The 10th Inter-Provincial Meeting of JPIC Commissions, Korea and Japan

The annual joint meeting of the Korean and Japanese JPIC commissions was held from May 14^th to 17^th, 2018 in Seoul. The theme was “Pilgrimage of Peace.” Along with the two JPIC animators (Br. Peter Abe from the Japanese Province, Br. Aloysio Kim from the Korean Province), eight members of the JPIC commissions participated in the program. The participants attended the street mass for the peace treaty in the Korean peninsula and the “Wednesday protest” for the comfort women (the victims of the Japanese war crimes) and visited the museum of war and women. Later, they had a special session with a Japanese expert on the issue of the comfort women. It helped them have better understanding on the history and the role of religious communities regarding the human rights issues. The brothers opened up and shared their opinions on the past tragic history between two countries. The participants came to realize there had been continuous false propagandas of the Japanese government on the history and war crimes. The session helped them understand each other.

After presenting the reports by each commission, the participants talked much about the future plans. Since it’s been already 9 years so far, there was a strong need of more concrete action plan in common. The next meeting will be on May 8 – 10, 2019, in Tokyo.