Photo FwdL[Korean MND] Army 3rd corps demonstrate joint river crossing operation [한국 국방부] 육군 3군단, 10월 6일, 강원도 인제에서 연합 도강 작전 선보임

* Image source: Wiki
'Inje is located in the Gangwon province, near the Korean DMZ'

* Image & caption source: Photo News, No. 95, ROK Ministry of National Defense, Oct. 11, 2010

'In a demonstration of joint river crossing operation of civilians, government officials and military, K-1 tank under the Army 3rd corps is crossing a ribbon bridge under cover of troops at Inje, Gangwon, on Oct. 6.'

Text Fwd: N. Korea accuses South of attempting war

Yonhap News
2009/12/02 21:59 KST
N. Korea accuses South of attempting war

SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea accused South Korea on Wednesday of staging military drills near the inter-Korean border, calling them "war maneuvers" targeted against the northern neighbor.

Citing a military source, the North's Korean Central News Agency gave a detailed account of what it claims were South Korea's latest military exercises just south of the heavily fortified border.

"The war-like forces of the South Korean puppet army are these days staging frantic war maneuvers targeted against the DPRK in the area along the forefront," the report said, citing an unidentified source. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The report argued the South Korean army's Ssangyong unit commenced a large field mobile exercise involving troops, tanks and armored cars in Chuncheon and Hwacheon in Gangwon Province on Monday.

On Nov. 27, it claimed South Korea dispatched military trucks carrying at least 20 pieces of 105mm artillery from Munsan, a western border town, toward the military demarcation line.

South Korean artillery and tank units also fired more than 200 shells from Tuesday to Wednesday, "inciting a war atmosphere," the report claimed.

"The madcap maneuvers for a war of aggression against the north being staged by the war-like forces of the south Korean puppet army in the area along the forefront are a blatant challenge to the desire of all the fellow countrymen for independence and reunification," the report said.

hkim@yna.co.kr

Text Fwd: Bell Park for World Peace, Hwacheon, Korea

* Text Fwd from Bruce Gagnon(globalnet@mindspring.com) on Nov. 10, 2009

Bell Park for World Peace, Hwacheon, Korea

Nuclear Weapons, North East Asia and Beyond:
Re-vitalizing the Ecumenical Movement

Dates: December 3~7, 2009 (Arrival / departure inclusive)
Venue; Bell Park for World Peace, Hwacheon, Korea

Nuclear weapons with their related technologies, production, deployment and use, are incompatible with the life of living beings. Yet they were developed, deployed and used by the United States in1945 to kill the people and destroy the life of living beings in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. It was truly a fatal moment in the history of the earth.

Since then the nuclear regime has evolved into a global holocaust machine.

Christian involvement in this historical development is at least ambiguous. From the beginning, Christian ethics has been implicated in the nuclear weapons development and its use. Later the nuclear weapons system was justified in the name of political realism, that is, the balance of the power or terror.

“If we were to apply Niebuhr's real politics, with its ready acceptance of the inevitability of conflict, to the present nuclear situation, it could well mean “a perverse preference for the war of mutual annihilation, simply because the war of mutual annihilation means, at least, that the other side doesn't win either.”

In 1980's the Ecumenical Movement for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation took up the nuclear issue as a matter of faith. As the Cold War Order was dismantled, the ecumenical movement had a chance to press the question further. However, the agenda to denuclearization of the geo-political order did not make any progress.

As the beginning of the 21stcentury took off, the US has revitalized the nuclear doctrine anew as a part of the War on Terror(People's Charter on Peace for Life).This created a new situation where nuclear weapons could be used in the actual war and combat.

Former President Gorbachov of Russia and more recently President Obama issued statements on the need to have the “world without nuclear weapons.” This lends a possibility for the negotiation for a new nuclear regime.

However, the debate on the issue is centered in the inter-state or multi-state context particularly among those states, which have already nuclear weapons and its system. The role of non-nuclear states, of non-governmental organizations and citizens' movements and of the people's movements is crucial, if the debates and negotiations are to be fruitful.

It is high time for the ecumenical movement to get involved in this process. It is our proposal that the issue be taken up by the World Council of Churches at its International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, 17-25 May 2011.

In the light of this proposal, a local initiative and global response is needed as a modus operandi of the discussion and debate for global action for the Nuclear Free World. It is timely to have a statement from Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (August, 2009).

It is proposed to have a small consultation on nuclear pacifism on three dimensions: 1) grasping the issue from the “expertise” dimension; 2) assessing ecumenical policies on nuclear disarmament, and 3) exploring different roles and capacities for international ecumenical advocacy in this field in a northeast Asia context. It would a local initiative, inviting a global response. It is differentiated from the rationale of “think globally and act locally.”Korean local situation presents a logical and historical place to initiate a local process of consultation on the issue.

Themes of the Consultation:

1. Nuclear developments in the Korean peninsula and their implications.
The focus can be on North Korean programme which has a number of implications not only for the region but also outside. They include peace and security in North East Asia, Korean unification, nuclear proliferation etc.

2. Geopolitics of Asia and nuclear weapons.

An analysis of the geopolitical situation especially the dominant role of the USA, challenges from China and India, the role of Japan etc and its relation to nuclear arms. Here the nuclear weapon programmes of China, India and Pakistan have to be looked at.

3. Nuclear disarmament, problems and prospects.

There are several new initiatives the most prominent of them being from President Obama. Why this sudden spurt of activity especially at the state level? Are we now joining the bandwagon or do we address the real problems and prospects?

4. People's perspective on security and nuclear weapons.

How do people in Asia look at nuclear weapon issue? There is need to develop a people's perspective on human security and see how it is affected by nuclear weaponization.

