Korea: Peace, justice and reunification

The first time I saw my grandfather cry was watching the evening Korean news.

Images of elderly individuals filled the screen. They were holding hands, crying, and looking into each other’s eyes trying to absorb the hours that they had together to make up for the decades they were apart by the 38th parallel.

My grandparents were never very outspoken about their experience of leaving the northern part of Korea for the southern part. The little that I did hear was about the abruptness of departing what they knew as home and those that they loved. They left their parents and their siblings behind and made the journey with four young children, one of whom was my father, then 3 years old.

Watching my grandfather cry was the first time that I saw him visibly wear his sadness and grief of missing his family and home.

My spouse, our 2-year-old daughter and 3.5-year-old son, and I took a summer vacation about a month ago. If you have ever traveled with young children, you know that traveling with little ones is not easy. There are the random emotional outcries and the repetitious, “Are we there yet?” Not to mention the shared look between two adults silently asking, “Are you tired? ‘Cause I am.“

It can be a lot to handle, and it made me think about grandparents traveling to the southern part of Korea with four young children during a tense political atmosphere. How did they do it? How did they control the cries? How did they speak comforting words to frightened children-all while grieving the loss of family and home?

The Korean Peninsula has been in the news a lot lately. U.S. President Donald Trump and the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, Kim Jong Un have ratcheted up the rhetoric, causing many to worry.

This heightened attention seems new for many, but for those that are of Korean descent, it’s not. The Demilitarized Zone on the 38th parallel is more than a line. It is a reminder of separated families, a reminder of the Korean War, a reminder that what was once whole is not. Today the concern carries the heavy burden of nuclear weapons and missiles; not to mention the humanitarian needs and injustices of North Korea.

The delegates to the 2013 General Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Busan, Korea, adopted a statement on peace and reunification of the Korean Peninsula. The United Methodist Church included the statement as part of its resolution on Korea. (Book of Resolutions, 6135)

The statement begins, “As a global body of believers in Jesus Christ, we confess our sins in having given in to the powers and principalities of the world in their wars and military conflicts full of hate and enmity, armed with nuclear arsenals and weapons of mass destruction targeting humanity and whole of God’s creation.”

It goes on to commit to joining in with the “faithful actions to work towards peace, healing, reconciliation and reunification of their people and their land.”

Responding to this calling and the escalating tensions, Church and Society, in partnership with the Korea Peace Committee, will host "Peace on the Korean Peninsula Forum,” Nov. 13-15, 2017.

The forum, held at the United Methodist Building in Washington, D.C., will be an opportunity to hear from experts on the history of conflict in Korea, nuclear security, foreign policy and faithful advocacy. It will also be a time of worship and opportunity to connect with other like-minded, like-passioned people. The purpose of the forum is to equip people of faith to be bearers of peace.

The deadline for registration is Oct. 27, 2017. Register here.

If you have any questions about the event, please don’t hesitate to contact Aimee Hong, director of the United Methodist seminar program at ahong@umcjustice.org.