Archive for April, 2010

April 14, 2010

South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak addresses the Nuclear Security Summit on April 13 in Washington, DC.

At the Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington, D.C. on April 13, the Republic of Korea was chosen as the host of the next Summit in the first half of 2012.

As President Barack Obama opened the first Summit and explained its purpose, he nominated South Korea to host of the second Nuclear Security Summit, which was then unanimously approved by the participating leaders. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak responded by shaking hands with President Obama and accepted the honor.

In the first session of the Summit held in the morning, President Lee took the podium as the first presenter to introduce the ROK’s measures for the physical protection of nuclear materials, the topic of the first session. He also laid out what contributions South Korea would make to the international community.

The U.S. and other participating nations at the Summit actively supported South Korea’s hosting of the next Nuclear Security Summit considering that South Korea has complied with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and followed other related international norms, setting an example of utilizing nuclear power for peaceful purposes. Also the Korean Peninsula bears crucial significance in terms of resolving nuclear issues.

Since South Korea is directly involved in resolving the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, the hosting of the next Summit is expected to help rally the international community to make a stronger commitment to settling the issue. A South Korean official said the presidential office is looking into the possibility of inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to the 2012 Summit, especially if the North were to make meaningful progress in denuclearization in the next two years.

South Korea’s hosting of the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit along with the November 2010 G-20 Summit demonstrates that its status and prestige is rising in the international community, as the G-20 meeting is the world’s premier economic consultative body and the Nuclear Security Summit is the highest-level conference in global nuclear security.

The first Nuclear Security Summit in Washington was the largest gathering of world leaders (outside of the UN) hosted by the United States in recent history, and the second meeting in South Korea promises to be the largest summit Korea will have hosted in its history.

Read President Obama’s remarks at the Nuclear Security Summit here

April 13, 2010

The Summit Council is sad to learn of the passing of a member of its Board of Presidents, Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa, the first black prime minister of the interim government before Zimbabwe’s independence, who died at his Harare home on April 8. His ambition, he said, had been to do “what Mandela did in South Africa – achieve a political resolution of his country’s problems without bloodshed.” He was for many years a great friend of our Founder, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and played a very active role as well with an affiliated organization, the Universal Peace Federation.

A Methodist bishop, Muzorewa joined the government of the short-lived Zimbabwe-Rhodesia in a deal with Ian Smith, the last white prime minister, in 1978, two years ahead of the first all-race elections that swept current President Robert Mugabe to power and dropped the name of Rhodesia, as the former British colony was known. He was granted peace awards by both Pope John Paul II and the United Nations in the 1970s for his efforts to achieve the independence of his country.

Muzorewa led efforts throughout the 1970s to forge a non-violent transition from white-ruled Rhodesia to majority rule in the newly-renamed Zimbabwe. Although imprisoned for a time by the Mugabe government, he continued to lead the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe as a preacher and through numerous charitable works. He retired in 1992, yet continued to minister to the people of his nation, notably as patron of the Araunah Mission Fellowship for the blind. Bishop Muzorewa was recognized as one of the outstanding African Christians of the twentieth century, and a very strong proponent of non-violence.

Bishop Muzorewa was the eldest of a lay preacher’s eight children. He was educated at Old Umtali, a United Methodist school near Mutare, and served as a lay preacher. He earned an M.A. in philosophy and religion from Central Methodist College in Missouri and in 1968 was consecrated as Bishop of Rhodesia in the United Methodist Church. He received an honorary doctorate from Unification Theological Seminary in 2007. He authored two books, Rise Up and Walk and Evangelism that De-colonialises the Soul.

Deeply saddened by the violence following the 2008 Zimbabwe elections, he issued a prophetic call for his countrymen “in the name of God the creator and sustainer of human life and of freedom” to stop “the pervasive demonic culture of impunity, if Zimbabwe is to be a united, peaceful, enjoyable and prosperous nation.”

Director of Christian Care, Reverend Forbes Matonga, described Muzorewa’s legacy as “his role in the country’s transition to independence, the Methodist Church and the founding of Africa University in the eastern Zimbabwean city of Mutare.” Political commentator John Makumbe said Muzorewa’s legacy in Zimbabwe would be that of “a man of peace.” The BBC’s Peter Biles described him as “one of the most prominent political figures in the turbulent years before the independence of Zimbabwe.”

Muzorewa was married in 1951 to Maggie Chigodora. He is survived by three sons and a daughter. He will be buried April 17 at the old Mutare Mission in Mutare.

