South Korea: Churches support 'March for Life and Peace'

This week has seen the annual 'March for Life and Peace' on Jeju Island in South Korea, involving around 600 participants, with 2,000 expected at the finale on Saturday evening. From 1-6 August, Church groups, including Columban missionaries and Pax Christi members, participated in the march, which started at Gangjeong Village, the site of a new naval base on Jeju. "The walk this year is proof of the unquenchable thirst for peace in the hearts of ordinary citizens" said Irish Columban priest Pat Cunningham. "If only the groundswell of peace was matched by the political will of our leaders!" he added.

The Gangjeong villagers and church supporters say the base threatens peace in the region, being just 300 miles from China, as well as the contamination of water sources and destruction of the environment. The 2,000 villagers are also being swamped by anywhere from 3,000-7,000 navy personnel being based there at any one time. Each day of the march villagers trucked out food to the walkers, who wore distinctive yellow shirts and sang during the journey.

Meanwhile, the Korean Catholic Church is continuing its protests against the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a US-made anti-missile system on the peninsula designed to ward off North Korean attacks. Church groups will be saying Mass outside the Seongju county office every Saturday from 30 July to 20 August. Seongju, in North Gyeongsang Province, is an area allocated for missile deployment.

Fr Kwon Oh-gwan, parish priest of Seonnam Church, said nobody welcomes this "out-of-the-blue missile deployment" without proper explanation. "We oppose it in favour of peace," said Fr Kwon. Other special protest Masses are being held nationwide, while Catholics joined a large protest in Seoul, saying the missile system will only inflame tensions with neighbouring North Korea and China.