Int’l Women’s Peace Group Wishes Successful Hosting Of North and South Inter-Korea 2018 Summit and Peace Walk
The event to wish for a successful hosting of the 2018 North and South Inter-Korea Summit was held at Imjingak, the site of division near North Korea.
The International Women’s Peace Group (IWPG, Director Hyun Sook Yoon) and the Korean Peninsula Peace Unification Women’s Committee (Soon-Jwa Committee Member) co-hosted an event to wish for the successful hosting of the 2018 North and South Inter-Korea Summit and a peace walk in front of the Monument with the Declaration of Unification in Imjingak on the 26th at 11 AM.
The ceremony was attended by around 500 members from IWPG and the Korean Peninsula Peace Unification Women’s Committee. The event started with the reading of the “2018 Wish for the Successful Inter-Korea Summit and Statement Urging for a Peace Agreement for the Cessation of War on the Korean Peninsula” by Director Hyun, followed by speeches from separated families and North Korean refugees, and finally a peace walk from the Declaration of Reunification Monument to the Peace Park.
“If I think of my family that I left in North Korea, it is heartbreaking” said Yeon-su Lim (alias), a North Korea defector, “The war within the Korean peninsula must end and active inter-Korea exchange must be made a day sooner so that I can meet my family and my fellow countrymen who are suffering can see the dawn”.
The presider for this event, Kyu-ae Lee, the branch director of Seoul South Gyeonggi, explained the background of why this event was held in front of the Monument with the Declaration of Unification in Imjingak. He emphasized that “the first clause on the declaration of reunification for ‘the leaders of North and South Korea to come together and discuss, like West and East Germany, and resolve reunification in accordance with the will of the people for the nation and the people’” aligns with today.
The Declaration of Unification was written by Chairman of Man Hee Lee, a 6.25 Korean war veteran, for the 65th anniversary of liberation on 2010. It is the first declaration of unification that was written by a civil society with consent from 33 national representatives. After which, the contents were created into a ‘Monument with the Declaration of Unification’ and erected in Imjin of Paju, the northern most location between the North and South, and in Gosung, Gangwon-do.
Through the statement, Director Hyun Sook Yoon said, “we wish for the success of the Inter-Korea Summit that is happening for the first time after 11 years” and that she “looks forward to the cessation of war in Korea and a peaceful reunification”.
From November of 2017, IWPG and the Korean Peninsula Peace Unification Women’s Committee have held the 10 Million Signature Campaign for “Urging for a Peace Agreement for the Cessation of War on the Korean Peninsula” based on the 10 articles and 38 clauses of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW).
Citizen Eun-kyung Oh who participated in the event said, “I have two sons. I hope that the peaceful unification in Korea happens quickly so that my sons do not have to bear arms when they are older. This is the heart I have while participating in this event”. “With this Summit as the start, I hope there will be active inter-Korea exchange”, she added.
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