0] A letter of Request to AYM
from North Korea Working Group (I forgot the new name.)
July 27 is 67 years since the ceasefire of Korea War. A group of Korean Christians drafted a statement. It "urges churches and communities of faith in the U.S. and throughout the world to lament this pain and separation, and commit to the search for reconciliation in the name of Christ."
Is asks "Please consider adding your support - to see the statement and signers, and to sign on, see https://bit.ly/2BAR5St "
We would like AYM to consider 1] adding the name of AYM as an organisation to the list of supporters and organisation, 2] sending it to the Federal government and the Korean Embassy in Australia.
Below is the statement and information on the organisation and the people involved in drafting the statement.
North Korea working Group
1] Statement
July 27, 2020
Longing for Reconciliation:Lamenting over 70 years of Division Between North Korea and South Korea
A Statement from Korean American Christians
As people reconciled with God through the love of Christ, Christ calls us to the ministry of reconciliation across the divisions of this world (2 Corinthians 5:16-20). In this time of lament and reckoning in our world, we mourn systemic racial injustice and great divides between people within the United States and around the world. We also mourn seven decades of division and war on the Korean peninsula.
2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War on June 25, 1950. This horrific war took over four million lives, caused unspeakable devastation and trauma, divided the Korean nation and separated millions of family members – including the families of many of those signed below.
Although a ceasefire on July 27, 1953 brought an end to active fighting, the U.S. and the two Koreas never signed a formal peace treaty declaring an end to the war, and this ongoing conflict contributes to hostilities and tensions involving the United States and the Korean peninsula. The continuing divide between South Korea and North Korea is now the longest unresolved separation of a people in modern history.The Korean War is often referred to as the "forgotten war” in the U.S. Yet it is unforgettable to the 1.7 million American troops who fought on Korean soil, including the families of the 32,000 who were killed on Korean soil.
The Korean War is also unforgettable to our fellow Christians of Korean ethnicity in the trauma their families experienced, in the tragic and ongoing division between North and South, and in over 70 years of hostilities and tensions between South Korea, North Korea, and the U.S.The United States played a significant role in the Korean War, and North and South Korea cannot end the war without U.S. agreement. Because of this, Korean Americans can play a unique role in inspiring communities, churches, and political leaders in the work of reconciliation. As Korean American Christians:
We mourn the lives lost, the cities, towns, and land destroyed, and the families separated by the Korean War. We invite churches and communities of faith in the United States and throughout the world to lament both these tragic losses and the ongoing separation and hostility between North and South Korea.
We believe our deepest motivation to engage the Korean divide as followers of Christ is not political or economic but as peacemakers and agents of reconciliation, following Jesus’ costly way of the cross – of discipleship, forgiveness, and justice which restores broken relationships.
We call Christians in the U.S. and the two Koreas to examine and to confess where we have continued to perpetuate the Korean divide. There cannot be authentic reconciliation unless there is truth, and we believe repentance begins with the church itself.
As Korean Americans, we share the experience of longing for our country of origin, even if it is not one we have seen in our lifetimes. We recognize our familial ties and common cultural history with the people of North Korea, and we long for reconciliation with our sisters and brothers in North Korea. Often there is little awareness of the Korean War and a history of one Korea in younger generations. We commit to the ministry of education to rediscover our own story, and to embrace a theology of reconciliation shaped by a Korean Christian imagination.
In the spirit of Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:34-36 and Luke 4:18-19, we seek to extend compassion for the widow, the orphan, the imprisoned, and the sick by supporting humanitarian aid and standing for human dignity on the Korean peninsula.
The prophetic call of the church is to speak truth to power, and that can call us to political action. We call for an end to the Korean War, a conflict that escalates hostilities between people who share language, traditional culture and ancient history. We pray for and call on the leaders of the United States, South Korea, North Korea, and other governments who have played a role in the conflict to engage peacefully through dialogue and cooperation.
We believe that God is faithful, and that the arc of the universe in God’s victory in Christ bends toward justice, reconciliation, and beloved community. We pray that someday all Korean people will be able to return to the birthplaces of their ancestors, to meet face-to-face across the peninsula, and to recognize each other as sisters, brothers and image-bearers of God.
