Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI
Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Seoul (Agenzia Fides) – “There can be no world peace without peace on the Korean Peninsula”. This is the slogan that young Koreans launched, who gathered in the Demilitarized Zone (a strip of land created in 1953 after the armistice of the Korean War, which serves as a buffer zone and border between the two nations, ed.) for the tenth “Peace Pilgrimage.”This year’s pilgrimage, organized by the Korea Reconciliation Committee of the Archdiocese of Seoul and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, brought together about 40 young people from the south and north of the peninsula, as well as from various other countries around the world.During the four-day pilgrimage, the young people visited several symbolic places that became places of prayer for a few moments. For example, the Odusan Unification Tower offers spectacular views of the Han and Imjin Rivers flowing into the Yellow Sea, and Hwanghae Province of North Korea in the distance.The young pilgrims also visited Imjingak Park on their way to the Jangsan Observatory near Chopyeongdo Island, famous as a migratory bird habitat and surrounded by barbed wire fences surrounding the military training ground. There, they recited St. Francis of Assisi’s “Prayer for Peace,” together, while the gunfire of soldiers training could be heard in the background.The pilgrims moved to Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, where the Cheorwon Peace Observatory is located above the civilian control line and about 2 km from the North Korean border. Then they headed to the “Ice Cream Plateau” also known as Sapseulbong Plateau. Intense fighting and fierce artillery exchanges between the North and South Korean forces happened on this hill during the Korean War. It earned its nickname “Ice Cream Plateau” because the mountain peak looks like a melting ice cream. Here, where the scars of war still linger, young people discussed how to move forward toward peace.The youth cycled to “Open the Moon Café”. Located at the northernmost point of South Korea, near a civilian control zone checkpoint, it is run by young people from the North and who lived in a group home. After the stop, the group headed to the crematorium for UN Troops in Yeoncheon and the military cemetery for North Korean soldiers.”I heard about this North Korean military cemetery, but it was hard to imagine that such a place actually existed. And of course, the people buried here also had parents, families, and a home,” said Joanna Hwang, a mother of three from the North, who was deeply moved that “even though they were enemies, someone took the time to bury and honor the North Korean soldiers.”On the third day of the pilgrimage, participants walked in silence along a 10-kilometer coastal fence path from Nanjeong Reservoir on Ganghwa Island to Gyodongdo Island Manghyangdae Observatory, praying the rosary.On the final day, the apostles of peace offered Sunday Mass with the intention of peace on the Korean Peninsula and around the world. Finally, the participants also shared their experience of the past four days. (F.B.) (Agenzia Fides, 15/7/2025)
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