제주평화연구원

  [caption id="" align="alignright" width="150"] Yi Sin-seon
Secretary General, Seogwipo YWCA[/caption]

“Peace” is an abstract word, but it is also a universally familiar word. There resonates in the heart of every human being an inborn desire for peace. It is not easy, however, to explain a notion so abstract and then to subsequently gain the right path to peace. For that reason, one must begin, as the first step of a noble journey, with a contemplation on the meaning of peace.

“Pyeonghwa” (peace) is composed of two characters, pyeong (平), which means scale, and hwa (和), meaning harmony. Pyeong implies fairness in its symbol of a balanced scale. It is difficult to maintain peace without fairness. Furthermore, the character hwa (和), comprised of 禾, referring to the rice plant, and 口, referring to the mouth, means sharing wealth with others. Therefore, the underlying meaning of peace (pyeonghwa) lies in coexistence through sharing. The value of peace is not duly recognized, like the water or the air, even though it is a rudimentary object. Hence peace should be taught so that people may learn its correct meaning and practice peace, based on a deep appreciation of its meaning in daily life as well as its broad and narrow imports. Peace education, administered by schools or at educational sites, serves as a solid basis upon which people recognize the meaning of peace, experience peace, share examples of peace, and practice peace in their daily lives. The Seogwipo YWCA, established in 1992 to such aspirations, inaugurated peace education and the peace movement by selecting the “peace and sharing” campaign as its major project in its general assembly that year. In 2001, the Seogwipo YWCA began a program to better understand North Korea with great hopes of Korean reunification, while continuing its peace movement to assist the North Korean people and refugees from the North, to supply powdered milk to the North and to re-establish the YWCA in the North. It also remains active in peace education by visiting every school in Seogwipo and offering the national unification class for mothers, young people, and adults. In particular, peace education has provided opportunities for young people to help each other learn about North Korea through student club activities such as the Unification Golden Bell (Tongil goldeun bel) event, organized by a club called Y-Teen. In addition to club activities, schools have implemented their own unification education programs. Meanwhile, for the field study of peace, being complementary to its theoretical teachings, Seogwipo YWCA is operating the Peace Academy for Youths (Young People) at the International Peace Institute Jeju. At the Academy, doctorate researchers not only conduct lectures on peace, but also administer field studies to the satisfaction of the students and schools that have joined the program. The Peace Academy program for students and adults, an annual event since 2013, offers monthly lectures about peace and has drawn the keen interest of the Jeju islanders. It has also organized field trips for students of the Academy to the peace sites on Jeju Island and Nagasaki, Japan. With the practical education programs, the Academy has helped the islanders to internalize and practice peace. In particular, the Academy has organized lectures by refugees from North Korea and arranged meetings with experts on North Korea to help the students understand the current affairs of North Korea and the Korean peninsula, as well as their surrounding international and regional conflicts. With its diversity of programs, the Academy has succeeded in drawing a wide range of audiences for its lectures. Along with the peace education, the Seogwipo YWCA started a humanitarian movement to send powdered milk to North Korea since 1996 to aid and relieve the children suffering from hunger and poverty. With donations collected from 1997 to 1998, it delivered 25 tons of powdered milk to the North and continued donations of undergarments, medicines, rice noodles, stationery supplies, and tangerines, besides. As highlighted above, the Seogwipo YWCA is engaged in the humanitarian peace movement on the one hand and peace education to bring about change in the local community on the other. It is also involved in the organization of peace concerts, peace camps and other cultural events, including one at which to experience North Korean food, to help better understand the cultural differences between the two Koreas. The Jeju islanders, in turn, transform their living space into a school, as it were, to promote peace by exchanging and disseminating what they have learned from the peace programs. The continued peace education and the practice of sharing in their daily lives are expected to enhance the value of this island of peace.