Speech of Kim Won-Ki, Deputy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (Former speaker)

Your Excellency President Nursultan Nazarbayev,
Distinguished Leaders of World and Traditional Religions,

First of all, I would like to extend my congratulations to the opening of the II Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions hosted by the Republic of Kazakhstan. It gives me an honor and pleasure to participate in the Congress on behalf of the Republic of Korea.

The I Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions was initiated by leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2003. Now with the support from around the world, this forum contributes to the world peace through the dialogue between religions.

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Mr. President Nazarbayev for his leadership and efforts to make this event a success.

The majority of modern Kazakh people are currently either Kazakhs or Muslims but at the same time, 46 religions and 130 ethnic groups peacefully co-exist and are harmonized in the country. In this regard, with its freedom of religion, understanding between the different ethnic groups and spirit of tolerance, Kazakhstan becomes a role model of the world.

I think it is an irony of the time in which the religion for peace and harmony are rather misused for triggering conflicts and mistrust. That means the role of world religious leaders is all the more significant than before in order to minimize misunderstanding and mistrust between religions.

Unlike the expectation of the world becoming more peaceful after the Cold War era, the dream of a peaceful mankind is still far due to confrontation, collision of civilizations, races, religion and terrorism.

Even though the politicians have put an effort to solve the problem, there has not been any good result. At this point, the idea of Mr. President Nazarbayev for achieving world peace through the dialogue and cooperation among the world religion leaders is outstanding and is expected to bring great result.

As Mr. President mentioned in the last Congress, our responsibility is to promote cooperation and understanding each other through dialogues between different religions and civilizations.

Your Excellency President Nursultan Nazarbayev,

Distinguished Leaders of World and Traditional Religions,

Once again, I would like to express my congratulations on the opening of the II Congress of World and Traditional Religions and I hope this Congress will serve as a venue for promoting world peace through constructive dialogues among the world religions leaders to meet the new challenges ahead of us.

Thank you for your attention.