I would like to express my deep gratitude to all the sisters who traveled far distances to participate in the Korean Peninsula Peace Conference as well as the participants who took time out of their busy October schedules to attend this event. I would also like to convey my appreciation to Ms. Choi Young-hee, the Chairwoman of the Gender Equality and Family Committee in the National Assembly, for readily agreeing to give the congratulatory address and for the dinner banquet and to Ms. Hee-young Paik, the Minister of Gender Equality and Family and Hyoung Cho, Chairperson of the Korea Foundation for Women.

     The Northeast Asian Women’s Conference celebrates its third annual conference this year. In 2007, we made known our plans to pursue a women’s Six-Party Talks and in order to receive approval, we visited Russia, Japan, the US and China and met North Korean sisters. Subsequently, in September of 2008, women leaders from five countries met in Seoul and opened the 1st Northeast Asian Women’s Peace Conference. And again in October of 2009 at The George Washington University, in collaboration with the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, opened the 2nd Northeast Asian Women’s Peace Conference, followed by a strategy meeting where we composed a statement elucidating our position and finished by delivering this statement to the US Congress and Department of State. Through these activities, we are proud to have arranged an international women’s conference with the agenda of promoting peace in Northeast Asia and for our role in illuminating the importance of women’s participation in realizing peace in this region.

Additionally, we believe that through the annual opening of this conference, the potential to create and maintain a cooperative network between peace and women’s movement organizations in the US, Japan and China was made available. I firmly deem that international concern and mutual cooperation is exceedingly important n achieving peace in Northeast Asia and attaining solidarity among women will be a starting point towards this future. I believe that our awareness of these issues at hand will undoubtedly play a part in carrying out our meetings and our activities, in whatever form it may be.

     This year, particularly, we have been given a great honor to have the women’s representative from Ireland attend this conferenceto deliver the message of a historical experience of achieving peace by overcoming deeply entrenched conflicts and antagonism through a fifteen-party conference. We were given a pricelessopportunity to hear of the role women played in the process of attaining this peace. And unfortunately, while we are missingparticipants from women in North, we look forward to a future when they will one day, be able to join us.

      While three annual conferences have passed, the opening of each Northeast Asian Women’s Peace Conference was not an easy task for us. Firstly, the past two years in Northeast Asia, including the Korean peninsula, military tensions have been exceedingly high with inter-Korean relations deteriorating to the worst possible state. In an insecure situation as this, our frustrationlies as an obstacle from discovering a breakthrough for a peace regime. Moreover, securing finances to open the conference was also quite difficult. A consensus of the need for international solidarity was also not very high. Nevertheless, we must thank the KoreaFoundation for Women, the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung Foundation, and GPPAC for their financial support which made this 3rd annual conference possible. Additionally, we must recognize activists from the Women Making Peace, the Korean Women’s Association United, and the Korean Council of Reconciliation and Cooperation for their passion and devotion with which we could not have opened this conference without.

     At this conference today, we, as leaders for peace-building, must shake off our anxieties and speak out. We must seek out a solution and we must find even the smallest task which will contribute in realizing our goal for peace. As long as we come together as one in our pursuit, peace will not be a distant dream but a reality. Cutting across national borders, we must become one as women and go forth towards building peace.

                                                                                      October 5, 2010
                                          Organizing Committee of the Northeast Asian Women’s Peace Conference
                                                            Co-Chairpersons, Sun-jong Lee & Hyun-back Chun