{"id":137859,"date":"2026-01-04T05:09:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T02:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/?p=137859"},"modified":"2026-01-04T05:10:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T02:10:40","slug":"press-release-as-the-korean-border-falls-silent-global-peace-ngo-calls-for-reopening-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/?p=137859","title":{"rendered":"PRESS RELEASE As the Korean Border Falls Silent, Global Peace NGO Calls for Reopening the"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chairman-Man-Hee Lee<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Koraa-New York – Free Yemen Eye<\/p>\n

Human Path Between North and South<\/p>\n

Washington, D.C., December \u00a0— As the border between North and South Korea grows increasingly<\/p>\n

silent and new laws restrict civil action related to inter-Korean engagement, an international peace organization<\/p>\n

is urging political leaders to confront the deeper human cost of division and to reopen pathways for peaceful<\/p>\n

exchange between people long separated by history.<\/p>\n

HWPL, a global civilian peace organization in consultative status at the United Nations, released a renewed call<\/p>\n

this week for reconciliation and people-centered peace on the Korean Peninsula. The appeal draws on the heart<\/p>\n

and experience of HWPL\u2019s founder Lee Man-Hee, a former frontline combat soldier during the Korean War who<\/p>\n

witnessed firsthand the consequences of a divided nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs dividing the nation and its people, which our ancestors handed down to us, into two (north and south) done<\/p>\n

for the sake of the nation and its people? Isn\u2019t it to ruin and to destroy the nation and its people? Dividing the<\/p>\n

nation and its people that our ancestors handed down into two and having them kill each other in wars is not<\/p>\n

true politics\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201d Says HWPL\u2019s Chairman Lee.<\/p>\n

Recent reporting has highlighted an unprecedented quiet along the Demilitarized Zone, with military<\/p>\n

loudspeakers silenced and cross-border messaging curtailed. At the same time, South Korea has passed<\/p>\n

legislation granting police authority to halt civilian leafleting activities directed toward the North, reigniting<\/p>\n

debate over freedom of expression, security, and the rights of civilians to participate in peacebuilding.<\/p>\n

HWPL feels that these developments should prompt a broader international conversation not only about<\/p>\n

security, but about humanity, freedom, and reconciliation. HWPL\u2019s Chairman shared further: \u201cThe North and<\/p>\n

South used to live as one nation and one people in the same national land. The path, which the outside powers<\/p>\n

have blocked, must be opened even one day sooner and have people freely come and go.<\/p>\n

\u201d He urged that this<\/p>\n

was the \u201cshortcut to reunification.<\/p>\n

\u201d<\/p>\n

HWPL was founded by its chairman after he served as a combat soldier during the Korean War, where he<\/p>\n

witnessed many promising young people from both the North and South lose their lives fighting in the<\/p>\n

Independence Army. Following the war, he dedicated his life to peace work, eventually establishing HWPL as a<\/p>\n

global movement promoting peace, cessation of war, and international law, dialogue, and civic engagement.<\/p>\n

Over the past decades, HWPL has conducted peace missions in more than 30 countries, convened heads of<\/p>\n

state, legal experts, and civil society leaders, and collected written commitments from political leaders a\ufb03rming<\/p>\n

support for global peace initiatives. The organization also advocates for the Declaration of Peace and Cessation<\/p>\n

of War (DPCW), a proposed international legal framework aimed at preventing armed conflict and protecting<\/p>\n

human dignity.<\/p>\n

Changing a world of war and conflict into a world of peace is a mission in which all can participate – HWPL, its<\/p>\n

partners, and everyone else around the globe. As HWPL\u2019s Chairman Lee has said,<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/p>\n

…we must reflect on history\u201d<\/p>\n

and \u201c<\/p>\n

…become messengers of peace and leave a lasting legacy of peace for future generations.<\/p>\n

\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chairman-Man-Hee Lee   Koraa-New York – Free Yemen Eye Human Path Between North and South Washington, D.C., December \u00a0— As the border between North and South Korea grows increasingly silent and new laws restrict civil action related to inter-Korean engagement, an international peace organization is urging political leaders to confront the deeper human cost of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":137860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diverse-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=137859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/137860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=137859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=137859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=137859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}