April 3, 2010

Deputy foreign ministers from South Korea, Japan and China met on South Korea’s Jeju Island to work out details for their annual three-way summit, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Saturday. A meeting between South Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Lee Yong-joon, and his counterparts from Japan and China was held on April 2 on the southern resort island, expected also to be the site for the three-way summit likely to take place in May.

Among issues reportedly discussed included the continual efforts to bring North Korea back to the Six-Party Talks (which include both Koreas, the United States, Japan, China, and Russia), other regional and international concerns, and further promoting three-way cooperation. The upcoming South Korea-Japan-China summit is the third to be held by leaders of these Northeast Asian countries. The summit will be chaired by South Korea as the host.

Five rounds of Six Party Talks were held from 2003 to 2007, which produced little net progress until the February 2007, when North Korea agreed to shut down its nuclear facilities in exchange for fuel aid and steps towards the normalization of relations with the U.S. and Japan. Responding angrily to the UN Security Council’s unanimous decision to condemn North Korea over its failed satellite launch in April 2009, North Korea declared it would pull out of the talks for good and would resume its nuclear enrichment program. In May 2009, North Korea then detonated a second underground nuclear device, an action condemned by the United Nations, the other five members of the Six-Party Talks, and many other countries worldwide.

World Russia Forum

The Summit Council for World Peace is co-hosting with the American University in Moscow the 29th annual World Russia Forum in Washington, D.C., on April 26-27, 2010 at the Hart Senate Office Building, George Washington University, and the Russian Cultural Center. The Forum is one of the leading venues for the discussion and analysis of U.S.-Russia political, economic, social, and cultural relations. It has been annually attended by senior Russian officials, members of the Russian Duma, and leading Russian businessmen, who gather for discussions with their American counterparts.

This year the World Russia Forum takes place on the anniversary of an historic event in U.S.-Russian history. On April 25, 1945, in the last year of World War II, American and Russian forces (traveling from west and east, respectively) linked up 75 miles south of Berlin in the town of Torgau, Germany, on the Elbe River. When the troops met, they effectively bifurcated Germany, contributing to the end of the Third Reich. April 25, 2010 marks the 65th anniversary of that momentous meeting between the U.S. Army’s 69th Infantry Division and Russia’s 58th Guards Division, and will be commemorated in a cultural event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the day before the Forum, on Sunday, April 25.

Speakers on the American side include: U.S. Secretary of Energy, Hon. Dr. Steven Chu; Director of National Drug Control Policy, Hon. R. Gil Kerlikowske; and Hon. William J. Burns, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs. From Russia, attending will be: Hon. Victor Ivanov, Head, Federal Drug Enforcement Service; Hon. Sergei Ryabkov, Chief Arms Control Negotiator; and Hon. Constantin Kosachev, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, Russian State Duma.

For more information, email WorldRussiaForum@gmail.com or visit this site

60th Anniversary of the Korean War

June 25 marks the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, in which soldiers from 16 nations fighting under the United Nations flag deterred aggression against the Republic of Korea and preserved freedom.

In June, the renown Little Angels Children’s Folk Ballet of Korea will commence a tour to the 16 countries that contributed troops to the UN as an expression of gratitude to those who came to Korea’s aid. Initially, they will perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; New York; Atlanta; Ottawa, Canada; and Bogotá, Colombia; the tour will then shift to Southeast Asia and Oceania this fall, and Europe and Africa in 2011. The Summit Council is providing significant administrative support to the Korean War 60th Anniversary Memorial Committee for this worldwide tour.

The Little Angels have performed at the White House, at the United Nations General Assembly, before HRH Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, at the Kremlin, as well as at other notable venues throughout the world. These children are a symbol of peace and the Korean people’s ambassadors for peace and goodwill.

Letters of welcome for the Little Angels tour have been received from H. E. Lee Myung-bak, President of the Republic of Korea; Hon. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; Hon. George H. W. Bush, President of the United States (1989-93); Hon. George W. Bush, President of the United States (2001-2009); and Gen. Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State (2001-05).

On June 25, the Summit Council will co-host a wreath-laying ceremony with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea at the Korean War Memorial. After the short ceremony, guests are invited to the nearby stage area by the reflecting pool for formal remarks and a Little Angels performance. Veterans are especially welcome to attend. For more information, contact koreanwar60@gmail.com or visit this site