images of division

One of the places closest to the North where civilians can freely go to is Imjingak on the south bank of the Imjon River. A few kilometres away across this river is the DMZ.

A fence at Imjingak provides a makeshift place to leave symbols of hope for reunification, as well as a place to peer out on the railway line which one will link the Korean Peninsula within itself and with the rest of the world.






The train does now run a little further than it used to - several years ago the line was extended to Dorasan - in the civilian control zone just south of the DMZ. Here seen at Imjingak it is on its return journey.









So near and yet so far. North Korea (and flag pole) seen from the Joint Security Area.

TOPIK _ Background Information

Worldwide Anglican Peace Conference, Seoul-2007

(TOPIK-"Towards Peace In Korea”)

I. Background

     The Anglican Communion has been supporting and encouraging the Anglican Church of Korea's vision and efforts through the Lambeth Conference, (the worldwide Anglican bishops' meeting every ten years), and the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) every three years.

      The Anglican Church of Korea (ACK) has a deep concern about North Korea’s recent announcement of the possession of nuclear weapons, since this announcement is a threat to peace in the Korean peninsula and North East Asia generally. Therefore, ACK raised this issue at ACC-13 in Nottingham from 30th June to 10th July, 2005, and suggested that world Anglican leaders visit South and North Korea in order to contribute to the unification of Korea and peace in the region. ACC agreed to this suggestion unanimously.

      Standing on the basis of ACC-13 Resolution 40 and cooperating with the worldwide Anglican community, especially the nations involved in the six-party talks, (South Korea, the U.S.A, Japan, China, and Russia), since these nations directly relate to peace in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia, a conference has been planned which consists of a visit to North Korea and of humanitarian aid projects which aim to resolve the tension in the Korean peninsula and North East Asia and to construct a base for peace and support for the ACK's mission to North Korea.

II. Purpose of the Project

     1. To raise awareness of the importance of the peaceful unification of the Korean peninsula which has been suffering from division since 1945. World Anglican leaders will visit South and North Korea to gain direct experience of the Korean situation.

     2. To contribute to establishing a permanent peace in North East Asia through indicating the significance of the peaceful unification of Korea, emphasizing the importance of peace in North East Asia and raising public opinion.

     3. To construct an international network to improve peace in North East Asia through cooperation among world Anglican Communities and ecumenical organizations.

     4. To develop a movement for sharing with the North.

     5. To support mission for the unification of the Anglican Church of Korea and to improve the mission relationship with the North Korean Church.

III. Outline

1. The Title of the Project:

Worldwide Anglican Peace Conference, Seoul-2007

2. Organizer:

ACK in partnership with; the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), the Episcopal Church, U.S.A., (TEC), Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK), and the Korean National Council of Churches (KNCC).

3. Sponsors:

The National Assembly, Ministry of Unification, Sungkonghoe University, AMEC plc, Church Missionary Society (CMS), United Society for the Propogation of the Gospel (USPG), and Anglican Board of Mission Australia (ABM).

4. Program

A. Peace Conference

i) World Anglican Leaders’ Visit to the South and the North

• Date: November 14^th-16^th, 2007
• Participants: 150 (Including Archbishop Robin Eames representing the Archbishop of Canterbury , Presiding Bishop of ECUSA, Presiding Bishop of NSKK.)
• Transportation: Chartered plane.

                     ii) World Anglican Conference for Peace in North East Asia

• Date: November 17^th-20^th, 2007
• Venue: Asia Publication Culture and Information Center, Paju, South Korea
• Participants: 100
  Including world Anglican leaders, peacemakers in conflict areas, officials from the South and the North

  B.  Humanitarian Support

i) Nutrition Support for children in the North

• Period: 2007-2011
• Purpose: To support essential nutrients for healthy growth of children in the North
• Plans: Bean Farms and Soybean Milk Factory
• Procedure: Make an agreement with the North and open and operate an ACC office in Seoul for supporting this project.

  ii) Restoring of Anglican churches and operating an International Language Institute

• Period: 2007-2009
• Purpose:

- To restore historical values of Anglican churches in Pyeongyang or suburban districts.

- To give quality education opportunities through teaching English, Chinese and Information Technology

