hankyoreh

Moon Chung-in, the chairman of the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture, speaks with Dan Smith, the director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, following Smith’s keynote presentation via videoconference at the 2023 Hankyoreh-Busan International Symposium on Oct. 25. (Shin So-young/The Hankyoreh)

The 19th Hankyoreh-Busan International Symposium, an event co-organized by the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture and Busan Metropolitan City on the theme of “Global Arms Race and Climate Crisis: Asking the Way to Life and Peace,” kicked off its two-day schedule Wednesday at the Nurimaru APEC House in Busan’s Haeundae District.

In response to arms races and armed conflicts that have reached an even more intense level than the peak of the Cold War and a climate crisis that is setting new records each day amid the accelerating destruction of ecosystems, the participants unanimously called for cooperation and solidarity toward opening up a sustainable path for peace and the climate environment, deeming this “the greatest gift we can give future generations.”

Dan Smith, the director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), delivered a keynote speech in which he noted that the “twin crises of nature and security” are “add[ing] up to a planetary emergency” and stressed the need to replace the current vicious cycle with a “virtuous cycle.”

In a speech and talk delivered via videoconference and lasting just over an hour, Smith observed that the connection between the two crises is most clearly shown by the way that the climate crisis can lead to violent conflict while armed conflict can damage the natural environment.

“We need to replace [this state of affairs] with a virtuous cycle, reflecting the reality that for a peaceful world we need a sustainable natural environment, and for a sustainable environment, we need peace and cooperation,” he said.

“When the foundations [the natural environment] are weak, the building [security and peace] is in danger of crumbling,” he warned, stressing that “politics and international relations, including security policy, must henceforth be conceptualized in relation to nature.”

“The key element of security is cooperation,” he said.

In an opening address, Moon Chung-in, the chairperson of the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture, said, “The arms race that is taking place around the world is becoming more intense, far surpassing the 1980s, when the Cold War was at its peak.”

“To make matters worse, climate change, which is swiftly moving from crisis to disaster, is emerging as a major cause of international conflict,” he continued.

“The purpose of this symposium is to face this vicious cycle head-on and find the strength and wisdom to break it,” he said.

Ahn Byung-yoon, Busan’s vice mayor for administrative affairs, said the current moment “urgently demands that we find a ‘virtuous cycle’ solution to intensifying global crises with the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the arms race that has been accelerating amid the new cold war.”

Park Jung-muk, the vice chairperson of the Busan Metropolitan Council, warned, “If we can’t stop the wars and arms races and get the world to join forces once again, the planet will suffer due to larger carbon emissions and any solution to the climate crisis will end up being deferred.”

“Since 2005, this symposium has been exploring avenues for peace and shared prosperity, and I look forward to seeing pathways examined here for international cooperation,” he said.

Hankyoreh Media Group CEO Choi Woo-seong said, “I sincerely hope that we can harness the wisdom and insight to break the vicious cycles of the global arms race and climate crisis.”

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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