WCRC welcomes new initiatives for Korean peace

They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
—Isaiah 2:4

The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) welcomes the new initiatives for peace in the Korean peninsula and the news coming out of Sentosa Island. The recently concluded summit between the leadership of the United States of America (USA) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is a positive step towards peace and reconciliation in the Korean peninsula. The WCRC continues to pray for peace as the Korean people move into what is a possibly new phase of dialogue, demilitarization and denuclearization.

The recently concluded summit between President Donald Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea committed to establish new relations between the two countries and join their efforts together to build a long-lasting peace regime in the Korean peninsula. Both countries also reconfirmed the 27 April 2018 Panmunjom Declaration that committed to working towards a complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

The WCRC is pleased with the reaffirmation of the Panmunjom declaration and the fostering of mutual trust from all parties concerned. We believe that the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula is a concrete step towards peace in the region. We look forward to the ceasing of military actions and the ending of economic sanctions which we believe will lead to a spirit of peace and prosperity and the normalization of relations between the DPRK and the USA.

In its message from the recently concluded Executive Committee the World Communion of Reformed Churches affirmed that “from the perspective of God’s saving work in the world it is clear that the division of the Korean peninsula is not the end of history for the Korean people. The experience of the Korean peninsula shows us that war, violence and militarization can be overcome and that vested interests that sow the seeds of conflict will not win.”

Peace and reconciliation efforts in the Korean peninsula have long been on the agenda of the WCRC. The 2017 General Council instructed the WCRC to bring together the many ecumenical initiatives working for peace to create an “Ecumenical Accompaniment Process for Healing, Reconciliation and Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula.”

The WCRC calls on its member churches and all those committed to justice and peace to continue to pray and work for denuclearization and demilitarization the world over and particularly, at this moment, for the Korean peninsula.

The WCRC remains committed to working with its member churches, the Ecumenical Forum for Korea and other ecumenical partners for peace and reconciliation in the Korean peninsula.

_{Image: Anna Siggelkow/WCRC}