Nonviolent tactics for nonnuclear peninsula, church says
The Catholic Church in South Korea issued a statement stressing the importance of continuous inter-Korean exchange and dialogue following North Korea’s recent proclamation of a nuclear test. In a "message of peace and reconciliation" released on October 13, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK) said, "for peace to take root in the Korean peninsula, the (South-North) Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, which was adopted in 1991, must effectively practiced. This can be achieved only through dialogue with patience." The statement said, "the Catholic Church in Korea firmly refuses any form of violence. The international society must walk the difficult way toward reconciliation and peace with patience, not through military sanction or blockade but through dialogue and negotiation. Peace can be achieved only through incessant forgiveness and reconiliation." The statement was announced in the name of Bishop Kim Woon-hoe, president of the Committee for the Reconciliation of the Korean People of the CBCK, and Bishop Choi Ki-san, president of the Committe for Justice & Peace of the CBCK. In the statement, the CBCK said, " We cannot but feel deep sorrow for the choice of our North Korean brethren who must cooperate with us to maintain the peace. Even if it was for self-defence, nuclear weapons cannot be justified in any way."The church urged that "For the recent several years, the South and the North have maintained peaceful exchanges, through which the two Koreas came to recognize the other not as an enemy but as one people, the same brethren. Hence no one should block the way of reconciliation which the South and the North have paved through all efforts, nor should turn back the streams of the peace and unity running through the Korean Peninsula. Furthermore, no one should make use of this situation to provoke hatred and confrontation."
