Talk to them: Churches urge more dialogue with N. Korea

The US ecumenical groups have had a longstanding relationship with ecumenical groups in both North and South Korea.

"Reconciliation and reunification are ... in the forefront of their thinking," McCullough says. "There is consistency in the perspectives of the religious communities in North and South, and also a degree of consistency in the political rhetoric of the two countries," he adds. "There is common concern about the continuing role of the US in the dynamic of the peninsula, and a desire ... for a reduced role of the US military."

Indeed, as the two Koreas have actively pursued reconciliation, tensions have risen within the US-South Korean relationship, with some seeing the US as a drag on progress. Young people in the South who have little recollection of the war are actively calling for US withdrawal.

"The younger generations do not see the North as the enemy; they do see a less than beneficent despot, but not a leader who is desperate or reckless," McCullough said in a recent speech at Boston University. "They see a nation caught in an ideological struggle."

Official negotiations on the North Korean nuclear crisis, which involve the US, China, Japan, Russia, and the Koreas, were scheduled to resume in December. But they fell through over the issue of a US guarantee of North Korea's security at the same time that Pyongyang agrees to end its nuclear program. In the wake of President Bush's "axis of evil" statement, the North is fearful of a preemptive strike, McCullough says. North Korea wants security guarantees and economic assistance, but the Bush administration has refused "preconditions" to the shutting down of the nuclear program.

On his trip, McCullough met with Kim Young Dae, vice president of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly. Mr. Kim, the third-ranking member of the North Korean government, "emphasized their depth of concern about the lack of bilateral discussions with the US." The delegation met with US officials involved in the negotiations upon their return home.

"I'm hoping the US will find [a way] to have those conversations with the North, which will allay some of their fears and make them more amenable to sitting with the other five parties and working through the crisis," says McCullough.

What both North and South Koreans now most want to see fulfilled are their deep desires for reconciliation and reunification, he says.

As for the churches, they are working to promote a peaceful resolution and support reconciliation efforts. They have called for a US pledge not to attack North Korea preemptively and also to seek an active end to the "state of war."

"We need a reduction in the rhetoric, and the world's attention needs to be called to the humanitarian crisis and the 2004 UN Appeal for $200 million for aid," McCullough says. "And we need to pray - for peace and for the uniting of North and South in a way that enables Koreans to be more positive participants in the global community."

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