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’.

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 6^th 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 4^th Peace Prize two years earlier.

Related documents:

20140919 8th INMP Conference – Papers (PDF, 32MB)

The work further developed into the Peace Mask East Asia project. During a one-year period (starting September 2014), one thousand Peace Masks were to be made of youth in China, Korea, and Japan – 333 in each country.

The first Peace Mask East Asia workshop and exhibition took place at the 8th INMP Conference in 2014, at the No Gun Ri Peace Museum in Korea.

Peace Mask East Asia was born out of a need for community-led initiatives for peace between the people of Korea, Japan, and China, at a time when tensions are rising in the region. The causes of these tensions are multi-faceted and complex, with division threatening to take precedence over great commonalities. The goal of this project is to celebrate our commonalities and transform these tensions through the actions of individuals, families and communities, thus paving a new road for future generations. Believing in creativity and vision, the Peace Mask East Asia project centres on empowering youth from the three countries to become peacebuilders of the future.

Collaboration on the new Hiroshima~Nagasaki (Hibakusha) Peace Mask Project began in late 2015. Completion of phase one of the project, the creation of 100 Hibakusha Peace Masks, was celebrated in Hiroshima in March 2017.

Source:

Peace Mask Project – www.peacemask.org

The Windows for Peace project is a collaborative initiative between the Peace Museum Vienna, located at Blutgasse 3 in the 1st District, and surrounding local businesses, churches and organizations in Vienna. The project utilizes windows in the city centre to showcase influential figures throughout history who have devoted their life and career to peace and tolerance.

The exhibition highlights such figures as Vienna’s own Bertha von Suttner, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, among 150 others. This is the first project in the world to exhibit peace heroes in windows, available to everyone. The exhibit opened on 17 June 2014.

Peace Museum Vienna attempts to conduct peace education through the lives of its Peace Heroes. The museum organises activities such as peace talks, a peace kitchen and peace heroes walks.

Source and related links:

Peace Museum Vienna – www.peacemuseumvienna.com

Atlas Obscura – Windows for Peace

The first day of spring, 21 March 2014, saw the launch of outreach activities for the EU-financed Discover Peace project, in which the INMP is actively involved. The project is to design peace trails, with information about historical and contemporary peace sites, in seven European cities: Budapest, Manchester, Paris, The Hague, Torino, Vienna and Berlin.

On this day, Peace Wish Trees were inaugurated in each of the seven cities, inspired by Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace Tree. In The Hague, the Carnegie Foundation sponsored the event by donating a young dogwood tree and offering a permanent place for the Peace Wish Tree at the entrance of the Peace Palace. During the opening ceremony, Carnegie Foundation Director Steven van Hoogstraten gave a welcoming speech, and the Peace Carillon played seven well chosen songs. Invited guests and passersby were asked to write a peace wish on weatherproof paper and to hang them in the special tree.

For the Discover Peace project, INMP designed Peace Trail The Hague with the assistance of peace historian Marten van Harten. After the Peace Wish Tree ceremony, several people participated in the inaugural walking of a section of the peace trail, from the Peace Palace to Humanity House, where they received free entrance to see the current exhibition.

On 20 September, the Saturday of the Just Peace weekend in The Hague, the INMP presented the Peace Trail The Hague pocket guide, in both Dutch and English. The book describes 15 historical places connected with the Hague tradition of peace and international justice. The first issues of the guide were ceremonially presented to two museums which are part of the trail: Yi Jun Peace Museum and Humanity House, and also to Tim Akkerman, the 2014 Peace Ambassador.

Sources and related links:

Discover Peace in Europe – www.discoverpeace.eu

INMP Discover Peace – www.museumsforpeace.org/projects/discover-peace.html