“Peace is unstoppable, and we are not waiting for the United States to make peace happen on the Korean peninsula.” – Christine Ahn.
In the aftermath of yesterday’s deeply disappointing news that American President Donald Trump has cancelled next month’s Korea peace summit with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un, our #WomenPeaceKorea: A New Era delegation with Women Cross DMZ has not stopped mobilizing for peace.
Our delegation of 30 women security experts and feminist peace activists from around the world spent the morning meeting with government officials and foreign ministries in Seoul. Our American delegates met with diplomats at the US Embassy to discuss how women can play a constructive role in establishing a diplomatic peace process between the United States and North Korea.
Following the morning meetings, our delegates came together outside the American embassy for a press conference to address this latest announcement. Nobel peace laureate, Mairead Maguire, and International Coordinator of Women Cross DMZ, Christine Ahn, spoke to a crowd of journalists and observers about the critical importance of a diplomatic peace process which includes women’s movements in the mediation. Watch the press conference here.
“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.” – Mairead Maguire.
In the afternoon the delegation met with the office of the South Korean Minister of Gender Equality. This was followed by more strategy discussions, including the decision to hold a Global Day of Solidarity with the Korean people for peace on June 12, when the summit was originally meant to take place. We are calling for President Moon and Chairman Kim to meet as scheduled and to fulfil the commitments outlined in the Panmunjeom Declaration.
“Peace isn’t just up to two men. It’s up to the people and the leaders of North and South Korea, and that peace train has long left the station.” – Christine Ahn.
#WomenPeaceKorea ended the day in a show of solidarity with the Korean people and women’s movements by joining student protests outside the US Embassy calling for peace and diplomacy.
#WOMENPEACEKOREA IN THE NEWS:
Read our #WomenPeaceKorea: A New Era news release in response to Trump’s summit cancellation.
Watch Christine Ahn on Democracy Now to address the repercussions of the announcement.
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.