Together for Peace

A three-day peace summit to discuss the implementation of peacebuilding projects at local and national levels was held September 17th-19th in Seoul, South Korea. Nearly 1000 representatives of governments and nongovernmental organizations, international law practitioners, education officials, and journalists from approximately 120 countries attended the summit.

The summit was hosted by Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), an international NGO that advocates for world peace. The summit was an opportunity for participants to exchange views, share experiences and come up with measures to strengthen collaboration among governments, civil society, and international organizations to achieve peace.

The summit was topped with a global peace festival at a sports complex outside Seoul, South Korea, attended by over 200,000 people, while similar events were held in about 30 different cities across the globe.

The festival featured cultural shows, parades and massive "Human LCD" shows simulating recent wars and the death and destruction these wars caused.

More than 90 journalists and communications experts from about 50 countries also attended the summit. The "Conference for Global Peace Media Network" was an opportunity for the media representatives to exchange views and discuss ways to encourage more active role of journalists in spreading the culture of peace.

Regional discussion among representatives from various regions of the world, including Afghanistan, were held on the sides of the summit to plan peace projects benefitting local environments. The projects included peace education and cultural programs, activating ‘Legislate Peace’ campaigns, establishing peace networks, Peace Walks and setting up a road-map for those activities for the coming years.

The colorful parade and performances was aimed to raise awareness about the importance of peace. The card performance by thousands of volunteers was one of most inspirational parts showing how a peaceful world can be achieved with global cooperation.

Thousands of young and passionate volunteers took time off from their jobs and other responsibilities to help with the summit. 32-year-old Taylor Lee is a full time English teacher in the southern city of Busan, while his friend, 30-year-old John Park is a manager with a car manufacturing company. Both took a week off from their work so they can be protocol officers with the visiting delegates from Afghanistan. For Taylor and John, this was their opportunity to meet new people from different cultures and contribute to world peace by helping with the management of the peace summit.

The Summit and the Peace Festival ended with a commitment by the participants to join hands together and work for world peace and promote the culture of peace in their countries.

Peace Festival video