100 Years of the NCCK, a Call to Reconciliation

A letter from Hyeyoung Lee and Kurt Esslinger, mission co-workers serving in South Korea

Winter 2024

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Dear friends,

This past September, around 100 staff and representatives from partner churches from around the world came to Seoul, Korea to join 100 more Korean participants in worship, prayer and discussions on the 100th anniversary of the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK). Speakers from among the Korean church and international partners shared various perspectives on how the Korean church and ecumenical community can work to overcome the recent increase in tension and hostility around the Korean Peninsula. Most participants agreed on reflections over the NCCK’s 100-year history of its work for democratization and human rights in South Korea as well as its work for reunification of the Korean Peninsula. The NCCK had invested a great deal of energy and even taken the lead on these issues at times in South Korean society. Several speakers reminded participants that the points on reunification made in the 1988 Declaration of the Churches of Korea on National Reunification and Peace published by the NCCK inspired government policy on reunification when President Kim Dae-jung’s administration was creating a policy of engagement with North Korea.

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Yet some speakers also suggested that the NCCK should consider changing its focus on reunification as factors around this conversation have gone through major changes in recent years. For one, younger generations in South Korea are showing less enthusiasm for the work that would go into reunification. They have never known a unified Korea and have grown up in a world where South and North Korea have always been separate and different countries. In addition, politics on the Korean Peninsula has drifted toward increasing hostility and unwillingness to dialogue over anything, much less reunification. The Yoon Seok-yeol administration in South Korea won the election declaring North Korea as South Korea’s number one enemy, language that was discarded by the previous Moon administration. North Korea has in turn declared an end to its policy of seeking reunification, no longer using the language of Korea as one nation, one people including both North and South.

Peter Prove responds to Korean National Assembly member Joon Hyung Kim’s presentation while Kurt (in mask) coordinates documents. Photo by NCCK.

Some are suggesting that advocacy could instead be focused on simply creating peace, establishing a peace agreement between what can be considered two different nations. Still, many in the older generations remember when Korea was one and continue to ask why Koreans should accept the division when it was forced on them by outside powers in the United States and Soviet Union in 1945. Many of them believe Koreans should not abandon a unifying identity, acquiescing to competing ideologies seeking to exacerbate divisions among peoples. Some speakers reminded us that the NCCK created its Reconciliation and Reunification Department because they saw the obstacles to their work of stopping human rights violations in South Korea, that until there is a reunification people in power will use the conflict and division as a pretext for violating human rights to maintain their hold on power in South Korea, and actual democracy will be unattainable. There was no clear answer to this question out of the conference, especially as we still know so little about the actual implications of North Korea’s announced policy change or what that means for our partners in the Korean Christian Federation (KCF) inside North Korea. In the meantime, all participants agreed on the need to share this work for reconciliation in Korea with partners around the world, especially in the U.S., as the U.S. military and government continue to wield so much power and influence over Korean affairs. That is why I am sharing this story in a letter with you! Now you are a part of the work of raising awareness.

Ms. Hanbeet Rhee and Rev. Hyun Ju Hwang present on the leadership of women and young adults in the NCCK. Photo by NCCK.

The participants also agreed on a communique that was published from the conference. In particular, the communique mentioned a renewed commitment to advocacy for peace and also for educating Christians around the world about the nature of the conflict and its origins. The communique called for the ecumenical community to increase its efforts that should include:

“international ecumenical solidarity and advocacy for demilitarization and multilateral nuclear disarmament, for the lifting of U.S. and UN sanctions against North Korea and initiatives for humanitarian support, as well as for care for creation, diaconal ministry, and justice for all especially the marginalized and vulnerable people within the communities of the Korean Peninsula, through mobilization of grassroots and local churches reflecting the diversity of our communities. We shall also continue resource sharing and communication regarding the ever-changing situation, including raising awareness of the origins of the conflict itself.”

Kurt presents on the history of the EFK to a US Korea peace network. Screenshots by Kurt.

You may include me as a resource in that endeavor as a mission co-worker of the PC(USA) assigned to Korea. One part of my job is giving presentations at meetings or on webinars that share all that I have learned from the ecumenical movement for peace in Korea, and what I have learned about the U.S. role in the state of war on the Korean Peninsula. Just after the 100th anniversary conference, we also held an informal gathering of the Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reconciliation, and Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula (EFK). I serve as coordinator of the EFK, so I was present to ensure the meeting transpired effectively. This meeting was yet again informal because the KCF from North Korea has been unable to attend since the COVID pandemic broke out. Still, we used that time to strategize for what we can do in the meantime seeking to re-establish communication with the KCF and set up advocacy meetings with the U.S. government, as the U.S. military still maintains war-time operation control (OPCON) command authority over the South Korean military. Just weeks after that gathering, I was able to give a webinar presentation to the Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network Faith-based Caucus on the history of the EFK, how the Tozanso Process brought that forum about, and how God has been present in the meetings between the NCCK and KCF reconciling Christians from South and North Korea.

Every trip I take back to the U.S. to visit a new church I find Christians who are completely unfamiliar with this story of reconciliation across “enemy lines” in the Korean ecumenical movement, which is why I believe my mission of interpreting this work is so important. Is there someone in your community who might benefit from hearing these stories? Then invite us to present in an online meeting in the next few months so that we can spread the word. This, in addition to your prayers, will provide us with invaluable support. May God end the constant hostility on and around the Korean Peninsula. Thank you for your support.

Kurt (for Hyeyoung as well)