By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Theresia Kurniawan from Indonesia
Photos = Theresia Kurniawan

On Aug. 5, my friends and I were lucky to be able to participate in the Peace Parade that was held by the Korean Association in Indonesia. This parade was held during the Jakarta Car-Free day near the FX Sudirman mall, in front of the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, the main stadium of the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.

The organization named it the Peace Parade because it was held to celebrate the joint North Korea-South Korea team's participation in the Asian Games and to pray for the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula. The parade itself was opened by the president of the Korean Association of Indonesia, Yang Young-jae, and the ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Indonesia, Kim Chang-beom. I was totally amazed with the opening speeches because both of them delivered their opening speeches fluently in Bahasa Indonesia. I hope someday I can speak Korean as fluent as their Bahasa Indonesian.

Before they started the parade, a small stage performance was held. There were traditional Korean dance and drumming performances, a pop performance by Korean and Indonesian groups, and also a special guest star performance from the pop group Halo. The parade started right after the performances ended and it was attended by about 500 people consisting of Korean residents of Jakarta and Indonesian who love all things Korean, including us. We marched for about 1 km from the FX Sudirman to the Semanggi and then returned back to the FX Sudirman. The parade gained a lot of attention from local residents, as the parade was accompanied by a traditional Korean dancing and drumming troupe, and every participant was holding the sky-blue Unified Korea flag.



At the end of the parade, all the participants danced along happily to the traditional music, together with the drumming troupe and one-by-one they started to write their testimonies on the event's board. Most of them wrote about their hopes for a peaceful unification and for the success of the Asian Games.

For me, this parade showed how big Korean hopes for peace on the Korean Peninsula were. I also learned a new thing here. I knew that the parade's tagline “One Dream, One Corea” was not a typo. It was written correctly as Corea because it referred to the Olympic code COR that was used by the joint North-South team in the Asian Games.



During the 2018 Asian Games, the joint North-South team gained a lot of attention, as they marched together under one flag in the Opening Ceremony and won one gold, one silver and two bronzes. The joint Koreas team competed in women's basketball, men's and women's dragon boat racing, and men's and women's rowing.

When I heard that they won a gold medal, I wondered about the national anthem that played during the ceremony. Later on, I found out that it was a popular Korean folk song, "Arirang." I wish that I had been able to witness the team's gold medal moment.

This month, another Inter-Korean Summit was held in Pyeongyang. I sincerely hope for the success of the summit and hope that the summit will bring a peaceful future to the Korean Peninsula.

wisdom117@korea.kr

* This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.