Rep. Barbara Lee to Host 7/27 Media Briefing to Mark the 70th Anniversary of the Korean Armistice

July 21, 2023

Top military, geopolitics experts and Korea peace advocates join Reps. Barbara Lee, Jan Schakowsky, and Judy Chu to call for a formal peace agreement with North Korea

Location: House Triangle, Washington, D.C.

With tensions rising dangerously on the Korean Peninsula—including a sharp escalation of U.S.-South Korea joint military drills and U.S. plans to deploy a nuclear-capable submarine to South Korea—top experts will join hundreds of Korea peace advocates from across the country to call on the Biden administration and Congress to replace the Korean War Armistice with a formal peace agreement.

On July 27, at 11:30 AM, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12) will host a press conference at the House Triangle in support of H.R.1369, the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act, which is now backed by 33 Members of Congress. Rep. Lee is a longtime Korea peace champion whose father served in the Korean War, an experience that influenced her brave vote against the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. She will be joined by fellow Korea Peace Champions Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-9) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA-28), who will also speak.

The press conference is expected to gather at least 200 people from a broad coalition of groups representing Korean Americans, separated family members, veterans, faith groups, and humanitarian aid workers with firsthand experience in North Korea.

The following individuals will also speak at the press conference:

Joy Gebhard, a 90-year-old Korean American woman whose last wish is to reunite with her family in North Korea;
Rick Downes, of the Coalition of Families of Korean and Cold War POW/MIAs, who has been searching for his fallen father’s remains from the Korean War;
Dan Leaf, retired three-star general, a former Air Force fighter pilot and former deputy commander of the U.S. Pacific Command;
Joyce Ajlouny, Secretary General from AFSC; and
Hana De Vitton, 14-year Korean American youth from a separated Korean family.

The press conference kicks off the two-day Korea Peace Action: National Mobilization to End the Korean War, co-convened by a national coalition of organizations working for peace on the Korean Peninsula:

American Friends Service Committee

Global Ministries— The United Methodist Church

Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network

Korean American Peace Fund

Mennonite Central Committee

National Association of Korean Americans

Veterans for Peace

Women Cross DMZ

The national convening is cosponsored by the following groups.

Coalition of Koreans in America

Code Pink

DSA International Committee