Foreign News
90-year-old Korean War veteran tasks world leaders on peace
A 90-year-old Korean War veteran, Man Hee Lee has called on world leaders to be committed to achieving peace 100 per cent.
Man, the Chairman of Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), an International Non-Governmental Oraganisation (NGO), said this in his remarks at the pre-commemoration event organised by HWPL New York branch.
The event was organised in New York ahead of the 9th Anniversary of the September 18th World Peace Summit in Seoul, South Korea to commemorate the 2014 HWPL World Peace Summit.
The Peace Summit is aimed at examining key achievements of the agreements signed in 2014 and to establish future plans.
Man, who spoke virtually said he was optimistic that the world could be united in peace, saying “I believe that it is possible, and it can be done, nothing is impossible.”
“But I believe that even now, we should stop thinking of any benefits but start working towards peace and the cessation of war and the HWPL has to be in the forefront.
“It is not hard to do; first from the families, second from the schools and then from society. If we want peace, it will be achieved.
“I am certain that peace can be achieved by everyone. I hope that you will remember that we have sent messages across the globe for peace and cessation of war.’’
“But we need to achieve peace 100 per cent as we weren’t close, we should be working to toward that,’’ he said.
Man recalled how he fought the Korean war and how he had been advocating for peace by drawing the attention of global leaders to peace by hosting the World Peace Summit.
HWPL hosted the September 18th HWPL World Peace Summit in 2014 with leaders in politics, religion, women’s groups, youth groups, and the media in attendance.
HWPL and leaders of various sectors convened to discuss conflict resolution, establishing peace, and mutual cooperation and signed landmark agreements on building and implementing solid systems for cooperation.
The agreements covered implementing legal instruments to ensure peace, building religious harmony, and creating peace activities by state actors and citizens, respectively.
Such agreements became the basis of further discussions that have taken place every year on 18 September as the signing entities continue their exchange on peace strategies.
Also, the Agreement to Propose the Enactment of International Law for the Cessation of Wars and World Peace, signed during the 2014 conference, led to the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (hereinafter the DPCW).
DPCW reaffirms the major international conventions for peace, sets out methods for resolving modernised conflicts, and emphasizes the role of nation-states and civil society for achieving peace followed by a citizen-led global campaign, among others.
According to him, HWPL was established with a purpose for the cessation of war and for world peace and that the goal must be achieved.
“We shouldn’t just establish an organisation and achieve nothing. So, for the purpose we need to do what we have to do.
“If we do it, we can achieve it. I had fought in the frontlines of the Korean War, which was a tragic civil war, where brothers had pointed guns at one another and why did we have to fight?”
Lee said Korea was under suppression and going through a hard time and why did we even have to go through this civil war, emphasising that it should not have happened in the first instance.
He called on the leaders to make the right choice and opt for the edification of the Korean Peninsula.
“All the leaders of the North and South should protect the country and the people.
“I didn’t order to do so. The reunification of the North and South needs to happen. Do you not agree everyone? It needs to happen. Why should brothers kill each other and be at war like this?
“We proclaimed the declaration of world peace, and that effort has continued until today afterwards.
“So, from families to schools, I’ve said that we needed to teach peace and that whether they are young children or seniors, everyone needs to be called messengers of peace,’’ Lee said.
Earlier, the Administrative Manager of HWPL New York Branch, Ms Amanda Dixon presented the progress and achievement of the branch and Imam Muhammad Shahidullah also spoke on the role of the media in promoting peace.
NAN reports that the event featured chanting of Peace letters and DPCW by the volunteers and participants.
Brad Smith, the president of technology giant Microsoft has issued a stark warning regarding foreign attempts to influence the U.S. presidential election in November.
“The most perilous moment will come, I think, 48 hours before the election,” Smith told a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday.
“That’s the lesson to be learned from, say, the Slovakian election last fall,” he added.
Smith said two days ahead of the parliamentary election vote in the European country “a Russian group” released and pushed, including by amplifying the story with a top Russian official, a deep fake audio purporting to reveal a vote-stealing plot.
