2030 Youth Council Members Open the Doors to Unification with one mind!

The 2003 Youth Council Members’ "Festival of DMZ Peaceful Unification with One Mind" was held last Nov. 1 and 2 at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Cheolwon, Gangwon-do to strengthen the will for national unification and spread the bond of sympathy for unification.  

 The event was organized by Cheolwon Municipal Chapter (Head: Kim Chun-man) of Gangwon-do and attended by 300 young members of the Council. On the first day of the festival, they toured Second Underground Tunnel dug by North Korea in a bid to penetrate South Korea, Labor Party Hall of North Korea at the time of the Korean War, War History Hall at Iron Triangle, and Peace Observatory.    

 The opening ceremony of the festival was held on Nov. 2 at the military training ground of the Reconnaissance Unit of the 3rd Army Division.  A total of 1,200 persons participated in the opening ceremony including Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice Chairperson, Park Chan-bong, Secretary General of the National Unification Advisory Council, 2030 youth council members, students of Cheolwon, and local residents, symbolically dismantling the barbed wires on the Military Demarcation Line.

 After the performance, a walkathon wishing for national unification was held in 4km sections from the military training ground to Tongilchon in Yugok-ri. Amid the heavy rains, the attendees walked the route holding a large national flag, the NUAC flag, and the barbed wires cut into 30cm pieces.   

 After the walkathon, they made trees of peace with fragments of barbed wires brought from the opening ceremony and erected a "Post Box of Unification" to send letters to compatriots in North Korea and messages wishing for peace and unification.

"As an old saying goes, the ground gets compacted after a rain. Today's event proceeded with heavy rains, but they cannot cool down the heat of our strong wish for national unification,” said Hyun Kyung-dae, Executive Vice-chairperson of NUAC. He expressed hope that the walkathon would serve as momentum for spreading the wish among the young generation of Korea. 

"I wish your strong will for national unification will echo not only through Cheolwon but also all over the country, and that it will sound across the military demarcation line to North Korea to shorten the waiting time for 80 million Koreans to enjoy happiness," Secretary General Park Chan-bong said.

The 2030 youth council members attending the event declared the message of peaceful unification, read the prayer for the peaceful unification of Korea, and adopted the resolution to spread the bond of sympathy to realize national harmonization and unification.