Lay representatives of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap) and the Korean Methodist Church held a press conference (photo) on June 24th at the Korea Christian Ecumenical Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, at which they demanded that the National Council of Churches in Korea immediately withdraw the peace treaty proposal it adopted at its regular executive committee meeting in April.
“At first glance, there is nothing wrong with NCCK’s peace treaty plan, for which it is collecting signatures inside and outside the country, and which it says it will persuade the government to accept,” they said. “But in fact it contradicts the current worldwide economic sanctions aimed at getting North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons, and in effect it sides with the North.”
They pointed out, “Though the NCCK proposal calls for the Korean peninsula to become a nuclear-free zone, this will only be possible when the North gives up its nuclear weapons…Nevertheless, the proposal contains not a single word about the North Korean nuclear problem.” And they added, “If NCCK wants genuine denuclearization and peace on the Korean peninsula, they should participate positively in the economic sanctions decided by the UN and the rest of international society.”
“In the event that the proposal is not rescinded by this August 23, we will carry out a signature campaign among PCK Tonghap and KMC representatives, asking that our denominations drop out of NCCK,” they warned.
Article and photo by reporter Paek Sang-hyun (100sh@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Original Article in Korean:
예장통합·기감 평신도 대표들 NCCK 평화조약안 폐기 촉구: “세계가 북핵 반대하는데 북한편 들겠다는 행동 폐기 안할 땐 탈퇴 운동”
Related Article:
NCCK Adopts Korean Peninsula Peace Treaty Proposal
PCK Tonghap, Methodist Lay Reps Demand Withdrawal of NCCK Peace Treaty Proposal
2016-06-27 17:39
