The
travelers arrive in Busan after 20 days. © Joanna Lindén-Montes
“They’re
coming, they’re coming,” shouts a young women, looking toward the train pulling
into platform 6 at Busan Station. When the doors open, people get off with
large suitcases. They look tired – yet incredibly happy at the same time.
They’ve travelled from Berlin to Busan, 20 days across Europe and Asia. Their
objective: to send out a signal against
the division of Korea – and for peace in the country which has been split in
two for 63 years.
The
“Peace Train”, as the project is called, is part of a peace initiative of the
National Council of Churches in Korea which aims to raise awareness of the East
Asian country’s continuing division and to campaign for its reunification.
Around 120 participants covered a distance of some 10,500 kilometers en route
to the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches taking place in Busan
from 30 October to 8 November. The project was supported by several national
church organizations.
One
of the passengers who arrived in Busan on Monday evening was Daniel Jung. The
29-year-old German travelled the whole distance from Berlin. Last year he
completed a spell of practical work abroad as a vicar in Seoul, where he helped
the National Council of Churches in Korea prepare the journey. What especially
impressed him was that not only Koreans, but people from 16 nations in all,
took part in the trip. “It was incredible to see how many people worldwide are
interested in the situation in Korea and are willing to do something to promote
reunification.” The participants were aged between 19 and 77 and came from as
far afield as Brazil, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Nigeria.
A
journey you only make once in your life
The
route initially took the travellers from Berlin – as a symbol of a reunited
Germany – via Moscow and Irkutsk to Beijing. In two cars the participants, who
also reported on the project on Facebook, first took the Berlin-Moscow Express,
boarded the Trans-Siberian Railway and then went on the Trans-China Railway. At
their stop-offs in Moscow, Irkutsk and Beijing, they met with local church
representatives. “There are easier things to do than living in a very cramped
space for three weeks,” says Jung about the journey and laughs. Yet it didn’t
bother him. “It was exciting to be able to get to know so many people with
different life stories to tell and from such diverse nationalities and
religious denominations,” he says. “This was a journey you only make once in
your life.”
After
the participants arrived in Beijing, the organizers had originally planned for
them to journey on to North Korea’s capital Pyongyang by plane. They had hoped
for the go-ahead from North Korea up to the final minute – but it didn’t come.
Instead, the participants travelled by train to the Chinese city of Dandong,
located on the border with North Korea, where they held a church service with a
Chinese community that also includes North Koreans. They then took a ferry to the
South Korean port of Incheon, and they continued on a bus to Seoul. The group
completed the last stage – to Busan – by the train again. The participants were
not disappointed about not being able to make the journey to Pyongyang. “The
trip is an initial impetus,” says Jung. Although the journey ended on Tuesday
with a closing church service, “our commitment will continue,” he adds.
Many of the travellers will take part in the
Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Busan in the coming days, after which
they will return home. The initiators are already thinking ahead. They aim to
make the journey again next year – and, if possible, to Pyongyang as well.
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