Theme plenary - day 2 (October 31)

President of the Republic of Korea

Three key speakers, and a young woman asking insightful questions of each one

We all had to be around at the auditorium and seated by 10.40am, as the Prime Minister of the Republic of South Korea was to be present and address the Assembly. Metal detectors and security in place. His speech was meaningful (acknowledging role of Church in Korea including missionaries). But it was brief, as was his visit. He left straight afterwards.
The plenary had three key speakers briefly address the Assembly. The first speaker was impressive - working on HIV/AIDS in Africa, and passionately advocating for the rights of people to access drugs without the prohibitive prices drug companies used to charge. After the three speakers' presentations, a young theologian from Germany was introduced. Her father is a German Christian, and her mother a Buddhist from Thailand – she claims her diverse cultural heritage with pride, and as a symbol of the changing global context. The 'hyphen' generation. She had three questions to ask each of the speakers. She was superb – intelligent, strong, passionate. I'll add to this post when I collect the details of the speakers. I'd like to see more use of powerpoint to introduce the names of speakers, because it's not always clear to me who people are (maybe more familiar to those who are 'members' of WCC who might be more conversant with the people?).