Vienna, Austria—A meeting of Ambassadors for Peace featured a talk by the UPF sub-regional chair for Central Europe, Dr. Dieter Schmidt.
Approximately 50 Ambassadors for Peace and friends of UPF attended the meeting that was held on September 26, 2021, in the Vienna Peace Embassy.
In his presentation, “Perspectives of UPF in Europe and Internationally,” Dr. Schmidt spoke of the focus of UPF International's activities in 2021: the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
He himself lived in South Korea for several years and studied Asian medicine there, which gave him the opportunity to directly perceive the mood in Korea.
Naturally, he compared the situation of Korea with his own country, Germany, where hardly anyone believed in reunification until it happened. He emphasized that we should not lose confidence that similar things can happen in Korea.
In particular, Dr. Schmidt spoke about the Rallies of Hope organized by UPF and the recently founded Think Tank 2022—consisting of experts working together for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula. These efforts are finding more and more resonance even in South Korea, where a certain skepticism toward the topic of reunification prevails, he said.
At the end of his talk, a birthday cake was brought into the room in celebration of Dr. Schmidt’s recent birthday.
There followed the appointment of four new Ambassadors for Peace: Mamadou Kone, honorary consul of the Republic of Mali; Dr. Ilse Ennsfellner, a business consultant; and Catalina Sara López Campos and Anela Čindrak, both musicians.
Dr. Michael Platzer, the co-chair of the Coalition of Faith-Based Organizations, and Memet Zeki Metin, the president of Weltmenschverein (“Earth’s People Society”) both made announcements about upcoming events.
The informative and atmospheric afternoon featured a musical performance by flautist James Strauss, a Brazilian with Austrian roots—as can be imagined from his name—and Catalina Sara López Campos, who accompanied him on the clarinet.