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2021 Open Letter to Embassies to the ROK in advance of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly and the International Day of Peace
15 September 2021
Dear Ambassadors,
May this letter find you at peace.
We would like to express our gratitude in anticipation of your government’s continued efforts for a peaceful resolution of the Korean Peninsula conflict.
We are writing to you on behalf of the Korea Peace Appeal Campaign. We call on your government to express support for a formal end to the Korean War in its statement at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2021 as well as at the UNGA’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2021.
The Korea Peace Appeal campaign is a signature campaign with the aim of ending the Korean War. In July 2020, religious groups and NGOs in South Korea launched the campaign to formally end the Korean War and achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula by collecting 100 million signatures to the Korea Peace Appeal from 2020, the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, to 2023, the 70th anniversary of the armistice agreement.
We appeal to the UN and to the governments of the countries involved in the Korean War to end the Korean War and establish a peace agreement; create a Korean Peninsula and a world free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threat; resolve the conflict with dialogue and cooperation instead of sanctions and pressure; and break from the vicious cycle of the arms race and invest in human security and environmental sustainability.
Thirty years ago in September 1991, South and North Korea became members of the United Nations and also engaged in inter-Korean dialogue for reconciliation and cooperation. North and South Korea negotiated the Agreement on Reconciliation, Non-aggression and Exchanges and Cooperation between the South and the North and the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, both signed in 1991 and effective as of 1992. However, after seven decades of living under the armistice agreement, a vicious arms race continues on the Korean peninsula and the risk of nuclear war remains.
It is time to End the Korean War.
In commemoration of the two Koreas’ UN membership and the International Day of Peace, we call on the international community to support formally ending the Korean War. We witnessed the possibility of an end to the hostile relations and beginning of a new era of cooperation and reconciliation on the peninsula and in the region in 2018. While the peace process has been at an impasse, we must not go back to the days dominated by hostility and anxiety but break through the deadlock by ending the unresolved war.
Cooperation beyond borders has become all the more important in the age of COVID-19 and the climate crisis. The two Koreas should be working together to respond to the pandemic for the good of public health and to advance sustainable development responsive to human needs in the region.
Let’s change the Korean Peninsula from a symbol of confrontation and conflict into a birthplace of peace and coexistence together with peace-loving people around the world.
We imagine a future where the people of the Korean Peninsula, East Asia and the world cooperate and coexist peacefully. We hope our resources will be used for people’s safety and happiness, for environmental sustainability and a society without discrimination instead of preparing for war. Now, let’s end the Korean War now with our own hands and let’s make a future that could not be achieved for the last 70 years. Let’s shout out loudly together so that our desperate wish for peace reverberates around the world.
On the upcoming International Day of Peace, we are eager to hear voices spread throughout the United Nations supporting a formal end to the Korean War.
Sincerely,
Korea Peace Appeal Campaign
Honorary Representatives of the Korea Peace Appeal Campaign
- Most Venerable Wonhaeng President, the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism / President, Korean Conference of Religions for Peace
- Rev. Dr. Lee Hong Jung General Secretary, National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) / Co-President, Korean Conference of Religions for Peace
- Rev. Oh Do Chul Director, General Won-Buddhism Administration / Co-President, Korean Conference of Religions for Peace
- Son Chin Woo President, the Confucianism / Co-President, Korean Conference of Religions for Peace
- Song Beom Doo Supreme Leader, CHONDOGYO / Co-President, Korean Conference of Religions for Peace
- Most Rev. Hyginus Kim Hee-joong President, Committee for Promoting Christian Unity & Interreligious Dialogue of Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK) / Co-President, Korean Conference of Religions for Peace
- Lee Bum Chang President, Korea National Religion Association / Co-President, Korean Conference of Religions for Peace
Co-Representatives of the Korea Peace Appeal Campaign
- Chi Eunhee Former Minister of Gender Equality and Family
- Cho Sung Woo Chairperson, South Korean Committee for Implementation of June 15 Joint Declaration
- Jeong Gi Seop Chairman, The Corporate Association of Gaeseong Industrial Complex
- Jin Young Jong Co-Representative, Civil Society Organizations Network in Korea
- Kim Kyung Min National General Secretary, National Council of YMCAs of Korea
- Kim Samuel Vice President, Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation
- Kim Won Wung President, Gwang Bok Hoe
- Lee Buyoung President, Korea Foundation for Free Press
- Lee Gibeom President, Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea
- Lee Hyun Sook Honorary Representative, Women's Forum for Peace and Diplomacy
- Mun Jeong Hyeon Catholic Priest
- Paik Nak Chung Professor Emeritus, Seoul National University
- Park Heung Sik Chairperson, National Farmers Association
- Shin Sooyun Chairperson of the Steering Committee, Korean Peace Network Against Military Bases
- Won Young Hee President, The National YWCA of Korea
- Yim Hun Young President, The Center for Historical Truth and Justice
- Yoon Jungsook Co-Representative, Civil Peace Forum
- Buddhist Priest Dobub Chief Priest, Silsangsa Temple
- Byun Jong Je President, Journal 「New Human」
- Cho Song Rae Secretary, the Confucianism
- Rev. Kim Tae Sung Secretary General, Korean Conference of Religions for Peace
- Rev. Lee Gwan Do President, Won Buddhism Broadcasting System(WBS)
- Rev. Peter KANG Ju Seok Secretary, Committee for the Reconciliation of the Korean People of Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK)
- Rev. Ra Heak Jib Chair, Korea Peace Appeal Campaign of the NCCK
- Yoon Seung Gil President, External Cooperation Committee of Korea National Religion Association
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