“The Russian government is very capable, very sophisticated, not just in technology but in social science,” Smith said.
The Microsoft boss stressed that “there are real and serious threats,” including in the upcoming U.S. presidential election set to take place on Nov. 5.
The race for the White House may be between Republican candidate Donald Trump and the Democrats’ Kamala Harris, “but this is also becoming an election of Iran versus Trump and Russia versus Harris,” the Microsoft boss said.
“It is an election where Russia, Iran, and China are united with the common interest in discrediting democracy in the eyes of our voters,” Smith warned.
Just a few days ago, U.S. authorities exposed a Russian-sponsored campaign that deployed right-wing influencers.
Accounts masquerading as the websites of news outlets like conservative channel Fox News and newspaper The Washington Post posted fake stories.
On Wednesday, a Russian group published a video of Harris, manipulated with the help of artificial intelligence, in which words were put into her mouth that she never said, said Smith.
The administration in Washington has accused Russia of interfering in the U.S. presidential election campaign.
Similar accusations had been made in previous elections.
Smith testified alongside Meta’s Nick Clegg and Kent Walker, president and chief legal officer for Google’s Alphabet. (dpa/NAN)
Six staff members with the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees (UNRWA) were killed in Gaza on Wednesday when two Israeli airstrikes hit a school-turned-shelter and its surroundings.“This is the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident,” UNRWA said in a post on the social media platform, X.
At least 34 people were killed in the strikes, according to media reports. UNRWA said the shelter manager and other team members were among the victims. UN Secretary-General António Guterres deplored the bloodshed.“What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable,” he wrote on X.“These dramatic violations of international humanitarian law need to stop now.”The UNRWA school in Nuseirat, located in the Middle Area of the Gaza Strip, was sheltering around 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children.This marked the fifth time that it had been hit since the conflict began 11 months ago.Earlier on Wednesday the UN said the site had been previously deconflicted with the Israeli forces.UNRWA called on all parties to the conflict to never use schools or the areas around them for military or fighting purposes.“No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared. Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target,” the tweet said.UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini lamented the “endless and senseless killing, day after day” in Gaza.Writing on X, he said at least 220 agency staff have lost their lives since the war began.“Humanitarian staff, premises and operations have been blatantly and unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war,” he said.He warned that “the longer impunity prevails, the more international humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions will become irrelevant.”In a related development, the UN reported that health workers continue efforts to vaccinate young children in northern Gaza against polio, part of a wider campaign to defeat the disease, which can cause paralysis.More than 81,600 boys and girls were vaccinated as of Tuesday, according to preliminary data from the World Health Organisation (WHO).Polio was detected in Gaza in June and UN agencies and partners launched a two-round campaign this month to provide over 640,000 children with two doses of novel oral polio vaccine type 2.So far, nearly 528,000 children have been reached in the first round. (NAN)
An Israeli drone on Tuesday fired several missiles at a flat in a five-story building in the market town of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.Eight people were injured, according to an initial toll announced by the Lebanese Health Ministry.It was not immediately clear whether there were any Hezbollah members were in the targeted building.
Earlier, an Israeli drone assassinated a Hezbollah fighter riding a motorbike on the Bab Mareaa-Saghbine road in Western Bekaa and wounded two passersby. Hezbollah said that one of its fighters, Mohammad Qassem al-Shaer, was killed but did not specify where and when he was killed.The Israeli army confirmed it “struck and eliminated” the terrorist Mohammad Qassem al-Shaer, who served as a Hezbollah Radwan Force commander, in the area of Qaraoun,It added that the Israeli artillery struck the areas of Sawaneh and Aita al-Shaab.Since the war began between Israel and the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas in Gaza last October, there have been clashes between the Israeli army and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in Lebanon in the border area.There have been casualties on both sides, most of them members of Hezbollah, which says it is acting in solidarity with Hamas. (dpa/NAN)
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