Editorials

Intercession on behalf of Korea

Oktober 12, 2009

A delegation led by Bishop Wolfgang Huber, chairman of the EKD Council, visited both North and South Korea. The group of German church leaders travelled from the North Korean capital Pyongyang to the barracks of Panmunjon in the Demilitarized Zone separating North from South Korea. The delegation also made the trip from Seoul to Panmunjon where the armistice was signed in 1953, leaving the country devastated and divided after 3 years of grueling warfare. These visits to the border reminded the delegation, that while Germany is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Korea is the last remaining victim of the cold war.

In its meeting with the Korean National Council of Churches, the German delegation expressed its solidarity with the Korean people in its aspiration for peaceful reunification and renewed its commitment to support the Korean National Council of Churches' efforts towards Peace and Reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula.

The Council of the EKD calls all German congregations to pray for Peace and for an end of the division of the Korean people during their worship services on Sunday, November 1st. This prayer of intercession is also meant to draw attention to the joint prayer meeting of Christians from North and South Korea which is to be held in Pyongyang in the first week of November.