Dear Friend,
Every year, Korea Peace Advocacy Summer brings hundreds of people from across the country to meet with their members of Congress and advocate for legislation supporting peace in Korea. Participants join virtual and in-person meetings with members of Congress to share personal stories and urge members to support policies focused on Korea peace. In addition to the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act, this year’s programming will include advocacy to challenge bloated U.S. military spending and justice for victims of militarized gender-based violence. Registration closes June 12. Register today!
This year marks 73 years since the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, making the Korean War the United States’ longest running overseas conflict. We must call for serious, urgent diplomacy in pursuit of a binding peace agreement to formally end the Korean War today. Join peace advocates across the country to share and strategize for this year’s advocacy summer!
Register ASAP to receive information about:
Finally, join our first KPNGN meeting of the summer this Thursday, June 11 at 5pm PT/8pm ET! We’ll discuss our Korea Peace Advocacy Summer and more! RSVP here. We will also resume our three-part Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network Orientation. The June orientation will feature a Q&A session on the movement and political updates. Please stay from 9 pm ET to 10 pm ET after the June KPNGN meeting.
Power Hour for Korea Peace | Virtual Events | June 22 at 12 pm ET and 8 pm ET
Join our first program of 2026 Korea Peace Advocacy Summer! We’re hosting two Online Power Hour Phone-Banking Sessions on Monday, June 22 at 12 pm ET and Monday, June 22 at 8 pm ET. We will also organize in-person and virtual meetings with congressional offices according to constituents’ availability. Registration closes on June 12. Sign up to secure your spot today!
Expanding the Public Interest Toolbox: Litigation and Beyond at the Justice in Action Conference | Fordham Law School, New York City | June 17 at 1:45-3pm ET
Some of the most transformative victories for Asian American and immigrant communities never saw the inside of a courtroom-they came through transactional work, policy advocacy, and coalition-driven campaigns. Building on earlier sessions about partnerships between lawyers and community organizers, this session examines how lawyers can support community organizing using a range of legal strategies. WCDMZ Executive Director Cathi Choi and other speakers will draw on their own practice to discuss how and when to deploy each of these tools in service of community power. Through case studies and discussion, participants will leave with a broader and more flexible understanding of what community lawyering can look like. RSVP and learn more here.
Webinar: “America First” in the Asia Pacific: Debriefing Michelle Steel’s Nomination | Virtual Event | Wednesday, June 24 at 5pm PT/8pm ET (June 25 at 9am KST)
Join us for a webinar on the nomination of Michelle Park Steel for U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. We’ll hear from speakers Sandy Shan (Justice Is Global), Mark Tseng-Putterman (New York University), Youngmi Cho (Sejong Cyber University), Goo Lee (Evergreen Coalition), and moderator Cathi Choi (Women Cross DMZ) on Steel’s political record and potential influence as next U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea on the prospects for Korea peace. RSVP here.
As Congresswoman, Steel took a staunchly conservative, hardline approach to China and North Korea, including her firm opposition to efforts to end the Korean War. Additionally, in her reelection campaigns, Asian American and immigrant advocates criticized Steel for promoting divisive rhetoric and weaponizing inflammatory “McCarthyist” imagery. Speakers will discuss Steel’s nomination as Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, the implications of her track record on Korea peace and nomination in the context of current global events – including the May 2026 Xi-Trump summit.
July 26, 2026 at 5 pm | Armistice to Peace Rally | Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC
This year marks 73 years since the United States and North Korea signed the Korean Armistice Agreement, which temporarily halted but did not formally end the Korean War. This unresolved war has kept families separated and is the root cause of tensions on the peninsula. Rally with us at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and join our call to end the Korean War! Everyone is welcome to join.
From the Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network Education Committee:
80 Groups to Congress: Trump’s Astronomical Military Spending Requests Should Be Stopped in Committee. Women Cross DMZ joined Public Citizen, CODEPINK, and dozens of other organizations to demand that Congress reject increases to the Pentagon’s budget in the upcoming 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
✌️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
Based on our “Apology & Reparation: The Jeju 4 3 Retrials and the Japanese American coram nobis Cases webinar in April 2025. Please note: discussion of disturbing state violence and mass killings.
On April 3, 1948, U.S.-backed ROK security forces began a brutal anti-communist “suppression operation” on Jeju Island, massacring, torturing, inflicting sexual violence upon, and imprisoning thousands of villagers. ROK military, paramilitary, and police forces, with the backing of the U.S., killed an estimated 30,000 of the 200,000 Jeju residents between 1948-50. These forces also destroyed 40,000 homes and burned entire villages to the ground.
Part of the devastation brought on by South Korean security forces was the forced detention, torture, and sham convictions of thousands of Jeju villagers who were falsely convicted and criminalized as “traitors” by kangaroo military courts at the time. Survivors testified that some falsely convicted villagers were immediately executed, while others were imprisoned for 1-15 years.
Jeju communities, Korean and U.S. scholars, and international human rights groups have led an ongoing 20-year reconciliation initiative calling on the U.S. to engage in the social healing process.
Last year, we invited legal scholars Eric Yamamoto and Miyoko Pettit-Toledo to share how survivors and their descendents achieved redress through transnational legal advocacy efforts. Yamamoto and Pettit-Toledo have been involved in Jeju 4.3 justice issues for over a decade, working across Jeju, Seoul, Hawai’i, and Washington DC. They’ve also drawn important connections between legal advocacy led by Jeju 4.3 survivors and Japanese American survivors of World War II incarceration camps.
Survivor-led efforts shed light on the impact of and possibilities for legal advocacy in processes of redress, healing, and social justice. In particular, they show how a national court system can respond to and correct egregious wrongs committed by the government against its own citizens.
Across the globe, feminists are confronting authoritarianism, gender backlash, and violence, and they are winning, even as backlash intensifies. From Kenya to Latin America to Korea, women organizers are changing laws, shifting public understanding, and building power for a more just future.
In a world that often feels like it is on fire, join the Inclusive Global Leadership Initiative (IGLI) for an International Women’s Day webinar to hear these stories of hope, courage, and persistence. Hear from WCDMZ Executive Director Cathi Choi, Ruth Mumbi, Catalina Martínez Coral, Julia Zulver, and Marie Berry.