No Gun Ri Peace Park, Korea –
Early in the Korean War, in July 1950, hundreds of innocent civilians were killed in the village of No Gun Ri by bombings of the US Air Force and by machine-gun fire and rifle shots by a US army unit. The survivors’ campaign for revealing the truth and obtaining an apology was brought to a successful conclusion 50 years later. With the assistance of the Korean government, the No Gun Ri Peace Park was established with a peace memorial (museum), memorial tower, visitors’ centre, sculpture park, education building, and other facilities and visitor attractions.
The work of the Foundation had been presented at the INMP conference in Barcelona by its chairman, Dr. Chung Koo-do, who expressed the wish to host the next conference. It was held in September 2014 at the No Gun Ri Peace Park with participants from 35 countries, and with the financial support of both the national and regional government. The main preoccupations of the hosting organisation were reflected in the conference theme, ‘The role of museums for peace in preventing war and promoting remembrance, historical truth and reconciliation’.
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At the start of the conference participants received a hefty volume containing the papers scheduled to be delivered, edited by Dr. Chung and Ms Hyeyeon Kim, the conference co-organiser. Later the same year the Foundation published an impressive 450-page volume entitled A collection of best conference papers (pictured, left) edited by INMP board members Roy Tamashiro and Kazuyo Yamane.
On the last day, conference participants travelled to Imjingak at the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), where they were invited by the Foundation to issue a peace declaration.
INMP had been greatly honoured when it received the 6th Peace Prize (Human Rights section) of the Foundation in December 2013. This was the result of a submission by INMP board member Clive Barrett which detailed the many ways in which the network was contributing towards the creation of a global culture of peace and human rights. Professor Ikuro Anzai had been awarded the 4th Peace Prize two years earlier.
Related documents:
20140919 8th INMP Conference – Papers (PDF, 32MB)
