S. Korean, Japanese activists, religious leaders urge US to change its N. Korea strategy

They expressed concerns about the US's call for a political settlement between South Korea and Japan

The KJ Platform sent a letter Thursday asking US President Joe Biden and key officials in his administration to implement forward-looking changes to the US’s policy toward North Korea.

The Korea-Japan Reconciliation and Peace Platform (KJ Platform), which was set up by South Korean and Japanese nonprofits and religious groups, sent a letter asking US President Joe Biden and key officials in his administration to implement forward-looking changes to the US’s policy toward North Korea.

The KJ Platform expressed its concerns Thursday about the US government’s recent calls for the South Korean and Japanese governments to reach a political settlement about historical disputes dating back to Japan’s colonial rule over Korea. The US’s goal is to strengthen military cooperation between the three countries.

“Any political compromise that sets aside the issue of historical awareness will destabilize Korea-Japan relations and fail to bring about lasting peace in the region,” said the letter, which was reportedly sent to Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and the leaders of more than a hundred nonprofits and religious groups, representing Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims.

“We hope the Biden administration will consolidate its efforts to improve the relationship between the two Koreas, between Korea and Japan, and between Korean and the US by advancing the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. We also hope that Korea will not be included in the QUAD alliance that will strengthen the new Cold War system in Northeast Asia and strengthen the division system on the Korean Peninsula,” the KJ Platform said in its letter.

“We reiterate that an agreement to end the Korean War cannot be a diplomatic card calling for the denuclearization of the DPRK [North Korea]. This is ending the disastrous history of war and the history of division on the Korean Peninsula.”

The KJ Platform was set up in July 2020 by the leaders of Korean and Japanese groups. The Korean leaders include Lee Hong-jung, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Korea; Kyomu Jung In-sung, head of the Pyongyang branch of Won Buddhism; Han Choong-mok, president of the Korea Alliance for Progressive Movement; and Kwon Tae-sun, co-representative of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement. The Japanese leaders include Bunkou Ono, head of the Article 9 Peace of Religious People; Ken Takada, head of the No War Civil Society Citizens’ Liaison against the Revision of Article 9; Shinsaku Nohira, head of Peace Boat; and Ichiro Mitsunobu, head of the Japan Catholic Council for Justice and Peace.

By Cho Yeon-hyun, religion correspondent

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