Fr. Peter Duck Hee NamDirector of The Peace & Unity Center These days, the "peace clock" is turning backwards. Until recently, wartime crises on the Korean Peninsula have tended to build up to a point of intersection with a peace initiative, but our current reality is edging more and more extreme. At a time of escalating crisis, our longing for peace is growing. Pope Francis’ 2018 New Year’s card pictured a child victim of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki The result of war couldn’t be more clear: it leaves nothing but rubble and ruin. One photograph that clearly portrays this reality is the picture that Pope Francis chose five years ago for his greeting card on the World Day of Peace, New Year’s Day. On one side of the card, a photo shows a young boy, standing in the rubble of the destroyed city of Nagasaki, after the atomic bombing. He stands, waiting, in front of a crematorium. On the little boy’s back is his younger sibling, head hanging lifelessly. The boy's face is hardened, without a trace of tears. The photo depicts a moment when everything has stopped, and nothing can be done in the face of death. On the card, Pope Francis wrote, “il frutto della guerra” (“the fruit of war”). War leaves only suffering and death. In April, I made a peace pilgrimage to Japan, organized by the Committee for the Reconciliation for the Korean People (CRKP). We visited Shimonoseki and Hiroshima, cities where the pain of war still lingers. Although they now appear to be serene and vibrant cities, we cannot erase all traces of the war. Even though the memories are painful, the very act of remembering allows seeds of peace to bloom there again. Hiroshima’s Genbaku (Atomic Bomb) Dome Hiroshima’s Genbaku Dome, the only building that survived the atomic bombing, has become both a symbol of war and a symbol for those who seek peace. Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park is located not far from this building, memorializing those who died in the war. We were able to visit a monument particularly remembering Korean victims of Hiroshima’s atomic bombing. We took time to remember the many unidentified victims, pitiful souls who disappeared without a trace in a foreign land, and we prayed for peace. Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park - Monument memorializing Korean victims of the Atomic Bomb The nearby Peace Memorial Museum has photographic exhibits and archives revealing the horrors of the atomic bomb. It was extremely disconcerting to reflect on those terrible scenes. I looked back on that moment when peace disappeared, imagining it as if it were today. On that day only a heap of stones remained. I remembered how the clock stopped—frozen like death—at 8:15 am. I prayed, instead, that time could stop in an era of peace. Another place we visited on our pilgrimage was the site of the Chosei Coal Mine disaster in the city of Ube. There, during the war, more than a thousand Koreans were mobilized to mine coal for the Japanese. In this place, nearly 130 Koreans were drowned in an instant when seawater submerged a mineshaft under the sea floor, one kilometer offshore. All that remains are two ventilation pipes in the sea. Not one of the victims’ remains were recovered. All we could do at this site was to lay some chrysanthemum flowers in the water, floating them out to sea in memory of the lives lost. Memorial to the Chosei Coal Mine Disaster in Ube We pilgrims also offered a mass for peace at the Memorial Cathedral of World Peace in Hiroshima, with the bishop of the diocese. The bishop began his message with a greeting and proceeded to make a sincere apology for Japan's past actions toward the Korean people. Reflecting on the past and making a sincere apology is the beginning of the journey of forgiveness and reconciliation. This is how we can approach our desired end of peace. Shutting our eyes to the consequences of war does not bring peace. Peace is not achieved simply by clearing away rubble from an atomic bombing and rebuilding a city with new buildings. Peace is achieved when our hearts and our world are so filled with the fruit of peace that war never breaks out again. Now, let us pray that we all live as messengers of true peace, apostles whose lives bear the "fruit of peace" (il frutto della pace) rather than the "fruit of war" (il frutto della guerra). Group photo with the bishop of Hiroshima