Dear Friend,
Last week, over 40 civic society organizations sent a letter calling on Congress to support efforts for diplomacy and dialogue with North Korea and urging Congress to hold the Trump administration accountable to prevent a repeat of the failures of the first Trump-Kim process.
Leading advocates like the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Win Without War, National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Center for International Policy Advocacy, Demand Progress, the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), Just Foreign Policy, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, among many more signed on. Read the letter in full here.
You can also join our grassroots action to urge Congress to support diplomacy and de-escalation. As the nation that is still at war with North Korea, the United States must act to end its longest war and pursue peace, engagement, and diplomacy. U.S. lawmakers must independently back diplomacy and hold Trump and his administration’s officials to account. Peace cannot wait for another generation.
We will discuss the current political landscape and discourse surrounding a potential DPRK-US summit. We’ll also share regional and committee updates. Immediately after, we’ll resume our KPNGN New Member Orientation with part 3. RSVP here!
Women Cross DMZ mourns the passing of Gloria Steinem who played a central role in the 2015 Women’s Peace Walk and DMZ crossing. In 2019, Gloria wrote, “One of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done in my life was a Peace Walk Across the DMZ between North and South Korea, together with thirty women leaders from around the world.”
Read WCDMZ’s full statement and reflections from Christine Ahn, Grace Cho, Tina Insook Choi, and Sung-Hee Choi. If you would like to share your reflection, please send it to info@womencrossdmz.org.
Women Cross DMZ is excited to be an Outreach Partner for Mu Films’ new work-in-progress film, Relative Strangers—the first feature-length documentary about mixed-race adopted Koreans, directed by award-winning filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem.
Join Deann and a panel of special guests for a virtual sneak peek of the film. Hear personal stories from two of the film’s protagonists, Tanne Beudeker from The Netherlands and Dr. Darrell Seldon, the brother she discovered via DNA testing; learn about the historical context of mixed-race Korean children fathered by American G.I.s; and get a first look at work-in-progress footage capturing stories that have long been under-represented within adoption and Korean diaspora narratives. ASL interpretation and captioning are available. Learn more and register here.
Watch the fundraising trailer and follow the Relative Strangers crowdfunding campaign on Seed and Spark before it goes live next month and be the first to receive updates and exclusive content about the film! Contributions are welcome starting September 14th.
Yun Geum-i was a 26-year-old Korean woman working in a kijichon, military camptown, in Dongducheon, South Korea who was tortured, raped, and murdered by U.S. Private Kenneth Markle on October 28, 1992. Although Markle was initially sentenced to life in prison, an appeals court reduced the sentence to 15 years imprisonment. Yun’s horrific murder sparked nationwide protests and renewed criticism of the U.S. military occupation of Korea, including the impunity of U.S. soldiers under the SOFA and the U.S. government’s complicity in allowing soldiers to escape justice. Activists continue to hold commemorative vigils to mourn Yun Geum-i in Dongducheon including last year, where organizers reflected on the long history of U.S. military violence in Korea. Violence against women is inseparable from U.S. militarism everywhere. Intertwined with the global proliferation of U.S. military bases is a horrific pattern of sexual violence, femicide, sex trafficking, and human rights violations perpetrated by soldiers.
Local activists in Dongducheon are currently organizing to preserve Yun Geum-I’s memory and convert her home into a “House of Memory and Peace.” Support their fight directly here.
From the Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network Education Committee:
Step in the Right Direction: Letter to the Editor. Read KPNGN and Education Committee Member Jennie Telfer’s letter to the editor in the Kansas City Star reflecting on the everyday experience of the U.S. military presence in Korea, the significance of scaling back joint U.S.-ROK military exercises, and why Americans should support Korea peace efforts.
US Leaders Must Call for De-Escalation and Peace on the Korean Peninsula. WCDMZ Executive Director Cathi Choi and AFSC Coordinator Austin Headrick write in Common Dreams on the prolonged stalemate in U.S.-DPRK relations and why U.S. lawmakers should support calls for diplomacy and de-escalation with North Korea.
Sign on to the statement: “The Lee Jae-myung government must halt deployment of Korean forces to the Strait of Hormuz and contribute to peace, not war!”
✌️ Follow Women Cross DMZ and Korea Peace Now! on Instagram! Say hello and check out our accounts!
🛍 Support the Korea Peace Movement: Show your support for Korea peace with one of our tote bags, hats, baby onesies, and clothing, available here. All funds will support Korea Peace Now!, our U.S.-based movement for peace in Korea led by Women Cross DMZ. Art by Peter Holland and lazy blender.
In peace,
Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network