The International Day of Peace 2018 celebrated in Korea

September 10, 2018

To celebrate the International Day of Peace on September 21st, the Korean Organizing Committee for UN International Day of Peace (KOCUN-IDP) organized a three-day event on the topic of “Together Finding the Korean Peninsula Solutions for Building Peace in Northeast Asia.”

The Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens’ Board member Ambassador Kim Won-soo, Former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, featured at a panel discussion during the event at Kintex in Goyang, Korea. CEO Monika Froehler delivered remarks and interacted with youth participants discussing the meaning of global citizenship and how peace can be achieved in Korea through reunification. KOCUN-IDP also hosted a reception at the National Assembly of Korea.

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and cease-fire. The United Nations invites all nations and people to honor a cessation of hostilities during the Day, and to otherwise commemorate the Day through education and public awareness on issues related to peace.

Source: https://www.peaceday.kr/programs-2018

CEO Monika Froehler moderated a plenary session at the GCED conference

September 9, 2018

During the two-day International Conference on GCED held in Seoul, Korea on September 5-6th, 2018, the BKM Centre’s CEO Monika Froehler moderated a plenary session to facilitate and present experts’ talks on global citizenship education.

The session invited socially influential people to the stage one by one, who shared their ideas and views on achieving global citizenship. The speakers shared genuine stories about the power of the education on global citizenship that transforms lives.

The speakers featured on the plenary session were:

Photo: UNESCO APCEIU

“Building Peace through Sports, Culture, and Economic Cooperation” – Changwon World Peace and Democracy Forum

September 2, 2018

Changwon World Peace and Democracy Forum was organized in the occasion of the 52nd ISSF World Championship in Changwon, South Korea on September 1, 2018. ISSF stands for the International Shooting Sport Federation, and for the first time in history North Korea’s shooting team participates in its championship this year.

The forum focused on “The Realization of World Peace through Economy, Culture, and Sport” and gathered world leaders, intellectuals, and experts of each field to deliver a message of peace.

During his keynote speech at the forum, Ban Ki-moon Centre’s Co-chair Ban Ki-moon emphasized the importance of sports for peace with the example of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

“Sport and peace have a profound relationship. Sport can contribute to peace as it has the power to promote tolerance and mutual understanding.” He continued, “We have witnessed it at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, that will remain as an historical moment of peace for the Korean peninsula.”

ISSF President Olegario Vazquez Raña also mentioned about the recent Olympics during the forum:

“Earlier this year, the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics launched a powerful message of peace to the world. We will never forget the image of the athletes from South Korea and North Korea parading together with the flags of South Korea, North Korea and the Korean Peninsula. This was an inspiring example of sport promoting peace and unity.”

Ban expressed his appreciation for the opportunity for both Korean athletes to get closer through the championship,

“This is a great occasion to promote inter-Korean relationships and to build on the momentum. I believe it’s great that athletes from the North and from the South will get to compete in the same events.”

President Raña also added that world peace through sport is a common goal of the UN, the IOC, and the ISSF and emphasized how the sport has positive impact on peace and unity.

Along with the forum, the Opening Ceremony of the 52nd ISSF World Championship in all shooting events took place with 1806 athletes from 90 nations.

Source and Photo: https://www.issf-sports.org/news.ashx?newsid=3116

Co-chair Ban Ki-moon Delivers Speech at the UN Global Compact Conference

August 31, 2018
Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens’ Co-chair Ban Ki-moon delivered keynote speech at the 10th China-Japan-Korea Roundtable Conference hosted by the UN Global Compact Network Korea (UNGC Network Korea) on August 31, 2018. The conference is annually hosted by each of three countries respectively in order to facilitate discussions on the UNGC and CSR (corporate social responsibility) in Asia.
 
The topic of this year’s conference was “SDGs for Business: Challenges or Opportunities?”.

Co-chair Ban, who is also Honorary Chair of the UNGC Network Korea, praised the conference as an outstanding example of regional cooperation that helped three countries diffuse CSR and that contributed to global cooperation. He urged that the SDGs must be achieved in order to leave no one behind, to reach gender equality, to sustain people’s health, and to protect the environment.

 

The conference featured President Dong-gun Lee of UNGC Network Korea, President Goto Toshihiko of UNGC Network Japan, President Brian Gallegher of the United Way Worldwide, CEO Gyubok Choi of Yuhan Kimberly, CEO Wu Nianbo of Suzhou Good-ark Electronics, and many other leading figures from both private sector and public sector.

 
Student representatives from all three countries, Korea, Japan, and China, had presentations on the topic of “Business for Peace in East Asia.” The representatives prepared the presentations throughout two-month-long research and discussions on the main issues of human rights, labor issues and conflicts, and the roles of the government, corporations, academia, and civil society. They actively proposed suggestions to solve the issues and also screened a film produced by themselves about “The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Sustainable Business.”
 
 

Ban Ki-moon and Heinz Fischer´s Remarks on Efforts for Peace and Denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula

April 30, 2018

A historic Inter-Korean summit between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea took place on 27 April 2018 between South Korea´s President Moon Jae-in and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The summit took place after the two sides held several meetings in preparation for the joint attendance at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The summit was focused on the North Korean nuclear weapons program and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea´s President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.”

The Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula was adopted. According to the declaration, North and South Korea agreed to work together on ending the Korean War, beginning a new era of peace and sharing commitments in ending divisions and confrontation by approaching a new era of national reconciliation, peace and prosperity and improvements to inter-Korean relations.

 

“A historic day for Korea! We sincerely wish that it will pave the way for lasting peace and denuclearization on the Korean peninsula”, the two Co-Chairmen of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, former UNSG, Ban Ki-moon and former Federal President of Austria, Heinz Fischer remarked via Twitter.