World Council of Churches calls on S.Korean Christians to be peacemakers
(Feb. 05, 2013) South Korean Christians should be "peacemakers" in the peninsula,
said Reverend Olav Fykse Tveit, head of the World Council of Churches, WCC. "Peace
is something radical, something that has to be told and has to be believed, so that
it may become possible," he explained during a visit on Monday to Busan, South Korea,
venue of the Council's annual meeting next Fall. Reflecting on the global need for
peacemakers in places like Syria, Israel and Palestine, he told an audience of Korean
Protestants that we live in a time when life is threatened, and injustices in the
world are a reality. War however, is not the only threat to peace, he said and reminded
them of what Pope Benedict XVI said in his message for World Peace Day; that the
difference between rich and poor is growing and so also the unemployment of young
people; the consequences of climate changes are disturbing, yet, God speaks peace
to his people so that we can become peacemakers," he said. The WCC is set to meet
in Busan from 30 October to 10 November 2013. Its guiding theme will be 'God of life,
lead us to justice and peace'. Christians represent 29.3 per cent of the South Korean
population. whilst Buddhists are another 22 per cent. Catholics are 10.9 per cent,
and their numbers have been constantly growing for the past ten years.