(Seoul) –– An international delegation of 30 women peace and security experts and activists, as well as other civil society leaders –led by Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and Korea expert Christine Ahn– and a coalition of South Korean women organizations are calling on the United States and North Korea to resume negotiations and return to the peace table, after President’s Trump abrupt cancellation of the June 12th peace summit with North Korea. The delegation warns that the failure to proceed with a US-Korea peace agreement reignites dangerous nuclear tensions and puts the region and the entire world at risk. The all-women delegation will hold a press conference on May 25, 2018, at Gwanghwamun Square, in Seoul.
Christine Ahn: Korea expert & Founder of Women Cross DMZ
“Given the critical window for peace or a return to brinkmanship and war, we call on President Trump and Chairman Kim to proceed with their planned June summit. We cannot return to a rhetoric of nuclear annihilation and destruction. The people of both North and South Korea, and especially women, have worked too long and have come too close to reaching the first steps towards the signing of a Peace treaty to see the talks collapse. Everyone around the world wants this peace process to succeed.” “We know that a diplomacy can be difficult however peace in the Korean Peninsula cannot have any more setbacks. It’s been too long. It has been overdue more than 70 years”.
Mairead Maguire: Nobel Peace Prize laureate
“I say to President Trump and Chairman Kim: be courageous and sit down and work for peace and reunification for Korean families and the Korean peninsula. Every day you hesitate, someone dies and will not get a chance to be reunited and to see their families.”
The all-women international delegation is currently in Seoul to support the inclusion of civil society women and peace experts in the Korean peace process and met with over 30 women’s organizations in South Korea to discuss their security priorities for the region. The delegation is comprised of activists and experts from the United States, Russia, China, Japan, Canada, Colombia, Kenya, Sweden, Guam, Iraq and Mongolia, and will close with a peace walk on Saturday May 28, 2018 at the DMZ site in Paju.
Schedule
Press conference
11:30 am – Gwanghwamun square, Seoul
Both Mairead Maguire and Christine Ahn are available for comment, as well as other delegation members. To arrange interviews please contact:
Seoul
Katia Gianneschi, Media Outreach: Katia.Gianneschi@gmail.com, + 1 (613) 614-9740
Washington DC
Deepika Choudry, Senior Associate: deepika@rethinkmedia.org, + (703) 434-0951