By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Katerina Lygkoni from Greece
Photos = Katerina Lygkoni
Athens l April 28, 2018

Coming Spring

Thinking of the spring day nearing,
I pass the long, dreary winter days.
Today, on the stretched limbs of an aspen,
a white bird perches and chirps.

By Kim Sowohl (1902-1934)

Blackened Clay Pot

The road has been long so far, a difficult road.
Now that road is yours. You hold it
as you hold the hand of your friend to take his pulse
on the mark left by the handcuffs.
A regular pulse. A sure hand. A sure road.

By Yiannis Ritsos (1909-1990)

Friday, April 27, 2018, is a date engraved in our minds and in world history as the day when spring melted the dividing borders on the Korean Peninsula and set forward to seal peace and to create a cease-fire in the 20th and 21st centuries' mini World War.

As with the global community, Greece, too, focused on this very important day through mass media and social media, focusing on the summit meeting between the Korean leaders Kim Jong Un and President Moon Jae-in. Greece was among the countries that sent troops to the Korean War (1950-1953) and longed for peace, too. Peace would be the greatest honor for the heroes who fought and died during the war. Therefore it was a historic moment that matters deeply in Greece.

Greek TV and radio, newspapers and internet had the news of the upcoming summit days before, but they were all intensely focused on the day of the summit itself and on the day after.



This was not the only happy news transmitted from Korea this year in Greece. Korea and Greece were bonded a second time, too, this time through the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the power of the Olympic flame. A big delegation of representatives from Korea attended the lighting of the Olympic flame in Olympia, in Western Greece, and received through the torch relay the Olympic flame. The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games earlier this year and the marching together of South and North Korea Olympian athletes, competing as a single Team Korea, were presented in Greek media with admiration and praise for preserving the eternal legacy of the Olympic truce and the true meaning of the Olympic Games of halting fights and hate, to celebrate humanity.

The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of the meeting of the leaders of the Korean Peninsula, made an announcement, too.

“Friday, 27 April 2018

We welcome today’s summit meeting between the leaders of the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and their express desire to work toward a final peace agreement on the Korean Peninsula.

Today’s meeting is an initiative of historic importance toward the comprehensive denuclearization of the peninsula and the consolidation of stability and security in the region, following decades of tensions.

Greece will remain supportive of all related efforts.”

Quoting again the poetry of Yiannis Ritsos, one of the most representative Greek poets against war, "The road has been long so far, a difficult road. Now, that road is yours."

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.