1,800 Global Leaders In South Korea For Peace Building

No fewer than 1,800 people from 121 countries, including the United States, the Philippines, Ukraine, South Africa, Pakistan, Thailand, Romania, and India, are attending the 9th Anniversary of the September 18th HWPL (Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light) Summit held in Incheon, South Korea from Monday to Thursday.

At the summit themed: “Implementing a Multidimensional Strategies for Institutional Peace”, leaders and experts in the fields of international law, religion, education, youth, women, and media participated in about 30 sessions over four days.

The participants engaged in discussions, tailored not only by fields but also by countries, on practical and viable strategies to establish a legally binding international law for peace.

At the press conference, chairman of the host organisation, HWPL, Lee Man-hee urged politicians and leaders of countries to work together for peace as he called for action, drawing from his personal experience as a war veteran, having witnessed the harsh realities of war.

“Why should the lives of young people be sacrificed in war? What is politics, and for whom is it for? When war breaks out, it is not politicians who go out and fight, but young people who have never bloomed before that are sacrificed. Peace cannot be achieved through words alone.

“If we don’t have one, we have to create one, so we have traveled 32 times around the world to carry out peace activities. If peace had won in this world, there would have been no regrettable deaths. Through the enactment of international law, we must leave peace as a legacy to the global community where our descendants will live,” he stated.

At the main session on the 18th, Prof. Emil Constantinescu, the 3rd President of Romania, said, “During the Summit, we agreed that Peace is not an abstract concept, but rather a supreme value of humanity that can generate a calm environment in which people can live without the threat of violent conflict or psychological pressure.”

In the progress report presentation, managing director of HWPL, Kang Tae-ho, introduced the progress of the DPCW, which has received approximately 900,000 supports from civil society in 176 countries as well as the Central American Parliament, and the case of Mindanao, which is an example of a private-level peace agreement.

The chief minister of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) from the Philippines, Hon Ahod Ebrahim-Al haj, said, Bangsamoro is a land of peace, prosperity, and justice where “Muslims, Christians, Indigenous Peoples’, and our Lumad brothers and sisters co-exist and live in harmony.”