JOY ELLEN YOON — Lamenting Division on the Anniversary of the Korean War Ceasefire

This week, on July 27, 2020, marks the anniversary of the ceasefire signed on the Korean Peninsula in 1953. It has been 70 years since the division of North and South Korea as a result of the Korean War. While a ceasefire on July 27, 1953 brought an end to active fighting in the war, the United States (leading the UN Forces) and the two Koreas never signed a formal peace treaty declaring an end to the Korean War. Therefore, hostilities and tensions on the Korean Peninsula and with the United States continue today. In fact, the continuing divide between North and South Korea is now the longest unresolved separation of a people in modern history and the longest unresolved conflict in U.S. history!

In direct response to this un-ending conflict, more than 190 individuals and faith leaders, led by 100 Korean Americans, signed a statement mourning the destruction and family separation caused by the Korean War. The call to action of the signed statement is for churches and communities of faith throughout the world to lament the pain and separation on the Korean Peninsula and commit to the search for reconciliation in the name of Christ.

Chris Rice, the current director of the Mennonite Central Committee’s UN office, reminds us that, “For American Christians, the Korean War is a forgotten war, but for the Korean people it is unforgettable.” This truth is highlighted by the pain of thousands of Korean families who are still divided on the Korean Peninsula as well as the ongoing tensions between the two countries and the United States.

Rev. Sue Park-Hur, a Korean American pastor with the Mennonite Church USA and one of the co-drafters of the statement painfully states, “War is not just our past. The war never officially ended and the ongoing trauma continues to have its wounds impact on the Korean Peninsula and the Korean diaspora. If we as Christians truly embrace that we are called to the ministry of reconciliation, we have a concrete opportunity here and now to help carve paths for reconciliation in a land that has been brutally ravaged and divided for over 70 years.”

I have experienced first-hand what the continual division and trauma from the war means to the Korean people, especially for those in the North. [The memory of the war is still fresh and alive for North Koreans, kept so by yearly national remembering and commemoration. Besides murals and depictions in schools, hospitals, orphanages and other public buildings in North Korea, there are several large museums and memorials dedicated entirely to the Korean War. In the capital city of Pyongyang, there is a newly built, vast museum to the Korean War.

In almost every workplace in North Korea there are banners that read, “This is a War Zone”. The country spurs their people on to work as if they are fighting for their lives and the preservation of their nation. The people of North Korea have been conditioned to be ready for an attack from the United States at any moment. They are determined not to ever again allow their country to lie in ruins or their people to be massacred as they were in the Korean War.] (Excerpt from Discovering Joy: Ten Years in North Korea)

With this personal understanding and first-hand experience, as a signature of the statement below, I am in agreement with faith leaders around the world that our deepest motivation to engage the Korean divide as followers of Christ is not political or economic. Rather, as peacemakers and agents of reconciliation, we believe in the costly way of forgiveness and justice which restores and repairs broken relationships, including even nations. More than 90 faith leaders with many deep connections to Korea have signed this statement in solidarity.

Longing for Reconciliation: Lamenting over 70 Years of Division Between North and South Korea:

“As people reconciled with God through the love of Christ, Christ calls us to the ministry of reconciliation across the divisions of this world (2 Corinthians 5:16-20). In this time of lament and reckoning in our world, we mourn systemic racial injustice and great divides between people within the United States and around the world. We also mourn seven decades of division and war on the Korean peninsula.

2020 marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War on June 25, 1950. This horrific war took over four million lives, caused unspeakable devastation and trauma, divided the Korean nation and separated millions of family members – including the families of many of those signed below.

Although a ceasefire on July 27, 1953 brought an end to active fighting, the U.S. and the two Koreas never signed a formal peace treaty declaring an end to the war, and this ongoing conflict contributes to hostilities and tensions involving the United States and the Korean peninsula. The continuing divide between South Korea and North Korea is now the longest unresolved separation of a people in modern history.

The Korean War is often referred to as the "forgotten war” in the U.S. Yet it is unforgettable to the 1.7 million American troops who fought on Korean soil, including the families of the 32,000 who were killed on Korean soil. The Korean War is also unforgettable to our fellow Christians of Korean ethnicity in the trauma their families experienced, in the tragic and ongoing division between North and South, and in over 70 years of hostilities and tensions between South Korea, North Korea, and the U.S.

The United States played a significant role in the Korean War, and North and South Korea cannot end the war without U.S. agreement. Because of this, Korean Americans can play a unique role in inspiring communities, churches, and political leaders in the work of reconciliation.”

Statement Drafters,

Peter Cha, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Eugene Cho, Bread for the World

Grace Choi, Re’Generation Movement

Hyun Hur, ReconciliAsian

Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Earlham School of Religion

Jongdae Kim, Re’Generation Movement

Sue Park-Hur, Mennonite Church USA

Soong-Chan Rah, North Park Theological Seminary

Stephen Yoon, Ignis Community