RECONCILIATION   REUNIFICATION

International Ecumenical Consultation on Solidarity for Peace in N.E. Asia
Macau, January 29 - February 1, 1996

Background and Purpose
Victor W.C. Hsu

It is my privilege and honour to be a Co-convener of what I hope will be a history making ecumenical initiative. I should like to add my own words of warm welcome to those of Archpriest Viktor Petluchenko. Thank you all for having come from all parts of the world to take part in this consultation. Your presence here is a testimony of the significance of this gathering. I thank you for your commitment to solidarity with each other to work for peace through the sharing of resources.

Exactly fifty years ago on January 29, 1946, on the recommendation of his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, President Harry Truman signed an executive order that led to the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency. I do not believe that we are here to establish that kind of history. Nevertheless, let me note some facts about our gathering for the benefit of ecumenical history. The first is that this is the first time that a major consultation is held here in Macau where the ecumenical movement does not have a local counterpart to assist with hosting. Some of us may wonder why. It is not to provide us ecumenical jet-setters with a rare experience of ferry travel.

The place is chosen because it allows for the widest possible participation. Macau has few visa requirements or restrictions. The second is a special cause of celebration. For the first time since the ecumenical movement began its journey (in Tozanso, Japan 1984) of supporting the Korean people’s struggle for reunification, the China Christian Council is represented in this consultation. Let us give a very special welcome to Dr. Han Wen-zao and Professor Li Ya-ding. The third is that we have with us a large number of church leaders from Korea for whom this is their first experience in an international ecumenical setting involving the Christian Conference of Asia and the World Council of Churches. I would also like to extend to them warm and cordial greetings. I hope that they will find themselves quite at home in this extended Christian family. The fourth historical note is that this is the first time that the notion of sharing and solidarity as a solid foundation for peace is addressed in an international ecumenical consultation on peace in North-East Asia.

I cannot resist making a comparison to the Chinese character for peace: This character is made up of two parts: on the left and on the right. The symbol on the left denotes pictorially "grain" while the right "mouth". When everyone has grain ( ) to eat ( ) then there will be peace ( ).

My task this evening is to provide you with some background and purpose of this consultation. Given the complexities of issues described in the Background Paper of this consultation, this is quite a challenging proposition. Perhaps it should also be noted for posterity that I foolishly accepted to take on this responsibility! Fortunately I have a well- informed audience many of whom have been part of the Tozanso process that began some eleven years ago. For those less familiar with the history may I invite you to read the Background Paper. Let me draw your attention to just a few paragraphs:

Christians and churches on both sides of the divided nation, as well as ecumenical partners worldwide, have undertaken many activities in pursuit of the goal of reunification. While there has been tremendous progress in both the Inter-Korean Talks and contacts between the KCF and NCCK, it is a tragic reality that reunification continues to elude the suffering Korean minjung.

A new initiative to re-ignite the flame of ecumenical solidarity for peace in North-East Asia and to strengthen commitment and the generous sharing of resources with those who are less fortunate among us is therefore not only appropriate, but also urgently needed at this time.

Later on in the paper it also says

...there is the hope that the propitious international climate may provide an opportunity for churches to renew their commitment and solidarity. It is incumbent on churches in countries that have had a key historical role in the peninsula to seize the moment by taking appropriate new initiatives.

The purpose of the consultation is to provide a forum for... churches to express their continued ecumenical solidarity with the people of Korea as part of their commitment to peace in the North-East Asian region.

