World Summit 2022: A New Era on the Korean Peninsula
The World Summit 2022 for Peace on the Korean Peninsula just began in Seoul with dozens of world leaders calling for an end to the Cold War’s last remaining division — the Korean Peninsula.
Some 160 nations are being represented during the three-day summit — from Feb. 11 to 13 (KST) — hosted by Universal Peace Federation (UPF) co-founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and co-chaired by H.E. Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia, and former United Nations Secretary General Hon. Ban Ki-moon.
North and South Korea need to “swiftly conclude a peace treaty” and end the war, said Prime Minister Hun Sen. “My country has been divided by war,” he said, which ended 20 years ago thanks to the “best choice” of dialogue, he said. “We cannot choose war to end war,” he added.
“Peace on the Korean Peninsula has symbolic meaning to all of us,” said former Prime Minister of Turkey H.E. Ahmet Davutoglu. He noted the Cold War divided Germany, Yemen, Vietnam and Korea, and all have reunited except Korea. “It is time for a new era on the Korean Peninsula.”
Speakers addressed several hundred people attending in person as well as a global virtual audience of millions of people participating through 3,500 broadcast networks around the globe.
Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, one of many speakers who saw great hope for Korea’s united future, said, “There is nothing that’s impossible when nations work together for the common good,” referring to the global response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This international cooperation is why “the dream of a united Korea is possible,” he said.
“We are all for peace; the question is what are we prepared to do to make it possible,” said H.E. Ehud Olmert, the former Prime Minister of Israel, who applauded the Trump-Pence administration’s peace efforts in the Middle East. “Words are one thing and real progress is another,” said ABC News Correspondent Kyra Phillips, a veteran journalist who recalled the unfulfilled promises of Korean peace.
Many world leaders spoke to their own nation’s history of peacebuilding, including Senegal President Macky Sall, who is chairman of the African Union. “Peace is cultivated in courage, trust, and dialogue,” he said. There is “defense power” and “diplomacy power,” but “peace power” — the ability to build peace through honest, personal relationships — should not be underestimated, added Hon. Yoshinori Ohno, former Minister of the Environment in Japan.
“I personally think the North Koreans are seriously thinking of the possibility of opening up,” said Dr. Claude Begle, a former member of the Swiss Parliament. What is needed, he said, is a safe platform for dialogue to eliminate fears, establish mutual trust and plant “seeds for peace,” as he noted UPF is well positioned to offer such a platform. “We can fix this together,” added U.S. broadcaster Trish Regan, “but we need the whole world on board.”
Many speakers presented challenges to peace, such as resistance to denuclearization; foreign troops in South Korea; strained Korea-Japan relations; tensions between China and the U.S.; and core Korean differences, such as the North’s devotion to a single leader and its own nationalism versus the South’s determination to form a highly prosperous, modern democracy that values individual freedoms.
Summit speakers also offered a range of solutions, which included encouraging new friendships with the North Korean people through trade, tourism, sports, music, and cultural exchanges. The annual summit, spearheaded by Dr. Moon and her late husband Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon’s vision of reunifying their homeland, has drawn the support of key leaders throughout the world and virtual audiences participating in numerous countries.
You can join the live World Summit 2022 program by registering here.
