On this day, sixty seven years ago, an armistice to the Korean War was signed. Despite this agreement dictating the fate of all those living on the Korean Peninsula, the armistice did not include a signature from South Korea. Rather, it was the United Nations Command, North Korea, and China that agreed to a temporary cessation of war. This un-ended war, however, continues to this day to be a source of enmity and hostility on the Korean Peninsula. Over time, the temporary armistice has, for all intents and purposes, lost its effectiveness. According to international law, the Korean Peninsula still remains a region of conflict.
Competition between the South and the North and the arms race on the Korean Peninsula are an inescapable part of our reality. These issues cannot be separated from the Korean Armistice Agreement. Despite feeling hopeful about peace in 2018, the halting of constructive inter-Korean dialogue and the exchange of antagonistic remarks has served to remind us this year that our lives remain tethered to this unending war.
Peace cannot be achieved through war. Cooperation cannot be discussed while insults are being thrown. If this 70 year long war is not reckoned with, there is the risk that the exchanges, dialogue, and cooperation that the South and North have thus far managed to achieve, could eventually come to nothing. This is why we must end the war.
From Armistice to Peace Agreement
Over the years the Korean Sharing Movement has striven to transcend differences between South and North and has repeatedly engaged in sharing through exchange and cooperative projects. We believe that, once we mutually acknowledge our differences and try to understand supposedly irreconcilable positions, we can then progress to seeking methods to assist one another with each other’s insufficiencies. In such a process, trust becomes stronger and peace gets closer. At some point, a path to the seemingly impossible task of unification will become visible as well. These are the precious insights that we at the Korean Sharing Movement have reaped from our twenty-four years of experience with inter-Korean exchange.
The first task now is to turn the 67 year-old armistice agreement into a peace agreement. It is not a matter of focusing on systemic differences and compelling one’s position upon the other to narrow the difference that exists, but rather to acknowledge that difference and broaden the scope of cooperation. South and North must be able to embrace the complexity of our intractable issues. To be able to do so, there is a need to replace the armistice framework that frames the other as an enemy.
Building Peace through the Strength of the People
At 10am on July 27th 2020, a fresh impetus to end the war and embark on the road to peace began. Along with 324 South Korean civil society organizations and 18 international partner organizations, the Korean Sharing Movement is engaging in an international signature campaign to end the Korean War and launch a peace process. This campaign will transcend the Korean Peninsula and embrace all of those around the world that long for peace.
Our appeal consists of the following four points:
- End the Korean War and establish a peace agreement.
- Create a Korean Peninsula and a world free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threat.
- Resolve the conflict with dialogue and cooperation instead of sanctions and pressure.
- Break from the vicious cycle of the arms race and invest in human security and environmental sustainability.
Peace is much more than the absence of violence. We must bring an end to the war to move into the future. 67 years ago, we could not determine our own fate. Now, we must. Let us bring together the voices of all those around the world who yearn for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Let us combine our strength to build a new era of peace.
