“We are standing at the crossroads of peace – it will come, but it won’t come easily and it won’t be free.” – Chung Hyun-back.
On this International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament, our #WomenPeaceKorea: A New Era delegation with Women Cross DMZ and Women Peace Walk held its International Women’s Peace Symposium – just hours before breaking news that American President Donald Trump has cancelled June’s Singapore summit with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un.
This deeply disappointing announcement brings into even sharper focus the critical importance of women’s participation in the peace process and that the only outcome must be a diplomatic one.
Earlier in the day women peace activists and security experts from around the world gathered together at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, to discuss the current conflict. Here they heard from Minister of Gender Equality and Family, Hyun-Back Chung, and Chairperson of the National Assembly Committee on Gender, InSoon Nam.
“We must re-establish the fact that human rights and international justice are for everyone.” – Mairead Maguire.
Nobel peace laureate, Mairead Maguire, began with a rousing words highlighting the global need for disarmament and denuclearization in connection to the ongoing Korean conflict. In light of this morning’s news, her words take on extra significance. Watch the entire speech here.
She was followed by our first keynote speaker, Chairperson of Korean Women Making Peace, Sung-Eun Kim, who spoke about the detrimental effects of sanctions on regular people, and the importance of women’s involvement in the peace process.
“We need social justice. We believe women can bring healing and peace to the world. It is the only way to bring sustainable peace.” – Sung-Eun Kim.
In the afternoon our delegates broke up into smaller panels and workshops to discuss and strategize on a number of issues, including women’s resistance to ongoing militarism in Asia and the Pacific and feminist peace-building in Northeast Asia. As the peace process in Korea hits a roadblock, #WomenPeaceKorea: A New Era stands with the Korean people and women’s movements in the call for peace and diplomacy.
#WOMENPEACEKOREA IN THE NEWS:
Read Women Cross DMZ International Coordinator, Christine Ahn, in Time Magazine.
Watch Christine Ahn interviewed by BBC News at the #WomenPeaceKorea: A New Era Women’s Peace Candle March last night.
Read Donald Trump’s letter to Kim Jong-un cancelling the June summit.
TAKE ACTION:
Sign our petition to President Moon, Chairman Kim, President Trump, and President Xi to remind them of their countries’ commitments to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and call on them to ensure that women’s movements are included in the Korean peace process.
Show your support by taking a picture of yourself with one of our posters, and tweeting it out with the hashtag #WomenPeaceKorea.