Connections for Peace

A Letter from Kurt Esslinger and Hyeyoung Lee, serving in Korea

Summer 2022

Subscribe to our co-worker letters

Dear friends,

Every now and again my job allows me to connect what the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) is doing on a global scale to our PC(USA) denomination nationally. This past January I had just that opportunity as I helped to set up an online consultation between the NCCK and PC(USA) to invite the PC(USA) to officially join the Korea Peace Appeal (KPA). The KPA is an international coalition of religious groups and civil society NGOs who are working to end the Korean War and encourage related governments to resolve the conflict through authentic diplomacy rather than through threats of destruction, sanctions and war.

Korea Peace Accord Launch Gwanghwamun

From the NCCK, the Reconciliation and Reunification Committee provided participants in Korea as well as the keynote presentation by Professor Kab-woo Koo, from the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, South Korea. Professor Koo laid out the reality of the current geopolitical situation on and around the Korean Peninsula including the role of U.S. foreign policy, which at times helped, and at other times hindered the Korean peace process. I slotted in as part of the panel presenting specifics of the KPA campaign itself. Rev. Haek-jib Ra shared the NCCK’s hopes for a peace agreement, and frustration with the obstacles in the way of a Korean-led peace process, while Ms. Sooyoung Hwang, director of the KPA campaign itself, described the varieties of actions the KPA and its supporting partners have undertaken to promote the campaign. My job was simpler as I merely introduced the basics of navigating the NCCK Korea peace campaign website and the Korea Peace Appeal website. I demonstrated how easy it is to fill out the form to add your name to the Korea Peace Appeal itself, including how to write “Presbyterian Church U.S.A.” into the “affiliation” field so that the KPA and NCCK can track how successful they have been at reaching their goal of one million signatures from Christians around the world!

Participants heard of the ongoing stalemate in relations between the U.S., North Korea and South Korea. Korean participants shared how they hoped a new presidential administration in the U.S. presented hope that the U.S. policy of pressure, military threats and sanctions might finally transform into authentic dialogue, only to find the new U.S. administration even more set on demanding surrender before offering any change in hostilities. Professor Koo also discussed the outlook of the South Korean presidential election set for May of this year. At the time of the consultation in January, Professor Koo offered an assessment of whether a re-elected Minjudang Party could hope to move U.S. policy toward compromise, while a win from the opposition People’s Power Party would mean a return to hostility.

PC(USA) participants included denominational staff from World Mission, Peacemaking, and the Office of the General Assembly as well as lay congregants and pastors who serve on the Presbyterian Peace Network for Korea. They received the presentations from Korea with enthusiasm seeking clarification on complicated dynamics and also strategizing on how to encourage the rest of the denomination into active solidarity with our partners in Korea. We considered our past actions at General Assemblies in 2016, 2018, and 2020 along with possible movement from our presbyteries at this year’s General Assembly.

We considered what it could look like to activate other networks within the PC(USA) to take an active role in promoting the KPA among their membership, including congregations that have signed the Peacemaking Commitment and churches that have become fully “peace churches.” We watched a video created by the United Church of Canada in support of the KPA, and we planned ways the PC(USA) might create a related video.

PC(USA) – NCCK Consultation

Since the time of that consultation, the opposition party won the presidential election, and they immediately turned South Korean policy back toward increased hostility against North Korea, declaring all missile tests to be “provocative,” and setting plans for expanding the U.S.-SK joint military drills, in direct contrast to the advocacy efforts of our partners in the NCCK. Our partners have asked the U.S. and South Korea to cease all joint military drills as practicing invasions and strikes against a neighboring country poisons any atmosphere for conflict resolution or de-armament. Also, the government of North Korea recently announced its first recognized outbreak of COVID-19 infections, meaning the nation’s health and security are now at great risk. This would have been the perfect time for our Ecumenical Forum for Korea (EFK) to step up to the plate and provide opportunities for humanitarian cooperation projects between North Korea and partners around the world. However, the current administration has extended the travel ban for U.S. citizens entering North Korea, which not only forced us to change locations for one meeting meant to occur in Pyongyang, but the added restrictions of the current U.S. and International sanctions have also hampered the projects that could have participated in developing North Korea’s medical facilities that could have lessened the shock of the arrival of the pandemic. North Korea has since gone through this major wave of the pandemic, and if we were free to travel and communicate with them, we would have a better idea of the impact and further needs. We need the US to lift its travel ban now.

In this context the solidarity cultivated between the PC(USA) and partners like the NCCK carries much more weight. Through our consultation, we developed strategies for increasing awareness of the Korean situation among PC(USA) congregations and galvanizing participation in the signature campaign of the KPA. We agreed to create a PC(USA)-specific webpage for the KPA and house it on our PC(USA) website (presbyterianmission.org/ministries/peacemaking/korea-peace-appeal/), and we agreed to make a video featuring our Stated Clerk, Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, which you can view on Vimeo (vimeo.com/697754553?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=22619467).

In addition, our family will be in the U.S. for an extended period until February of 2023. We will be looking to visit supporting congregations throughout that time. If you would like us to visit your congregation to tell you more about the Korea Peace Appeal and the NCCK’s work to end the Korean War, please invite us! We would be happy to give a guest sermon, visit a Sunday School class, chat with a mission/outreach committee, or stop by your local college or university to tell the story of God’s work through the Korean Church for peace and reconciliation.

We thank you for all the support you have given us throughout this time. Your donations and your prayers have buoyed us throughout our journey in Korea. Your support gives us the wind that keeps our sails full no matter how rough the waters have gotten. We thank you again, and we hope that we may have a chance to thank you in person in the coming months!

Kurt and Hyeyoung

Please read the following letter from Rev. Mienda Uriarte, acting director of World Mission:

Dear Partners in God’s Mission,

What an amazing journey we’re on together! Our call to be a Matthew 25 denomination has challenged us in so many ways to lean into new ways of reaching out. As we take on the responsibilities of dismantling systemic racism, eradicating the root causes of poverty and engaging in congregational vitality, we find that the Spirit of God is indeed moving throughout World Mission. Of course, the past two years have also been hard for so many as we’ve ventured through another year of the pandemic, been confronted with racism, wars and the heart wrenching toll of natural disasters. And yet, rather than succumb to the darkness, we are called to shine the light of Christ by doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God.

We are so grateful that you are on this journey as well. Your commitment enables mission co-workers around the world to accompany partners and share in so many expressions of the transformative work being done in Christ’s name. Thank you for your partnership, prayers and contributions to their ministries.

We hope you will continue to support World Mission in all the ways you are able:

Give – Consider making a year-end financial contribution for the sending and support of our mission personnel (E132192). This unified fund supports the work of all our mission co-workers as they accompany global partners in their life-giving work. Gifts can also be made “in honor of” a specific mission co-worker – just include their name on the memo line.

Pray – Include PC(USA) mission personnel and global partners in your daily prayers. If you would like to order prayer cards as a visual reminder of those for whom you are praying, please contact Cindy Rubin (cynthia.rubin@pcusa.org; 800-728-7228, ext. 5065).

Act – Invite a mission co-worker to visit your congregation either virtually or in person. Contact mission.live@pcusa.org to make a request or email the mission co-worker directly. Email addresses are listed on Mission Connections profile pages. Visit pcusa.org/missionconnections to search by last name.

Thank you for your consideration! We appreciate your faithfulness to God’s mission through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Prayerfully,

Rev. Mienda Uriarte, Acting Director
World Mission
Presbyterian Mission Agency
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

To give, please visit https://bit.ly/22MC-YE.

For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6