Global Leaders Call for Peace on the Korean Peninsula
Seoul, Korea, February 11 to 13: World Summit 2022 for Peace on the Korean Peninsula. Some 160 nations were represented, including 157 nations with diplomatic ties to one or both of the Koreas. The Summit was sponsored by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), an NGO in General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, and by the Royal Government of Cambodia. Hosted by UPF Co-Founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, the Summit was co-chaired by H.E. Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, and H.E. Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. (More info: [ Ссылка ])
In response to South Korea’s strict sanitary and travel restrictions caused by a sharp increase in COVID-19 infections, the Summit combined in-person attendance and virtual participation. 85 world leaders addressed over 300 people attending in person, as well as a global virtual audience participating through the world’s largest 360-degree interactive broadcast. 11 key leaders from around South Korea, including provincial governors and major city mayors, offered their congratulations.
Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen opened the Summit at the Lotte Hotel World in Seoul. Then, virtual greetings were given live from the Korean National Assembly by Vice-Chairman Chung Jin-suk and former US Speaker Newt Gingrich, and from the Japanese Diet by Hon. Yoshiaki Harada, former Minister of the Environment.
Speaking in person at the Opening Plenary were former heads of state and government: US V.P. Mike Pence, Canadian PM Stephen Harper, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. Senegalese President and African Union Chair Macky Sall addressed the audience by video, along with former EU Commission President Romano Prodi and former Brazilian President Michel Temer.
The Summit sessions addressed the many challenges to peace on the Korean Peninsula, such as resistance to denuclearization, strained Korea-Japan relations, tensions between China and the United States, and core differences between North and South. They offered a range of solutions, such as encouraging new friendships with the North Korean people through trade, tourism, sports, music, and cultural exchanges.
On February 12 , the Sunhak Peace Prize Award Ceremony honored Dame Prof. Sarah Catherine Gilbert of Oxford University for her role in developing the AstraZeneca vaccine and ensuring its availability at cost, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for its achievement in dealing with the COVID pandemic throughout the world as well as its ongoing work to provide vaccines to over 800 million of the world’s neediest children.
Founded by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon in 2013, the Sunhak Peace Prize selects laureates for their service to global peace in the areas of sustainable human development, conflict resolution or ecological conservation. H.E. José Manuel Barroso, former EU Commission President and Chairman of the Sunhak Peace Prize Selection Committee, presented the award to Professor Gilbert, and Dr. Thomas Walsh, Chairman of the Sunhak Peace Prize Foundation, presented the award to Gavi. The Founder’s Special Award was given by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon to Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia.
The Global Summit concluded with a “One Million Rally of Hope” and renewed calls for unity on the Korean Peninsula.
H.E. Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Co-chairman of the Summit, expressed his hope that “one day in the near future the people of the South can directly engage with their brothers and sisters in the North.” He was followed by speeches from former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, former EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
Each continent was represented. While former US Vice President Mike Pence, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US investor Jim Rogers spoke in person, the views from Europe were conveyed through video by President Ilir Meta of Albania, Prime Minister Albin Kurti of Kosovo, former EU Commission President Romano Prodi and former heads of government Dominique de Villepin from France, José Maria Aznar from Spain, and Ahmet Davutoglu from Turkey.
Dr. Moon closed the Summit with a moving speech thanking world leaders for their contributions in support of peace on the Peninsula. She expressed her concern for the multiple challenges to peace in the world, notably in Eastern Europe and Northeast Asia, and for the damage caused to the environment by the lack of human responsibility. “These challenges cannot be met by human effort alone,” she said. “Building one family under God is the only way to bring about a world filled with freedom, equality, and peace.” She asked the citizens of North and South Korea and all nations present to join with her to achieve unification on the Korean Peninsula and true peace throughout the world.
