|PIC1|A proposal for a parallel meeting of churches from nations involved in the Six Party Talks on the Korean peninsula was endorsed by a broad range of churches over the weekend at a conference in Seoul celebrating the centenary of the Korean Great Revival of 1907 and exploring the churches' role in bringing peace to the divided nation.

The proposal, which was submitted in a keynote address to the conference by Rev Dr Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), recommended that churches in the US, Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas "persuade their respective governments to ensure the continuity of these talks to diffuse tension and conflict in the peninsula so that people can live together in peace".

In order to do this, Kobia suggested that the churches from the six nations "explore possibilities of organising a parallel forum of churches" including churches in Canada, Scandinavia and the European Union at the next round of Six Party Talks. The forum would act as a "watchdog" of the talks.

The Six Party Talks began in 2003 after North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The talks have remained deadlocked until recently when North Korea agreed to shut down its nuclear facilities.

The statement from the Korean churches asked the WCC to facilitate the parallel meeting of churches and asked for churches around the world to "recognise that peace and unification in the Korean peninsula is a regional issue with global implications".

The statement also called on the governments of North and South Korea and all participants in the upcoming summit set for August 29-30 to establish plans for economic development and invigorate exchanges between both states at all levels of both societies.

The proposal endorsed at the conference called on the Korean churches to pray for each other and work on articulating a clear understanding of unification on the peninsula while deepening relationships with one another.

The Korean churches represented at the weekend conference included those belonging to the National Council of Churches in Korea and the Christian Council of Korea. More than 300 participants from Korea and 27 countries in Asia and the rest of the world attended the event.