Tae-sun Kwon

- Editor-in Chief, The Hankyoreh -

Distinguished Sun-jong Lee, chairperson of the Organizing Committee of Northeast Asian Women's Peace Conference, Hyoung Cho, Chairperson of Korea Foundation for Women, Sylvia Kotting-Uhl, a German Parliament member of the Green Party, Young-sun, Gi, a Co-representative of Korean Federation for Environmental Movement, and guests.

We sincerely welcome all of you who participate into the '2012 Northeast Asian Women's Peace Conference' to seek a way of achieving the vision of a nuclear-free world.

As you have already known, The Hankyoreh has made an effort to pursue the national reconciliation and the peace in the North East Asia since its foundation in 1988, and, as a part of the effort, has supported a nuclear-free world. This conference hosted jointly by The Hankyoreh and the Organizing Committee of Northeast Asian Women's Peace Conference is based on the spirit of the foundation of the Hankyoreh.

Since the first conference held in 2008, Northeast Asian Women's Peace Conference has constant efforts to improve reconciliation, cooperation and peace in the North East Asia. The organization has ceaselessly proposed plans to reflect women's voices in the course of discussion for the peace in the North East Asia, and has played a vital role in placing women as a parter to establish the peace in the region by having relations with governmental organizations as well as NGOs.

With the accumulated of experiences, the Peace Conference set a title of this year's conference as 'a nuclear free world and life of women in the North East Asia', which is profoundly meaningful. On March 11 a year ago, we clearly witnessed a terrific accident that occurred in Fukushima, Japan, realizing that a nuclear power plant, which has been advertised as the supplier of 'clean energy', could bring a catastrophic disaster to the human society. The nuclear disaster claimed lives of numerous people and drove many other people out of their district. Over the next 2 years, the amount of 6 trillion yen is said to be spent for compensation. Given the cost of radioactive decontamination, the amount is expected to reach into astronomical figures. But, what is worse than the cost is that the Fukushima disaster did not come to an end, but is still on-going. A large part of the district turned into barren land, and residents in the area do not spend a day without worrying about radiation poisoning. Women in Fukushima are weeping tears of pain in the environment where they are faced with difficulties in securing safe food for their children.

Under the circumstance, unfortunately, any sincere effort to remove nuclear crisis has not been made in the North East Asia. Nuclear powers such as the US, Russia, and China, have competed against each other for nuclear enhancement, and North Korea declared that it would develop nuclear weapons for the safe of its self-defense. Although Japan has stopped operating 52 out of 54 nuclear power plants since the Fukushima accident, Korea and China have actively expanded the construction of nuclear power plants without any reflection on the accident. In fact, they should have prepared a joint guideline for the safety of nuclear power plant. But, I have never heard that they have concentrated any effort on it.

Therefore, to address the current issue in North East Asia surrounded by nuclear, it is essential to approach the nuclear issue from the regional perspective rather than from the national perspective. In order to look into the nuclear issue in the aspect of the peace and stability in North East Asia, and to create a nuclear-free world, all the world beyond the national boundaries should work together.

On March 26, Nuclear Security Summit is timely held in Seoul. Nuclear security can not be achieved simply by the non-proliferation and reduction of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons should be completely eliminated, and nuclear energy dependence policy should be totally changed. Unfortunately, it is very hard to find any trace that there is such recognition in Nuclear Security Summit.

Therefore, it is very meaningful that North East Asian women, who vividly experienced the dreadful nuclear accident and still do, urge Nuclear Security Summit to prepare the vision of 'a nuclear-free world'. I expect that the Peace Conference participants have a profound discussion and prepare the common requirements of North East Asian women, which will be proposed to Nuclear Security Summit. Along with that, I hope that this conference develops into a framework of international solidarity to create a nuclear-free world, going beyond serving as a venue to share experiences about anti-nuclear movements of women that have been performed in the national dimension. I am really grateful to you coming from home and abroad for participating into this conference. I wish the success of the Peace Conference.

Thank you.