Mark Durkan, Hume Foundation board member, and Tim Attwood, Hume Foundation Secretary, met with the Republic of Korea Delegation, led by Chung Dong-young, the Minister for Unification. He was briefed on the Peace Process and the Good Friday Agreement. He visited the Peace Prizes in the Guildhall and then paid his respects at the graveside of John Hume.
Minister Chung Dong-young said: “ Yesterday afternoon, in poor weather, I visited the grave of John Hume, the man of peace, in the city cemetery on a hill overlooking Derry. I laid a bouquet of chrysanthemums and paid my respects. Along with my respect for a great statesman who realised the ideal of peace amid the harsh storms of history, I reflected deeply on our efforts and aspirations for peace and coexistence on the Korean Peninsula.
The philosophy of John Hume, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, who led the way to the 1998 Belfast Agreement and received the Nobel Peace Prize, offers painful lessons for the reality of the Korean Peninsula. Amid fierce criticism and political backlash, he never wavered in his conviction: “Peace is made with enemies. There is no need to negotiate peace with friends or colleagues. Even with extremist forces bearing arms, the task of a politician is to enable them to lay down their guns and return to dialogue. To stop the bloodshed, we must talk with our enemies.”
Through his actions, John Hume proved that politics must not become “a fight of waving flags”, and that the true power of politics lies in transforming hatred and violence into “mutual respect and institutional coexistence”. With his whole being, he showed that only the patience and courage to confront fear and hatred head on, rather than taking the easy path of exploiting them, will ultimately bring forth peace. In the course of history, he put into practice the belief that a politician’s duty is “to save future generations”. I believe that John Hume’s political philosophy is precisely the virtue most urgently needed by politicians in a divided Republic of Korea.
The blood-soaked wind that once blew across the barley fields of Ireland has now become a wind of peace. Yet in our own barley fields, a sorrowful wind has still not ceased.
As the great poet Yeats wrote, perhaps peace comes dropping slow. Here in Northern Ireland, a land that has turned the tragedies of the past into the hope of today, I renew my resolve to end the long war on the Korean Peninsula and build a lasting peace regime. For this is the only path, and the fastest one, by which our young people in the prime of their lives will no longer be sacrificed and can stride confidently beyond the DMZ towards the continent.”