hankyoreh

Korea Peace Appeal is collecting 1 million signatures for peace on the Korean Peninsula. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

Members of Korea Peace Appeal, a group made up of around 370 civic and religious organizations launched in 2023 to resolve potential war crises and to realize peace, held a ceremony on the front steps of the Sejong Center in central Seoul on Tuesday to declare the inauguration of a month of global action for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

In a press release, the participants defined the status quo on the Korean Peninsula as “rife with acute military tensions, more than ever before,” and that “it is difficult to say for sure whether the temporary ceasefire can be maintained.”

Members of Korea Peace Appeal occupy the steps of the Sejong Center in Seoul on June 13 where they call for an end to hostilities and move toward peace on the Korean Peninsula. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

They also criticized the current administration in South Korea, stating, “While the Yoon Suk-yeol administration is emphasizing ‘peace through power’ and seeking to ‘be more than prepared for war and strengthen military cooperation between South Korea, the US, and Japan,’ responsible measures to prevent accidental clashes are nowhere to be found.”

“Sincere negotiations for peace on the Korean Peninsula and improving relations have yet to be resumed after being halted in Hanoi in 2019,” those gathered said. “We need to pick up negotiations where they were left off.”

Korea Peace Appeal plans to hold a rally for peace on the Korean Peninsula on July 22 in Seoul, and is set to announce a “Korean Peninsula peace declaration” on the 70th anniversary of the armistice on July 27 with support from around the world.

Participants said, “The more difficult it is to speak of peace, the more we must raise our voices to achieve it.” (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

To relieve the war crisis on the peninsula and establish peace, Korea Peace appeal is calling for an end the Korean War and the establishment of a peace agreement, the creation of a Korean Peninsula and a world free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threats, a resolution to the conflict with dialogue and cooperation instead of sanctions and pressure, and a break from the vicious cycle of the arms race and invest in human security and environmental sustainability.

Members of Korea Peace Appeal occupy the steps of the Sejong Center in Seoul on June 13 where they call for an end to hostilities and move toward peace on the Korean Peninsula. (Kang Chang-kwang/The Hankyoreh)

By Kang Chang-kwang, senior staff writer

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