Editorial

Prisoners for Peace Day 2003 focuses on the young movement of conscientious objectors in South Korea. Although conscientious objection in young in terms of a movement, the history of imprisonment of conscientious objectors--of Jehovah's Witnesses--goes back a long while. More than 10,000 Jehovah's Witnesses have been imprisoned in the last 50 years for their conscientious objection, mostly to three years imprisonment, and until recently often several times. Although the situation has improved, and sentences are now shorter, there are still more than 800 Jehovah's Witnesses in prison in South Korea. This issue of The Broken Rifle focuses on their fate, and on the younger political struggle of the South Korean conscientious objectors' movement. It is evident that this movement needs our support, to change the attitude towards militarism on the highly militarised Korean peninsula.

Andreas Speck

CO Campaign Worker at the WRI office, London War Resisters' International 5 Caledonian Rd; London N1 9DX; Britain; http://wri-irg.org; concodoc@wri-irg.org