The revered Korean Dharma master and Buddhist activist Venerable Pomnyun Sunim (법륜스님) on Wednesday joined an interfaith assembly of religious leaders, who gathered in Seoul to voice their concerns about the growing threat of war and geopolitical instability in East Asia on the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement. The assembled leaders used the historic occasion to announce a five-point peace declaration that represents “an urgent proposal for peace on the Korean Peninsula . . . [and] an important stepping stone to peace in Northeast Asia and the world.” (Pomnyun)
The 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement commemorates the signing of the landmark ceasefire agreement on 27 July 1953, marking the official cessation of hostilities of the Korean War. The document, which remains in effect today, was intended as a precursor to a formal peace treaty that would end the state of war between North and South Korea.
“Today, on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, the crisis on the Korean Peninsula has been amplified and exacerbated by the geopolitical crisis in Northeast Asia and the global New Cold War,” the interfaith signatories stated in their preamble to the peace declaration. “Various talks, including the bilateral, quadrilateral, and six-party talks, that have taken place over the last three decades have all broken down with no signs of resumption. All agreements made between the two sides over the past four decades have been either not implemented or broken, and no efforts are being made to honor and restore them. In Northeast Asia, the US-China conflict over the South China Sea and Taiwan has escalated into a global hegemonic competition, and battle lines are being drawn between South Korea, the US, Japan, and the EU on one side and North Korea, China, and Russia on the other, much like the Cold War.” (Pomnyun)
▶️ Published by BDG on July 27, 2023
