Christine Ahn Awarded Honolulu City Council Honorary Certificate
May 18, 2023
Posted in: Press Releases
On Wednesday, May 17, Honolulu-based Korean American peace activist Christine Ahn was awarded an Honorary Certificate by the Honolulu City Council “for her tireless work as a peace activist and her efforts trying to end war in a conflict area.” (Watch the council hearing here.)
Christine Ahn is the Founder and Executive Director of Women Cross DMZ, an organization that advocates for an official end to the Korean War, the reunion of separated families, and women’s participation in the peace process. In 2015, Ahn organized a delegation of 30 women peace activists — including pioneering feminist Gloria Steinem, Nobel Peace laureates Mairead Maguire and Leymah Gbowee, and Honolulu-based retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright — from North Korea to South Korea across the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) to call for peace. Their journey is the subject of the recent documentary Crossings by Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem, which will screen nationally on PBS’ World Channel on July 23. This July 27 will mark the 70th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that halted fighting but did not officially end the Korean War (1950-53).
“Christine Ahn has demonstrated for us in Hawaii and the world that she is a tireless champion of justice and peace and humanity,” said Robert H. Stiver, a Pearl City resident and Army veteran who nominated Ahn for the award.
“This Honolulu City Council Award to Christine Ahn sends an important message to our Hawai‘i Congressional delegation that it is well past time to end the Korean War,” said retired 3-star Air Force General Dan Leaf. “As a two-war veteran, former Deputy Commander of Pacific Command, and someone who has overseen all aspects of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, I know that we are one mistake away from nuclear war with North Korea. We must start to decrease that risk by replacing the Armistice of July 1953 with a permanent peace agreement.”
“My late husband Glenn Paige, a Korean War veteran who helped build many educational and peace institutions here in Hawai`i and globally, would be so delighted to see Christine Ahn receive the recognition she deserves,” said Glenda Paige of the Center for Nonkilling. “When she led the women across the DMZ between North and South Korea for peace, we cheered her on from Hawai`i. Glenn admired Christine’s vision and commitment and the courageous women peacemakers with Women Cross DMZ.”
“Christine Ahn is the most important person in the Korea peace movement in the United States,” said Harrison Kim, Professor of Korean History at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa and Co-Coordinator of the Korea Peace Now Hawai‘i Chapter. “Christine has also courageously led the peace movement here in Hawai‘i. Hawai‘i is ready to play the role of the peacemaker between the United States and North Korea.”
This is the fourth award that Ahn has received on behalf of her work with Women Cross DMZ. In 2020, she received the Rotary International Peace Award and the US Peace Prize, which is awarded by the US Peace Memorial Foundation to recognize the most outstanding American antiwar leaders. And in December 2022, Christine Ahn was awarded the 2022 Peace Summit Medal for Social Activism during the 18th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
This recognition by the Honolulu City Council has special significance for Hawai‘i:
- Hawai‘i was the site of the false North Korea missile alert in 2018. Although North Korea’s missile technology may be able to reach anywhere on the mainland, Hawai’i may be at particular risk of a nuclear attack. The main goal of Women Cross DMZ is to call for peace between the US and North Korea to avoid such a crisis. Pursuing peace with North Korea will be important for Hawai‘i’s security.
- Former HI Representatives Tulsi Gabbard and Kai Kahele both supported Korea peace legislation, including H.Res.152, which called for a formal end to the Korean War; and H.R.3446, the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act, which called for serious, urgent diplomacy in pursuit of a binding peace agreement to formally end the Korean War.
- The United States’ growing military presence in Hawai‘i and the Asia-Pacific region aimed at containing China is intertwined with the security crisis on the Korean Peninsula. And Hawai‘i activists have grown increasingly critical of the US military’s negligence over the Red Hill crisis and war games like RIMPAC, which harm Hawai‘i’s oceans.
For more information, contact us.