Participants of a Catholic-led multifaith peace pilgrimage held at the demilitarised zone between South and North Korea have reiterated the need for peace and solidarity among both nations. Source: UCA News.
Some 40 participants took part in the “2025 Wind of Peace: DMZ World Youth Peace Pilgrimage,” held from July 10-13, Seoul Archdiocese said in a press statement released on Tuesday.
“There can be no world peace without peace on the Korean Peninsula,” they said in a joint statement.
Oh Hye-in, 19, a non-Catholic and the youngest participant in the group, said: “I could really feel that North and South Korea are inseparable.”
She had arrived for the event on the recommendation of her Catholic aunt and was emotional after observing North Korea from the Odusan Unification Tower.
Participants recited St Francis of Assisi’s Prayer for Peace, asking for peace on the Korean Peninsula, Seoul Archdiocese said.
The event was organised by the Korea Reconciliation Committee (KRC) of the Archdiocese of Seoul and was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The event consisted of visits to various locations along the demilitarised zone.
The DMZ World Youth Peace Pilgrimage is a key program organised by the KRC of Seoul Archdiocese since 2012 to help young people become “apostles of peace.”
The KRC was established in 1995 by the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, the then Archbishop of Seoul and Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang, on the 50th anniversary of Korea’s liberation and division.
Following the end of Japan’s imperial rule (1905-45), Korea was divided into two parts by the United States and the Soviet Union.
Several efforts to unify Korea failed over disagreements between the US and Soviet regimes and resulted in the Korean War (1950-53).
North Korean communist forces invaded the South during the war, and the brutal conflict left some 4 million dead and about 10 million families displaced.
The war ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, on July 27, 1953. It means the nations are technically still at war.
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Multi-faith youth pilgrimage promotes peace on Korean Peninsula (UCA News)