5. Implications, role and strategy for the ecumenical movement.

A fresh approach from the ecumenical movement is needed. The analysis under 1 to 4 will provide the context for this. Some references are made in the draft proposal to theological positions. Many developments after the cold war and during the war on terror have raised new theological issues e.g. preemption. Formulations of position of the ecumenical movement on various nuclear related issues need revision.

The objectives of the consultation:

1. Reflections on Nuclear-Free Korean Peninsula and its implications for North East Asia and for the global perspective of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World.
2. Reflections on the implications and role for the global ecumenical movement
3. Exploring ecumenical strategy that can form the basis for ecumenical actions to promote a world free of nuclear weapons.
4. Understanding the current state of affairs on the nuclear regime from the people's perspective and engaging churches and church members.

Program Outline

Morning I Morning II Afternoon I Afternoon II Evening
Dec. 3 Arrival Dinner and Reception
Dec. 4 Registration Opening Keynote Address Korea and NE Asia Regional
Perspectives Conversations
Dec. 5 Regional Perspectives
US Perspective UN & Global Perspective WCC Perspective Conversations
Dec. 6 A Biblical Perspective
Theological Reflection Plenary Workshop General Plenary Dinner and Farewell
Dec. 7 Departure

Invited Participants (is it possible to include people from more sectors to unpack this multi-dimensional problem and link debate to different aspects of the reality, e.g.
o current or former diplomats,
o current or former military,
o people with experience in other disarmament processes
o ideally, some would be people of active faith and all would be open to the role of religions
1. Korean experts and movement people (4)
2. US and North American experts and movement people (2)
3. Europe experts and movement people (2)
4. Japan experts and movement people (2)
5. Chinese experts (2)
6. Indo-Pakistan experts and movements (2)
7. Russian experts and movement people (2)
8. African perspective (2)
9. Asian perspective (1)
10. West Asian (Middle East,) perspective (2)
11. Latin American Perspective (2)

Venue: Hwacheon Bell Park for World Peace
Hwacheon Peace Dam, Kangwondo, South Korea

The Organizing Committee:
Asia Pacific Graduate School, Korea
National YMCA, Korea
DMZ Society, Hwacheon, Korea
Supporting bodies:
National Council of Churches, Seoul, Korea
Presbyterian Church of Korea
Christian Conference of Asia, Chiang Mai, Thailand
World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland
People's Forum on Peace for Life, Manila, Philippines
Bellpark for World Peace, Hwacheon County, Kangwon Province

Text Fwd: S. Korea fishing boat taken to N. Korea port after traveling over the NLL

Hankyoreh
S. Korea fishing boat taken to N. Korea port after traveling over the NLL
Observers wait to see if boat’s crew will be repatriated or become a factor in inter-Korean negotiations
Posted on : Jul.31, 2009 12:45 KST

The 29-ton South Korean fishing boat with four crew members crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) on Thursday morning as it was catching squid. The fishing boat was brought back to the North Korean port of Jangjon by a North Korean patrol boat. The repatriation of the crew is expected to become a new factor in inter-Korean relations.

Unification Ministry Spokesman Chun Hae-sung said Thursday that at around 6:17 a.m., the 800 Yeonanho, a squid boat from Geojin, Gangwon Province, was on its way home after fishing in international waters in the East Sea when it was intercepted and towed by a North Korean patrol boat some 20 nautical miles northeast of the port of Jejin. The boat was about seven nautical miles across the NLL when it was towed. A military official said the boat left Geojin Harbor at 1:30 p.m. the previous day to catch squid in the distant seas. On its way home, however, it appears its GPS equipment malfunctioned and it entered North Korean waters. The boat entered the North Korean port of Jangjon near the Kumgang Mountains at around 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

A military official said they used a wireless radio to tell the North Korean patrol boat twice that the boat had gone off-course and asked that it be allowed to return south, but there was no response. The South Korean government sent a message through the inter-Korean maritime authority communication net demanding the speedy repatriation of the boat and its crew. North Korea responded in the afternoon via the same communication net, informing South Korean authorities that relevant bodies were currently investigating the incident. The four men on the boat include skipper Park Gwang-seon, chief engineer Kim Yeong-gil, and crewmen Kim Bok-man and Lee Tae-yeol (53).

Since the 2000 inter-Korean summit, North Korea has freed stray South Korean fishing boats that have accidentally crossed the NLL within a couple of days after conducting a brief investigation. In April 2005, for instance, North Korea returned the fishing boat Hwangmanho after its skipper crossed the NLL in a state of severe drunkenness. In December of the same year, the Ujinho was returned in 18 days.


In the case of North Korean boats that wander south, the South Koreans, too, have returned anyone who did not wish to defect. Chun said two North Korean fishing boats crossed the NLL in the West Sea this year, however, both boats were immediately repatriated in the name of humanitarianism, he said.

If North Korea follows these precedents, it will be a positive sign for inter-Korean relations. Observers are saying if North Korea treats this incident, the first of a South Korean fishing boat crossing the NLL since the Lee Myung-bak administration took office, similar to how it has in the past by applying the principle of repatriation, it could signal that North Korea does not want to further aggravate its relationship with South Korea.

Observers are adding, however, that the crew’s repatriation could be delayed if North Korea intends to negotiate or apply pressure by drawing out the length of the investigation. It the crew becomes a negotiating card with South Korea, one could see this incident as opening another channel in the currently blocked-up inter-Korean relationship. On the other hand, if North Koreas uses the crew to apply pressure on South Korea, it would mean it now has another “hostage” card to play, in addition to the currently detained Hyundai Asan employee who had been working in Kaesong (Gaseong) and negatively effect inter-Korean relations.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]


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