The Asia and Europe Women Conference was held on Dec. 10 in Jakarta, Indonesia to strengthen the activities of the women members of NUAC regarding national unification and seek ways of preparing for unification.

The conference was organized by the NUAC South Municipal Chapter of Southeast Asia and attended by 60 women members from 17 municipal chapters in Asia and Europe and 20 women members from South Korea to discuss the subject of “Dream of Unification Bonanza Fulfilled by Women.”

The first event of the conference on Dec. 10 was the orientation, followed by group discussion and dinner hosted by Park Dong-hui, head of the NUAC South Municipal Chapter of Southeast Asia. The opening ceremony was held on Dec. 11, with Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice-chairperson of NUAC, and Maruzuki Darusman, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea, giving a keynote address and a special lecture, respectively. Presentations of the cases of women members’ activities and group discussion were also held that day. On the third day of the conference, the results of group discussion and general review thereon were presented.

1st Day, Dec. 10 (Wed.)

The attendances had some “getting-to-know you” time before expressing their views on participating in the conference during the orientation session.

Hyun greeted the women members from many countries in Asia and Europe and encouraged them. “I expect the conference to provide you with the opportunity for active discussion on national unification and exchange among the members for the joint goal of preparing for national unification,” he said.

2nd Day, Dec. 11 (Thu.)

The conference programs kicked off with the opening ceremony held at 9:00 am.

In his keynote address titled “Unification of Two Koreas is the Unification of Human Rights,” Hyun said that the joint meeting of the Executive and Standing Committees of NUAC unanimously passed the resolution urging the National Assembly of South Korea to legislate the North Korean Human Rights Act and requested the NUAC members to be more active in improving human rights in the North.

“Improving human rights in North Korea not only seeks to save the lives of North Koreans who are starving and suffering and guarantee their dignified living; it is also essential in achieving the national unification of Korea,” Hyun explained regarding the UN resolution on the human rights of North Korea.

Furthermore, Hyun stressed that legislating the North Korea Human Rights Act is required to save the North Korean residents from fear and terror. “When the women members of NUAC lead the movement of saving 25 million North Koreans from human rights suppression and providing them with freedom and prosperity, North Koreans will surely respond to it,” he added.

Park Dong-hui, head of the NUAC South Municipal Chapter of Southeast Asia, noted in his opening speech that the calling of achieving national unification is given to us. “I hope this Conference would be a good opportunity for the women members of NUAC to take the lead in realizing the unification of the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

According to Seung Eun-ho, Vice-chairperson of the ASEAN region municipal chapters of NUAC, the women members of NUAC attending today’s conference have been exposed to communities where lots of different people live together, and they have been communicating with them. “I hope you prepare practical ways to lead the national unification with such experience to communicate with North Koreans,” he added.

Cho Tae-yeong, Korean Ambassador to Indonesia, whose address was read by Park Yeong-soo, Korean Minister to Indonesia, stressed the need to prepare ourselves for national unification since national unification cannot be achieved overnight because South and North Korea have seen more than two generations of zero mutual exchange.

Maruzuki Darusman, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, gave a special lecture during the Conference. He played a decisive role in having the resolution on human rights of North Korea pass the UN General Assembly on Nov. 19 through the “Darusman Report,” which disclosed that human rights in North Korea were violated by the national policy of the North Korean government, and that such constitutes anti-humanitarian crimes.

In his lecture on the “Roles of International Societies in Improving Human Rights in North Korea,” Darusman noted that international societies scored a victory in finding the truth about the human rights issue of North Korea since UN adopted a resolution on human rights in North Korea. “The adoption of the resolution by UN and improvement of human rights in North Korea are very important progress historically to promote the unification of the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

Darusman emphasized that now is the time to promote the unification of the two Koreas when the human rights issues are passed to the UN Security Council, and that international societies should play a decisive role.

