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| Korean Madonna & Child- Jang Woo Seong 1949 |
In a message sent to AsiaNews to be made public in South Korea on the occasion of the feast day of the ASSUMPTION, which is also Korea ’s Independence Day, the bishops slam Pyongyang
The statement is signed by Mgr Peter Lee Ki-heon, bishop of Uijeongbu and president of the Commission for the Reconciliation of the Korean People of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK), and Mgr Lazarus You Heung-sik, bishop of Daejeon and president of the CBCK’s Justice and Peace Commission.
In their statement the bishops ask "neighboring countries" (China, Japan, Russia, United States) to avoid a military escalation, or "unrestrained action," which could only cause the "death of innumerable people, the fatal devastation of both sides, the regression of human history, and deep wounds for the whole of humanity.” Everyone is called to engage in "dialogue for peace" and work for the "coexistence of humanity, which is, in fact, the main purpose of diplomacy and politics".
The statement makes a special exhortation to the bishops’ "fellow Koreans" in the North and South to stop using economic resources in “astronomical" military budgets, and use instead at least some of those resources for the "human and cultural development" of the Korean peninsula.
The bishops call on Christians and the peoples of the world to be "peacemakers". Establishing peace in the Korean peninsula could be the "U-turn" that brings peace to the world.
"Let us walk in the light of the Lord" (Is 2,5)
Finally, we urge all brothers and sisters in the world to be attentive, to pray, to respond with good discernment, and to work together cordially to resolve the crisis of our Peninsula . The Church in Korea