Jonathan Lee to hold ‘peace walk’ next month

Children and adolescents from about 10 countries will take part in a “peace walk” near Panmunjom, the truce village in the Demilitarized Zone, next month. 

Yonhap news agency reported Thursday, quoting Lee Kyung-tae, father of Jonathan Lee, a 15-year-old Korean American environmentalist from Washington, that the International Cooperation of Environmental Youth, founded by his son, would hold the Peace Walk and other events near the DMZ on March 21.

The events are intended to appeal for peace on the Korean Peninsula and urge South and North Korea to push for children exchange programs.

About 200 children and teenagers from Korea, Germany and Australia and families of foreign diplomats in Korea are expected to participate in the walk.

They also will designate March 21 as “World Children’s Peace Day” and urge the creation of the Children’s Peace Forest near the DMZ.

The participants will march from Imjingak to Peace Bridge in Paju and look around Panmunjom and Dorasan Observatory.

According to Lee, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou recently sent Jonathan a letter in which he sympathized with the situation on the Korean Peninsula, citing the division between China and Taiwan.

He said that Jonathan Lee had sent an invitation to North Korea through the permanent mission to the U.N. of North Korea in New York, but he had not received a reply yet.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)