Let me add here that in February, 1995, in a presentation entitled "Towards Ecumenical Sharing and Solidarity for Justice and Peace in North-East Asia", the General Secretary of the NCCK, Rev. Kim Dong Wan, told a group of international partners that

during the last 20 years, NCCK received love and cooperation from the brother churches around the world and from them learned the spirit of sharing and solidarity. Just as we received and learned we now have started to give that love and solidarity to brother churches in other countries around the world... ... ...The Korean peninsula remains in cold war structure against the general current ending cold war around the world. The instability of the Korean peninsula in deterring the peace and justice in Northeast Asia. I believe the countries surrounding the Korean peninsula like the USA, Russia and Japan hold some responsibilities in the division that was caused after the World War II. The stability of the Korean peninsula can only be guaranteed if the national reunification is achieved... ... ...In order to achieve this we appeal for stronger solidarity and sharing with brother churches in Russia, China, USA and Japan.

In quoting these excerpts I want to emphasise and highlight a recurrent theme in the ecumenical efforts in support of Korean reunification. It is the conviction that the division of Korea constitutes a serious threat to world peace and that it is only through reunification that there can be genuine world peace. In order to bring this about there has to be international ecumenical solidarity. Those of you veterans of the Tozanso process- and I see we have here with us Mr. KANG Moon Kyu, Mr. KIM Nam Hyok, Mr. PARK Kyung-Seo, Ms. Rhea Whitehead, Rev. Swain Epps, Mr. Clement John and Mr. Erich Weingartner -will remember a poem composed by Pastor KIM Un Bong of Pyongyang during the second meeting of the KCF and NCCK in Glion, Switzerland in 1988. On that occasion Pastor KIM eloquently compared the ecumenical solidarity in reunification struggle to that of the ecumenical ship sailing through stormy seas on a voyage to Korea. When the ship arrives at the Korean peninsula Korea would be reunified bringing blessing not only to the Korean people but also to the whole world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I count it to be a tremendous privilege to be invited by the Korean people to participate in their Jubilee journey for peace and reunification. Like the Exodus and the long sojourn to the land of milk and honey, the ground trodden has been replete with valleys and peaks. But, somehow, by the grace of God, we all join in this procession like the big parade of our time, indeed, of every time. Some times it feels as though we have been conscripted into an expedition beyond familiar landmarks, thrust outward like a spaceship into new and uncharted territory. Yet, we have every cause to rejoice and give thanks to God. For in a matter of fifteen years, from the early ginger steps taken by such courageous leaders as Rev. KIM So Young and Mr. KANG Moon-Kyu in helping the NCCK to set reunification as the priority of its work in the 1980’s, the ecumenical movement has plied open the dividing walls of hostility when there was absolutely no prospect of any contact between the North and the South. It has joined in celebrating 1995 as the Year of Jubilee for Korean Peace and Reunification. This week, in this meeting we shall be examining some concrete ways of sharing and solidarity as a "Jubilee community".

The primary purpose of our precious time together here this week, as a foreshadow of this "Jubilee community", is to develop an agreed upon mechanism or procedure for solidarity and sharing in North-East Asia. This will evolve hopefully from both an analysis of today’s realities and the concrete experience of the ecumenical movement so that we may be au courant while taking advantage of the insights learned in this century. Again, may I call your attention to the Background Paper. A number of useful principles, arising out of the life and witness of the churches and ecumenical institutions, have been summarised succinctly for your consideration. Of course, the parameters, the scope and purpose of the mechanism will require spelling out. Our coordinator’s introduction of the agenda will further clarify our process.

In God’s own design we are therefore embarked on a new stage in this Jubilee journey. We are still following the grand parade led originally by Abraham, the patriarch of Christian faith. In this long pilgrimage we will do well to remember this saying:

I sought my soul - but my soul I could not see;
I sought my God - but my God eluded me;
I sought my brother - and found all three.

I dare say that this consultation gives us a chance to mark another watershed in our ecumenical contribution to peace and justice in North-East Asia. I hope that our deliberations will be sufficiently ground breaking so that January 29, 1996 or the place Macau will henceforth be associated with our meeting - and not with the birth of the CIA or casinos.

For the conclusion of my brief remarks, it seems to me appropriate to remind you that the Jubilee text of the scriptures contains warnings about some major pitfalls in sharing and solidarity.