Demonstration to ban nuclear weapons held in Berlin

A participant wearing a Kim Jong-un mask leads a group with a mock North Korean missile during a demonstration to ban nuclear weapons that was held in Berlin on Nov. 18. Groups organizing the demonstration including Greenpeace and International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). (photo by Han Ju-yeon)

A human chain stretched over 1 km from the US to the North Korean embassy in the German capital

Despite the cold weather on Saturday, Nov. 18, people were busily preparing for a demonstration in Paris Square in front of Brandenburg Gate and in front of the adjacent American embassy. Yost, 46, a member of Greenpeace, was in the yellow protective garb of nuclear waste maintenance staff. Yost had placed placards atop a fake yellow barrel of nuclear waste that he was beating like a drum. The slogans read, “Stop polluting the environment with waste from nuclear weapons and reactors” and “What do we need? Courage!”

This demonstration was organized by a number of groups advocating peace and environmental conservation, including the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won the Nobel Peace Prize this year; the German Peace Society (DFG VK); the International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms (IALANA); and Greenpeace. ICAN held a performance to draw people’s attention to the threat of war between the US and North Korea. Demonstrators formed a human chain stretching for more than a kilometer from the American embassy to the North Korean embassy. Holding a red plastic cord in their outstretched arms, over 700 protesters linked the sidewalk between the two embassies. In the middle of the two embassies, models of an American missile and a North Korean missile met and collided with a model of the earth with a bang. The American missile was pushed by people in Trump masks, and the North Korean missile by people in Kim Jong-un masks.

A participant wearing a Donald Trump mask leads a group with a mock American missile during a demonstration to ban nuclear weapons that was held in Berlin on Nov. 18. (photo by Han Ju-yeon)

“The problem is that people go about their lives forgetting the severity of the conflict between North Korea and the US. I came out to wake up people who are numb to the threat of war,” said Julian, a 27-year-old university student and ICAN member who was busily handing out flyers along the human chain.

“I’m here because I’m afraid that twenty years from now my kid is going to ask me, ‘Mom, if you knew this was going to happen, what did you do?’ Under the Nazi regime, people were too scared to speak up despite knowing the truth. Even if I’m not strong enough to change anything alone, I want to have a clear conscience,” said another woman named Julian, as tears shown in her eyes. Julian, a 29-year-old office worker, had joined the protest with her husband and with her 17-month-old daughter in a stroller.

Demonstrators formed a human change that stretched 1km from the US to the North Korean embassy in Berlin. (photo by Han Ju-yeon)

Also taking part in the demonstration were over 20 overseas Koreans, members of the Green Party Korea and Korea Verband. “In the current situation, you’ve got to do something. You’ve got to do it even if there’s just a 1% chance. War needs to disappear from this world, where everyone has the right to be happy,” said Lee Hui-jeong, 53, a researcher at the Free University of Berlin.

At the end of the demonstration, a play was staged in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Protesters standing in front of masked figures, one wearing a German Prime Minister Angela Merkel mask and another dressed as UN Secretary-General António Guterres, held up speech bubbles that said, “Prime Minister Merkel, sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” The figures portraying Merkel and Guterres signed the treaty and destroyed the nuclear weapons.

“The situation on the Korean Peninsula shows that the doctrine of possessing and the threat of nuclear weapons is no longer guaranteeing safety and is in fact having the opposite effect. Nuclear weapons must be banned,” said Martin Hinrichs, an ICAN activist.

Protesters standing in front of masked figures, one wearing a German Prime Minister Angela Merkel mask and another dressed as UN Secretary-General António Guterres, held up speech bubbles that said, “Prime Minister Merkel, sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” (photo by Han Ju-yeon)

The German government has not yet signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Currently, negotiations to form the “Jamaica Coalition” – a coalition government between the Christian Democratic Union, the Free Democratic Party and the Green Party – have run into trouble. (The term “Jamaica Coalition” refers to the fact that combining the symbolic colors of each party -- black, green and yellow – yields the Jamaican flag.) The Christian Democratic Union and the Free Democratic Party maintain they will not sign the treaty. ICAN announced that 71% of Germans support signing it.

By Han Ju-yeon, special contributor in Berlin

Please direct questions or comments to [[e-mail]]Please direct questions or comments to [[e-mail]]