Our Story

WCDMZ organized a historic crossing of the DMZ by 30 international women peacemakers, calling for an end to the Korean War, the reunion of separated families, and women’s participation in the peace process. Read more about the crossing.

WCDMZ organized meetings with North Korean and South Korean women in Bali, Indonesia, to deepen relationships and develop shared strategies for achieving peace.

As President Trump escalated tensions with North Korea to dangerous levels, we sent a letter signed by more than 200 women from over 40 countries urging diplomacy to resolve the threat of war.

We held the Northeast Asia Roundtable on Women, Peace and Security in Beijing, China, bringing together 25 women experts and peacemakers from seven countries, including North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, Canada and the United States.

We worked with members of Congress to introduce H. Res. 152, the first Congressional resolution calling for an end to the Korean War. It has been reintroduced every year since, and has bipartisan support.

We launched the global campaign Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to End the War in Washington, DC, with the Nobel Women’s Initiative, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and the Korean Women’s Movement for Peace. We formed the Korea Peace Grassroots Network! to organize communities in the United States to call for a shift in U.S. policy toward peace. We worked with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), providing valuable input on the first Congressional resolution to end the Korean War, supported by Barbara Lee, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and dozens of others. The Korea Peace Now! campaign led a delegation of women lawmakers from South Korea to dialogue with members of Congress on advancing the Korea peace process.

We released the report, The Human Costs and Gendered Impact of Sanctions on North Korea, the first comprehensive assessment of the adverse consequences of sanctions on the DPRK.

Women Cross DMZ joined forces with Grassroots Global Justice Alliance and MADRE to launch the Feminist Peace Initiative, which envisions a movement-driven U.S. foreign policy that prioritizes interdependence, cooperation, and justice, centering the voices and experiences of those most impacted by U.S. wars and militarism.

Women Cross DMZ continued to advocate for peace in Korea through H.R.3446, the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act, which gained nearly 50 co-sponsors in the 117th U.S. Congress. Korea Peace Now! released the groundbreaking report Path to Peace: The Case for a Peace Agreement to End the Korean War.

We organized more than 80 global screenings of Crossings, a documentary film by Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Deann Borshay Liem, about our historic 2015 crossing — reaching thousands of people and helping to shift the narrative on the Korean War.

Together with our partners, we organized Korea Peace Action, a national gathering of hundreds of Korea peace supporters in Washington, DC, on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice.

On the 10-year anniversary of Women Cross DMZ’s founding crossing, we brought a delegation of feminist leaders to meet with leading peace activists and organizers in Korea. Our activities included a peace walk around Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, the largest overseas U.S. military base.