Merkel named this year's Seoul Peace Prize winner

Peace Prize for her repeated, heartfelt apologies for Germany's past war atrocities, the prize's judging committee said Wednesday.

"The 12th Seoul Peace Prize goes to German Chancellor Angela Merkel," Lee Chul-seung, the chairman of the judging committee said in a press conference.

"Her apology over Germany's past affairs has reminded the international community of the importance of human dignity and human rights, and this again set off an alarm about the harmful consequences of war and highlighted the importance of international peace."

The biennial award was launched in 1990 to celebrate South Korea's successful hosting of the 24th Summer Olympic Games two years earlier.

Previous awardees include former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, the international poverty eradication organization Oxfam, Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, who founded microcredit lender Grameen Bank, and Ban Ki-moon, the current secretary-general of the U.N.

Since coming to power in 2005, Merkel has officially apologized for Germany's historical wrongdoings including the Holocaust on international stages. She made official apologies in a U.N. general meeting in 2007 and in a speech to the Israeli parliament the next year.

She also visited a former Nazi concentration camp last year to express Germany's repentance before voicing the same in a speech given at a Chinese university earlier this year.

The judges also hailed the female chancellor's role in containing the economic crisis in Europe, saying that "With Merkel's leadership, the economic crisis, which could have spread to the entire world, was contained to some degree and this greatly contributed to improving the welfare of humanity."

Her role in fighting terrorism around the world was also considered, according to the committee.

The awarding ceremony for Merkel will be held in Seoul when she visits the country in the future with the prize money of US$200,000 going to the awardee, although she has no known plan to come to South Korea yet. (Yonhap)