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| The sounds of a performance of 'Samulnori' fill the room as Korean Christians from the Bargn Nuri Community visit the WCC for the "Prayer Pilgrimage for Life and Peace", Geneva, January 2020, Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC |
Each year, churches are invited to join in a prayer for peace and reunification of the Korean Peninsula. Prepared by Christians from both South and North Korea, the prayer is traditionally used on the Sunday before 15 August every year.
The 15th of August, celebrated as Liberation Day in both North and South Korea, marks the date in 1945 when Korea won independence from Japanese colonial oppression, yet ironically it also was the day when the peninsula was divided into two countries.
The National Council of Churches in Korea (South Korea) have composed their annual joint prayer for peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula for 2020. Churches are encouraged to translate this prayer into their national languages and share it with their congregations.
“Trees of peace, rooted in this land, are still growing,” reads the prayer. “Even in times of external pressure from the foreign powers, we pray that the fruits of peace would be harvested throughout the length and breadth of the land all over the country.”
The prayer expresses the wish that the Korean Peninsula will become one again. “Help us to stop the military exercises and producing all weapons in the name of security,” reads the prayer. “May the North and South walk in the path of peace and coexistence by declaring an official end to the Korean War and signing a peace treaty!”
Throughout 2020, the World Council of Churches (WCC), together with the National Council of Churches in Korea, has been observing a Global Prayer Campaign,“We Pray, Peace Now, End the War.”
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