“The UN resolution stipulates that North Korean authorities should be responsible for the humanitarian crimes it has committed so far, and that international societies should intervene in the human rights issues of North Korea through dialogue with North Korea on human rights. North Korea cannot choose only one of the two but should take responsibility for both. The UN Seoul Office for the Human Rights in North Korea will be of great help in investigating the issue more thoroughly,” he added.

Darusman had talks with Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice-chairperson of NUAC, regarding the issue during the Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Kang Gyo-ja, executive committee of NUAC and chairperson of the Welfare Office of YWCA, Korea gave a lecture on the “Roles of Women in Promoting the Peaceful Unification of the Korean Peninsula.”

According to her, △ the division of Korea into north and south weakened our sense of responsibility for and duty of assuming leading roles in national unification due to the historical fact that the division was not the work of the Korean people, △ armed clash between the two Koreas including the Korean War made the roles of Korean women passive since such clash emphasized that national unification could not rely on strong military forces, and △ young generations of Korea have negative views of unification since it would incur enormous expenses.

She suggested the following to overcome the aforesaid problems: △ promoting education for national unification in keeping with the times; △ raising a unification fund by improving economic power; △ legislating the laws and systems of the unified country, and; △ preparing for and training of living together.

In particular, she emphasized that North Korean refugees living in South Korea are the priming water of national unification, and that they should be the guide in the unification through training of living together with them.

Korean women’s consciousness should be awakened to achieve the national unification of Korea, and the participation and leadership of women are important since a creative, warm society can be created by the devotion and efforts of women who love and take care of life.

After the lecture, a luncheon for the attending members was hosted by Seung Eun-ho, and several cases of the women members’ activities were presented. Those who introduced cases were Yeon Jin-hee from Singapore, Choi Wol-ah from Northern Europe, Ahn Jong-hui from Daegu, Korea, Lee Sook-yong from Eastern Japan, Cho Heon-shim from Beijing, China, and Ko Nam-hui from Australia. Their activities included education of the youth for national unification, walkathon wishing for national unification, support for North Korean refugees, and peaceful unification forum.

Prof. Choi Min-ja of Sungshin Women’s Univ. of Korea, who is also an executive committee member of NUAC, gave a lecture titled “Vision and Strategy for the Unification of the Korean Peninsula.” She analyzed the current situation of Northeast Asia and suggested the Northeast Asia Peace Initiative as one of the methods of multilateral cooperation in the region.

Prof. Choi diagnosed the current situation in the Northeast Asia region as persistently unstable for the following reasons: △ territorial issue and past affairs in the region, deepening military confrontation, and competing hegemony in the area; △ nuclear issue of North Korea and possibility of spreading the phenomenon of nuclear domino; △ test of strength among the 4 big powers regarding the unification of Korean Peninsula; △ treatment of the water polluted by the nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima, Japan, and; △ environment and ecology in the region. A high-level, mutually dependent cooperation system should be established in the region to solve such problems.

Unstable factors should be removed by the “Grand Design of Northeast Asia” based on the supranational development paradigm.

Group discussion was held among the members to discuss how to activate exchange among them and future activities for national unification in countries where they live, such as △ building trust between South and North Korea while pursuing national unification, △ roles of Korean women in achieving peace in and unification of the Korean Peninsula, △ desirable activity model for women members of NUAC living overseas, and △ strengthening the networks among women members of the municipal chapters of NUAC.

3rd Day, Dec. 12 (Fri.)

The results of the group discussions and review thereof were presented on the last day of the conference.

The members attending the conference exchanged views on the activity plan for the coming new year.

“I think the conference could provide you with a good opportunity to gather strong will toward national unification and establish ways for the women members of NUAC to draw the future action plan for it,” said Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice-chairperson of NUAC. The conference lasted for 3 days and ended with singing “Our Wish is Unification.”

The conference was believed to have provided an opportunity for widening the exchange between domestic and overseas women members and strengthening their will to prepare for national unification.