Top global personalities including former United States Vice-President Mike Pence and former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will headline a world summit highlighting the long-running campaign for reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula, which kicks off today in Seoul, Korea.

The World Summit 2022, sponsored by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and the Kingdom of Cambodia, will gather speakers from the 157 countries that have diplomatic ties with both North and South Korea, and a worldwide virtual audience from February 10-13, 2022.

National director of the Jamaican branch of the UPF Dennis Salmon said his organisation would be giving full support to the World Summit in the interest of world peace, noting that reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula is a global imperative.

Of the Korean conflict, UPF Chairman Dr Thomas G Walsh said: “The Korean War began more than 70 years ago and concluded with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The Korean Peninsula is populated by a people with thousands of years of common history, culture and language. Is it not possible to resolve this conflict and bring about the peaceful reunification of the peninsula? We will seek answers to these questions at the summit.”

The event will be hosted by UPF co-founder Dr Hak Ja Han Moon and co-chaired by Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and Ban Ki-moon, former United Nations secretary general.

A highpoint of the summit is the 5th Sunhak Peace Prize Award Ceremony to be held on February 12, which will honour Oxford University vaccinologist Prof Sarah Gilbert and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for their efforts to serve humanity during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, the World Summit 2022 will hold the Global Assembly of Heads of State and Government, the Interreligious Peace Summit and the Rally for Peace on the Korean Peninsula that will involve more than one million people.

Other speakers will include European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso; President Faustin Touadera of the Central African Republic; President Sahle-Work of Ethiopia; President Ilir Meta of Albania; former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Pastor Paula White, spiritual advisor to former US President Donald Trump.