⭐️Start of the Korea Peace Action Campaign – 참여연대

Korea Peace Action held a ceremony today (June 25) at 11 a.m. on the steps of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts. The event, titled “Korea Peace Action Campaign Launch Ceremony: End Hostilities, Move toward Peace! No War! Yes, Peace!” brought together representatives of various religions, civil society and peace activists to explore ways to break the vicious cycle of hostilities that fuel the threat of war and to strive for harmonious coexistence on the peninsula.

⭐️End the hostility, move towards peace!
No war, yes peace!

From 2020 to 2023, Korea Peace Action conducted the Korea Peace Appeal, an international campaign to end the Korean War and sign a peace agreement. Unfortunately, the situation on the Korean Peninsula has become more difficult as dialogue channels are completely cut off and the inter-Korean military agreement that previously served as a safety net is no longer in force. As a result, cases of mutual provocation and psychological warfare have occurred.

Korea Peace Action, which includes 607 religious groups and civil society organizations and 80 international partner organizations, advocates for the right to peaceful survival with peace-loving citizens. This right has been ignored by the governments of the two Koreas and neighboring countries, which prioritize war, confrontation, retaliation, and punishment. Through various peace actions, we hope to contribute to resolving the escalating war crisis and gather voices calling for resistance to war and the realization of peace. This year, we will organize the following activities.

☮️Monthly online and offline peace actions
☮️Korea Peace Action Day on July 27 (Sat)
☮️“Border Peace” campaign
☮️Proposals for measures to resolve the war crisis on the Korean Peninsula to the 22nd National Assembly
☮️Strengthening international network cooperation and advocacy
☮️Other emergency peace measures

The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of various religious and civil society organizations working for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Participants gathered to resolve the war crisis and instill hope for peace. After the ceremony, participants marched to the Government Joint Complaints Center in the Government Complex Annex. There, they submitted their complaints to the government’s online complaint campaign, which ran for a week from Tuesday, June 18, to Monday, June 24. The campaign collected 2,677 signatures from participating citizens who filed a complaint with the Unification Ministry and the National Police Agency as proxy applicants. In addition, about 40 participants filed offline complaints with the Unification Ministry and the National Police Agency on their own behalf. These individuals called on the authorities to restrict the distribution of anti-North Korea leaflets.

Korea Peace Action is a coalition of civil society and religious organizations that was active from 2020 to 2023 under the name Korea Peace Appeal Campaign. In view of the deepening war crisis on the Korean Peninsula, this year we are committed to building networks and carrying out various peace initiatives to once again pave the way for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Statement of the Korean Peace Action

End the hostility and move towards peace!

We are here again to break the cycle of hostilities that drives war. We are here to build a Korean peninsula where we can coexist in peace.

For three incredible years, from 2020 to 2023, we organized the Korea Peace Appeal Campaign. The campaign was an international campaign calling on the world to end the Korean War, reach a peace agreement, and create the Korean Peninsula and a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear threats. Last year, on the 70th anniversary of the signing of the armistice, the campaign organized a series of incredible peace actions to end the Korean War in over 400 locations in South Korea and abroad. It also delivered 200,000 Korea Peace Appeal signatures collected worldwide over the past three years to the United Nations and the governments of countries involved in the Korean War to advocate for peace.

Today, however, the situation on the Korean Peninsula is even more volatile, making the situation here even more tense. Channels of dialogue have been completely cut off, and the inter-Korean military agreement, which served as a minimal security measure to avoid conflict, has become ineffective. This has led to some pretty violent demonstrations and a lot of psychological warfare. In a dramatic turn of events, mutual hostilities between the two Koreas escalated in response to leaflet distributions against the North by South Korean civilian groups. Instead of cracking down on leaflet distribution and dealing with the crisis, the South Korean government is emphasizing the “immortality of war” and “immediately, decisively, and to the end.”

While the Yoon Suk-yeol government has stuck to its Cold War, confrontational and military solutions such as “solution by force,” “Northern policy for freedom,” and “military cooperation between the United States, the Republic of Korea and Japan,” the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has advanced its nuclear and missile capabilities. In a thrilling turn of events, the people of the Korean peninsula are caught in a trilateral military conflict. The world is currently facing thrilling challenges as conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine claim innocent lives and there are warnings that another war could break out in East Asia.

Faced with the threat of armed conflict, war and danger, we are relaunching Korea Peace Action to advocate for the right of all living beings who call this land home to live in peace. We will join 607 religious orders and civil society organizations, over 80 international partner organizations and peace-loving citizens to stand up for our right to live in peace. It is time for the governments of South and North Korea and neighboring countries to recognize this right and focus on peace, cooperation and constructive solutions. We are here to amplify the voices for peace that are otherwise unheard.

We will act to lift the cloud of war over the Korean Peninsula and prevent the risk of accidental conflict. This is our mission, and we will succeed. We will also call on South and North Korea to stop their hostile rhetoric and mutual threats and restore the minimum channels of dialogue to resolve the crisis immediately. This is a great opportunity for South and North Korea to come together and work toward a better future for all. We wholeheartedly believe that dialogue and negotiation, not sanctions and pressure, are the way to resolve the problem. Therefore, we are taking measures to call on the ROK and the DPRK, the DPRK and the United States, and all parties to the Korean War to improve communication, end the war, live together in peace, and create a Korean Peninsula and a world without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats. Our solidarity will not be limited to peace on the Korean Peninsula. We will stand together and take collective civic action to stop the winds of war blowing across the world and ensure that all living beings, human and non-human, can coexist in peace and harmony.

Korea Peace Action is enthusiastic to participate in all forms of peaceful action at home and abroad to promote peace and prevent armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula. We will be ready to take action at any time if the crisis on the Korean Peninsula escalates. We will propose strategies and alternatives to prevent armed conflict and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula, and we will call on the National Assembly, the government, and the international community to take action. We will jointly defend the right to live in peace and make our voices heard, including those living in border areas and suffering from military tensions on the Korean Peninsula. We will increase our international solidarity efforts to connect the voices calling for peace on the Korean Peninsula with the global call for a peaceful and sustainable world.

Citizens, let’s work together for peace! We can do it! All we need to do is discuss peace and take action to promote peace. We want you to join in all the exciting, peaceful initiatives taking place on the Korean Peninsula!

• We want peace. We are against war.
• Let us end all military actions and hostilities that can trigger a war crisis!
• Let us restore the inter-Korean military agreement and inter-Korean dialogue channels!
• Let us end hostilities and improve relations between North and South Korea and between the United States!
• Let us end the Korean War and conclude a peace agreement!
• Let us resolve conflicts through dialogue and cooperation rather than sanctions and pressure.
• Let us create a Korean peninsula and a world free of nuclear weapons and nuclear threats!
• Let us end the vicious circle of arms races and wars once and for all and save people and the planet together!

👉 Korean version