Sincerely,
Statement Drafters,
Peter Cha, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Eugene Cho, Bread for the World
Grace Choi, Re’Generation Movement
Hyun Hur, ReconciliAsian
Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Earlham School of Religion
Jongdae Kim, Re’Generation Movement
Sue Park-Hur, Mennonite Church USA
Soong-Chan Rah, North Park Theological Seminary
Stephen Yoon, Ignis Community
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Background of the statement
http://reconciliasian.org/whoweare
ReconciliAsian is a peace center in Los Angeles that equips leaders in Korean and Asian American churches and communities to serve in ways that promote unity, justice and peace towards reconciliation.
OUR MISSION
We carry the conviction that the center of the gospel is the message of peace and reconciliation.Recognizing Jesus’ ministry as one of peacemaking and desiring to follow the way of Jesus in community, ReconciliAsian aims to educate and promote the culture of peacemaking and reconciliation within the Korean community through the church.
OUR GOALS
The primary goal of the center is to encourage and equip Korean churches with peace theology and peacemaking skills that can promote conversation, participation, and cooperation:tools that congregations need if they hope to persist and have a vibrant Christian ministry in the church, local communities, and in the areas of conflict and violence in the global world. Our desire is that Korean churches can be agents of peace that is transformative and restorative through studying, training, and practicing peacemaking together.
STRATEGIES AND OBJECTIVES
EXPOSE the truth that the ministry of reconciliation is the core of Jesus’ call to his followers:
EDUCATE Korean immigrants to live out their call to be peacemakers in the local churches
ENCOURAGE and EQUIP participants to become involved in local communities with other ethnic groups as agents of peace.
EXTEND the vision of reconciliation in the Korean peninsula to Korean immigrant and second generations.
http://reconciliasian.org/whoweare
ReconciliAsian is a peace center in Los Angeles that equips leaders in Korean and Asian American churches and communities to serve in ways that promote unity, justice and peace towards reconciliation.
OUR MISSION
We carry the conviction that the center of the gospel is the message of peace and reconciliation.Recognizing Jesus’ ministry as one of peacemaking and desiring to follow the way of Jesus in community, ReconciliAsian aims to educate and promote the culture of peacemaking and reconciliation within the Korean community through the church.
OUR GOALS
The primary goal of the center is to encourage and equip Korean churches with peace theology and peacemaking skills that can promote conversation, participation, and cooperation:tools that congregations need if they hope to persist and have a vibrant Christian ministry in the church, local communities, and in the areas of conflict and violence in the global world. Our desire is that Korean churches can be agents of peace that is transformative and restorative through studying, training, and practicing peacemaking together.
STRATEGIES AND OBJECTIVES
EXPOSE the truth that the ministry of reconciliation is the core of Jesus’ call to his followers:
EDUCATE Korean immigrants to live out their call to be peacemakers in the local churches
ENCOURAGE and EQUIP participants to become involved in local communities with other ethnic groups as agents of peace.
EXTEND the vision of reconciliation in the Korean peninsula to Korean immigrant and second generations.
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Peter Cha
Peter Cha is associate professor of pastoral theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.
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Eugene Cho, Bread for the World
Rev. Eugene is the founder and former senior pastor of Quest Church — an urban, multi-cultural and multi-generational church in Seattle, Washington. After 18 years, Eugene stepped aside at Quest in 2018. Eugene is also the founder of One Day’s Wages (ODW) — a grassroots movement of people, stories, and actions to alleviate extreme global poverty.
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Grace Ji-Sun Kim
Grace Ji-Sun Kim is a Korean-American theologian and Professor of Theology at Earlham School of Religion, Richmond, Indiana. She is best known for books and articles on the social and religious experiences of Korean women immigrants to North America.
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Jongdae Kim
Grace Choi
(A husband and wife team leading Re’Generation Movement )
An organisation to empower the young diasporas—including refugees and immigrants—to find their identities and voices as peacemaking global citizens.
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Soong-Chan Rah
Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah is Milton B. Engebretson Associate Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago
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Stephen Yoon
Stephen Yoon is a medical doctor and co-founder of Ignis Community, a Christian organisation that helps the children with behavioral and developmental disabilities North Korea.
https://igniscommunity.org/about
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