Asia

High school students of St. Paul College of Pasig City form and document human peace and nonviolence signs as part of their preparation to the World March for Peace and Nonviolence. This is an anticipation of the “Million Human Signs for Peace” campaign which officially starts on September 21 (International Day of Peace) promoted by Genevieve Kupang.

US military commanders have said that they need more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. Last week, President Obama defended the expansion of the war, calling it a “war of necessity.” We speak with Harvard professor Stephen Walt, who argues that the President’s “safe haven” argument for expanding the US military presence in Afghanistan should be viewed with skepticism.

Throngs of South Koreans bid farewell to former President Kim Dae-jung. The former president, who died last Tuesday, was 85 years of age. He was interred today, Sunday. Some 24,000 people were present at his burial. The North Korean delegation that attended his funeral visited South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, delivering a message from the President of North Korea.

A North Korean diplomatic delegation has told New Mexico’s state governor Bill Richardson that Pyongyang wants bilateral talks with the United States about its nuclear programme. Pyongyang seems to have adopted a more moderate course recently: Two US journalists were released and North Korea is sending a delegation to the funeral of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung.

In a late but important recognition, the government of North Korea announced its intention to participate in Kim Dae-Jung´s funerals. President Kim, was the first South Korean President to actively seek reconciliation with the North. He made enormous progress in the relations with North Korea, which he visited in 2000 and held an historic meeting with its leader Kim Jong-il.

Remembering the 64th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb, services in solemn tribute to war victims was conducted at the Soka Gakkai Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the memorial service in Hiroshima, the Soka Gakkai Women’s Peace Committee (WPC) held a meeting where hibakusha (bomb survivor) shared their experiences at the end of the Second War.

The election campaigns in Afghanistan have ended with mass rallies by a number of presidential candidates. Actual President Hamid Karzai and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah lead the polls. To gain support of the Ayatollahs and Uzbek voters, Karzai approved a law against women’s right to refuse sexual demand of husbands and allowed the return of Abdul Rashid Dostum.

President of South Korea from 1998 to 2003, and the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. He has been called the “Nelson Mandela of Asia” for his long-standing opposition to authoritarian rule. When he was President of South Korea, he risked the so called “Sunshine Policy” with North Korea’s Kim Jon-il in 2000, in an attempt to bring peace to the Korean peninsula.

The new president of the Moluccan government-in-exile says an independent Moluccan state is no longer its absolute priority. In an interview with the Nederlands Dagblad, John Wattilete says he is prepared to place the future of the islands in the hands of the people and if they no longer wish to fight for independence from Indonesia then “he would accept the consequences”.

North Korea’s KCNA state press agency says the border has been re-opened for family visits from South Korea. The move is an important gesture at a time of rising tension between the two countries. North Korea has also announced that the whole country is on high alert because of joint military exercises taking place between the United States and South Korea.