FOLLOW US
K. Ryu: Address to Interreligious Leadership Conference 2017
Written by Rev. Kyeong Seuk Ryu, President, FFWPU Korea
Friday, November 10, 2017
Address to Interreligious Leadership Conference 2017
Seoul, Korea, November 10 to 14, 2017
Good evening, American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC) ministers and religious leaders from around the world! Religious leaders representing Korea and leaders from all walks of life!
I sincerely welcome all of you to the welcoming banquet of the 2017 Interreligious Leadership Conference, which will be conducted alongside the 2017 Global Rally for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula. I sincerely pray that you are all able to have grace-filled precious experiences centered on Heaven’s Will during your stay in Korea, the homeland of God’s providence.
Respected clergy and leaders from all walks of life!
As the last divided country on earth, the two Koreas are experiencing strained relations due to the nuclear tests and missile provocations of North Korea. We are also experiencing a security crisis as a result of the extreme confrontation between North Korea and the United States. Today, we see the United States and China competing to obtain leadership within the new order which Asia, including Northeast Asia, is working on building, and it is amidst such a situation that we see rising worldwide interest in the North-South Korea situation.
It is at such a time that United States President Trump set off on his trip to Asia, beginning on November 5. As of today, he has met the heads of three major countries, including Korea, Japan and China. In regards to the North Korean nuclear issue, the most important agenda of his trip, we were able to re-verify his principles on the issue, which included having a firm response based on a peaceful solution; the establishment of a permanent system of peace; and exertion of superior and overwhelming power over the North Korean nuclear and missile threat. He clearly stated that until “North Korea gives up its nuclear pursuit and begins communication,” “maximum pressure and involvement” would be the core of his strategy toward North Korea. In response, the North Korean Labor Party expressed its determination to confront the United States by stating, “We will continue to strongly develop the nuclear sword of justice,” in the Labor Party newspaper.
Hence, I believe the hosting of the 2017 Global Rally for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula and the 2017 Interreligious Leadership Conference to be timely and significant, particularly at this time when multi-directional efforts are needed to overcome the existing structure of confrontation and conflict in order to realize peace within the Korean Peninsula.
Respected clergy and leaders from all walks of life!
Throughout history, humanity has moaned in pain from the wars waged as a result of territorial disputes, religious conflict, differences in race and culture, and other reasons. Even today, countless innocent lives are being sacrificed because of the conflicts, confrontations fights and terror happening in different parts of the world.
Hence, I am first calling for the awakening of religious people as I believe that the pain humanity experienced throughout the ages was because religious people could not fulfill their mission of realizing God’s will on earth through forgiveness, love and unity. God is asking all religious people to work within society based on the practice of the truth, the word and faith.
Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, founders of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), the hosting organization of this event, have been unfolding a worldwide peace movement crossing all fields, including religion, politics, economics, education, thought, media, science, environment, etc. in order to realize their vision of “One Family under God” and the building of one permanent world of peace. They particularly emphasized the role of religious people in realizing this world of peace.
It is essential that religious people uphold God’s noble calling; get out of the secular swamp overflowing with antagonism, misunderstanding and ignorance; and unite the desire for goodness of religious groups worldwide, through mutual respect and friendship. As religious people in action, we must show this determination and its actual practice in all parts of the world.
From this perspective, I believe that the realization of peace in the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of a peaceful “co-existing order” within Northeast Asia is a serious mission given to religious people of this age; it is a new religious movement that practices the teachings of the saints who established our different religions and a movement of salvation for nations and the world.
Respected clergy and leaders from all walks of life!
The 2017 Global Rally for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula will be held under the theme “Hopeful Korea! Become the Bright Light of Peace.” I believe it will become a meaningful occasion through which all citizens, together with political, religious and NGO leaders around the world, will clearly affirm their awakened spirit and determination to work toward overcoming the crisis surrounding the Korean Peninsula, and light the bright lamp of peace not only within the Korean Peninsula, but also in Northeast Asia and the world, going beyond all national, racial, religious and denominational barriers.
This peace revolution initiative, joined by 5,000 or so leaders worldwide, 80,000 Korean citizens and people worldwide, will advance the realization of a peaceful world that God and humanity have longed for throughout history.
I would like to once more express my deep gratitude to all the ACLC clergy, religious leaders from around the world, heads of Korean religious groups and leaders from different walks of life for participating in this meaningful occasion today. May God’s blessings be with you and your families who are participating in this worldwide peace initiative with determined resolve and, based on a life of practice, under the noble goal of realizing a world of peace.
To go to the Interreligious Leadership Conference Schedule 2017, click here.