Open letter to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defence
Kiwis Can Do it.
Yesterday a group of five Kiwis rode their motorbikes across the DMZ from North Korea to South Korea. They are on a ride
from the top of North Korea to the bottom of South Korea. Significantly they have named their venture “One Country – Two
Peoples.”
They are having fun. They are also making a statement - specifically that it is a stupidity and a grotesque human
tragedy that the Korean people have been divided at the 38th parallel for the past 60 years.
The NZ DPRK Society congratulates Gareth Morgan, Jo Morgan, Dave Wallace, Tony Armstrong and Brendan Keogh on their
historic crossing of the 38th parallel thereby symbolising the peace and unity which should exist on the Korean
Peninsula.
The common assumption is that the DMZ can not be crossed. Since 1953 very few people have done so. It is not easy and it
is fraught with risk. The last civilian who tried to do so is now in prison. But a bunch of can-do common sense Kiwis
have proved that it can be done.
The North and South Korean governments are united in their desire for peace – that is why they agreed to let our Kiwis
ride across the DMZ.
Sixty years of untold unhappiness, split families and human tragedy are enough. It is time to end the nonsense.
The NZ DPRK Society challenge the NZ Government to follow the lead of Kiwi civil society, to tread where others have
feared to tread, and show that this nation is committed to peace in North East Asia.
We call on the NZ Government to initiate what the world’s most powerful nations and the United Nations seem unable to
achieve, through the convening of a Political Peace Conference as called for in Clause 60 of the Korean War Armistice
Agreement, a conference which has never been consummated. The Conference to be attended by all countries from both sides
who took part by fighting and supporting the Korean War.
Kiwis can do it. Yes they can!
NZ DPRK Society
sites.google.com/site/nzdprksociety/