dr
Olav Fykse Tveit, has said that "force and military power will not 
resolve
the problems" in a 24 November statement issued as an expression of
concern over tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The crisis erupted on Tuesday, 23 November, when cross-border 
artillery
fire killed several people on the South Korean-controlled Yeonpyeong
Island. Pyongyang accused South Korea of firing first. The Southern
military said it had conducted exercises but shelling was directed 
away
from the North.

"In the interests of people in both countries and their neighbours in
Northeast Asia, the World Council of Churches urges the authorities in
both North and South Korea to refrain from actions that exacerbate the
tensions," Tveit said, calling for a "return to peace negotiations 
that
will lead to peaceful co-existence and mutual respect". He added that 
the
governments of the two states should "engage in a new process of
confidence-building measures at the earliest possible date".

The WCC Assembly, the council's highest governing body, is scheduled 
to
meet in Busan, South Korea in October 2013.

Full text of the general secretary's statement (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=5cdbebf98fe7d28a9d5a )

WCC member churches in Korea (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=829bcf3627742eb54d8e )

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 Olav Fykse 
Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, 
Switzerland.

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