Editorials

Greetings from Korea at the EKD Synod

November 16, 2011

While the 20th anniversary of the reunification of the German Protestant churches under the umbrella of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) was remembered during this year's EKD Synod, the General Secretary of the Korean National Council of Churches (NCCK), the Rev. Kim Young-ju reminded the Synod of "the sad division" of his own country.

The Rev. Kim attended the EKD Synod in Magdeburg immediately after his visit to North Korea where he had participated in Joint Prayer Services in the two Protestant Churches located in the North Korean capital Pyongyang. A delegation of ten church leaders from South Korea had visited North Korea from 3 to 5 November at the invitation of the North Korean Christian Federation (KCF).

In his word of greeting to the EKD Synod the Rev. Kim described his vision of a "Peace Train" which would transport delegates from churches world-wide to the World Council of Churches' Assembly in the South Korean city of Pusan in October 2013. He hoped that the train which should depart from Berlin would be able to cross the border between North and South Korea after a two weeks' journey through Russia, China and North Korea. This symbolic action would be a strong appeal by the ecumenical movement to finally end the separation of the Korean nation.

In his conversations with German church leaders the NCCK General Secretary drew attention to the deteriorating food situation in North Korea, where food rations have been reduced and over 6 million people are in need of aid. He reported that the South Korean churches had been successful in sending a shipment of 180 tons of wheat flour to the Christian Federation of North Korea and called churches from other countries to grant more humanitarian aid to North Korea where according to United Nation's reports half of the children are chronically malnourished.