IV. Steps and Schedule

2007.5- Organize a meeting with related agencies and coordinators in the North

2007.6- Review and adjust the project between the North and the South

2007.7- Make a final agreement for the plan

2007.8- Preparation period

2007.11-Delegation Visit to the South and the North and concluding an agreement

2007.12- Promoting the project

North Korea Famine

North Korea has spent more than five decades cut off from the world. It is so secretive that no one knows how many people died in its famine of the 1990s, one of the most destructive of the last century. Analysts have estimated it killed three to five percent of the population.
The Stalinist state, which still relies on aid to feed millions of people, blames natural disasters for the famine, but observers say catastrophic economic mismanagement was also responsible.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) left North Korea at the end of 2005 after the country said it no longer needed emergency aid.
It has since agreed to allow the WFP back to oversee a scaled down programme, helping 1.9 million people. But the agency says millions will be left vulnerable to hunger.
China provides large amounts of aid directly. But unlike WFP food shipments, distribution is monitored only weakly, if at all. Critics say this is undermining efforts to improve transparency.
The South, which has also sent huge shipments directly, suspended regular aid deliveries after the North carried out missile tests in July 2006.
North Korea's announcement in October that it had carried out a nuclear test prompted international condemnation and U.N. sanctions, setting back the country's tentative steps to end its isolation.
In February 2007, Pyongyang agreed after further talks to take steps towards nuclear disarmament in exchange for $300 million in aid. But food shortages and human rights abuses still represesent a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions that has prompted tens of thousands to risk their lives trying to escape across the border into China.

soure:http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/KP_FAM.htm?v=at_a_glance

North Korea demands South act on food aid pledge

SEOUL, May 31 (Reuters) - North Korea on Thursday accused the South of failing to honour a promise to ship it more rice aid as ministerial talks between the two limped into their third day.
South Korea has said that the 400,000 tonnes of rice it agreed to provide would only cross their heavily armed border once Pyongyang honours its own pledge -- at international talks in February -- to start nuclear disarmament.
"The North side raised the issue of the delay in rice aid," South Korean Unification Ministry official, Ko Gyoung-bin, told reporters.
Ko said the North pointed out that it had met its side of the bargain in previous bilateral talks by allowing last week's first train crossing last week over the border since the 1950-53 Korean War, as well as more reunions of families divided by that the war for which a peace treaty has never been signed.
Since the meeting began on Tuesday in the South Korean capital, the two have managed just 2-½ hours of formal talks.
South Korea proposed the two Koreas open regular train runs across their divided peninsula. Ko said there had been no response yet to that proposal.

North Korea: Ending food aid would deepen hunger

Resume Food Aid to North Korea's Vulnerable Population

(London, October 11, 2006) – Emergency food aid to North Korea should not be suspended in response to the country's alleged nuclear test, Human Rights Watch said today. Since the mid 1990s, North Korea has been dependent on foreign aid to feed up to one third of its population.
On Monday, Pyongyang's state-controlled Korea Central News Agency announced that North Korea had successfully conducted an underground nuclear test. South Korea's Defense Ministry told reporters that they detected an explosion on Monday morning near Kilju, on the northeastern coast of North Korea near China.
"As the international community responds to North Korea's nuclear test, it must distinguish between the North Korean government and ordinary citizens," said Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Further restraints on food aid will only make ordinary North Koreans suffer more."
After North Korea announced its nuclear test on Monday, South Korea said it would cut off its emergency aid for the flood damage that North Korea suffered this summer as well. When North Korea test fired seven ballistic missiles on July 5, the world was quick in expressing grave concerns. Only 10 days later, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the launch. South Korea protested the missile launch in a high-level inter-Korea meeting in July; when North Korea refused to discuss the issue, Seoul decided to suspend its food aid.
Demographic experts believe that about 1 million North Koreans perished in the 1990s because of food shortage and hunger-related diseases. Human Rights Watch has expressed grave concerns for the North Koreans' right to food in a recent report, "A Matter of Survival: The North Korean Government's Control of Food and the Risk of Hunger." A series of policy changes that North Korea adopted last year could lead to renewed hunger, the report warned.
Although it is difficult to precisely gauge conditions in North Korea, there are serious indications that another food crisis is looming. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), hundreds were killed and tens of thousands of North Koreans were left homeless in recent floods. Last year, North Korea received about 1 million tons of food aid, about half coming from each China and South Korea. North Korea has most likely run out of last year's harvest by now, and its harvest this year suffered from massive floods. WFP estimates this year suggest that North Korea currently lacks 800,000 metric tons of grain, or approximately one-sixth of the county's total annual food needs.
"North Korea's nuclear weapons program can have devastating security implications in the region, but suspending food aid could be lethal for ordinary North Koreans," said Richardson.
Some North Korea watchers oppose food aid to North Korea, citing suspicion that some of the aid is diverted to the military instead of reaching the needy. But Human Rights Watch's research has shown that members of the military and ordinary civilians alike suffer from hunger and food shortages.
Seoul should resume food aid to North Korea, and all aid donors should use this occasion to press for proper monitoring of distribution to ensure food reaches the intended beneficiaries, those most vulnerable to malnutrition and starvation. China should not cut its food aid. The United States, Japan and other donors should resume food aid as well. If this aid has been a purely humanitarian gesture, it should not be affected by non-humanitarian reasons. All those concerned with North Koreans' welfare should prepare to provide assistance to a potential surge in refugees.
"The welfare and possibly even survival of many ordinary North Koreans is in the hands of the international community now," Richardson said.

source:http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/YAOI-6UG3XU?OpenDocument