Category: Press

Korea Peace Now! Statement on Nobel Women’s Initiative

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The members of the global campaign Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to End the War are saddened and dismayed by the recent mass resignation of staff at the Nobel Women’s Initiative. We are especially concerned given that the majority of resignations were by women of color, including several Korea Peace Now! consultants.

The Nobel Women’s Initiative has been one of the four pillars of Korea Peace Now! and a key supporter of women’s peacebuilding on the Korean Peninsula and around the world. Their significant contributions have advanced our efforts to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula.

In response to the resigned staff’s call for an investigation, the Nobel Women’s Initiative has begun the process of an independent external review “to examine the issues and concerns raised by staff.” In light of this and the need to devote fully to their internal process, the Nobel Women’s Initiative has withdrawn from the Korea Peace Now! campaign and its Co-Executive Director Liz Bernstein has stepped down as Co-Coordinator. Christine Ahn will reassume the role as International Coordinator of Korea Peace Now!

The remaining core partners of Korea Peace Now! — the Korean Women’s Movement for Peace, Women Cross DMZ, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) — will continue to carry on the work of the campaign.

In our work to transform the world to be more peaceful, just, equitable and inclusive, we must embody and practice these very values in our own organizations. We sincerely hope that the Nobel Women’s Initiative will undergo the necessary work so that it can live up to its principles as a fully committed feminist peace organization and emerges better and stronger in order to help address the extraordinary challenges facing our world.

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International Peace Organizations and Peace Advocates Call for Replacing the Korean War Armistice with a Peace Agreement

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On the 67th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War armistice, we urge the international community to support inter-Korean reconciliation and an end to the war and maximum pressure. 

That the Korean War remains unresolved is the root cause of continued hostile tensions on the Korean  Peninsula. It is time to end the war and take actions to decrease hostile relations on the Korean Peninsula, such as easing sanctions and providing resources to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) for sustainable development and human needs. 

The risks of renewed conflict are real and have serious human security implications, not just for the Korean Peninsula but for the broader Northeast Asia region and the world. If war broke out on the Korean Peninsula today, an estimated 300,000 people would die in the first few days of conventional fighting, and tens of millions would be impacted if nuclear weapons were used. 

We support the inter-Korean agreements signed in 2018, including the North-South Korean military agreement for mutual confidence-building and disarmament. Unfortunately, no progress was made in the two years since the historic US-DPRK summit in Singapore, and tensions between the two Koreas rose again last month.

We urge the governments of the two Koreas to keep their efforts for peace and reunification on track in the spirit of inter-Korean agreements. We strongly urge the international community, especially the United States, to support inter-Korean reconciliation and remove barriers to progress.

To finally take war off the table and begin a new generation of peace on the Korean Peninsula, we call for four immediate actions:

  1. Formally end the Korean War with a peace agreement. In the Panmunjom Declaration, both Koreas called for talks with the United States to replace the armistice with a peace agreement. We recognize that peace is necessary for denuclearization, and that mutual confidence-building can promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 
  2. Abandon the maximum pressure campaign. The international community must support inter-Korean reconciliation and end its support of maximum pressure. Key parts of the Panmunjom Declaration agreement were left unimplemented largely because of US pressure on the Republic of Korea (ROK, South Korea) not to advance inter-Korean reconciliation until there was progress in denuclearization. Despite explicit intentions by both Koreas to end the Korean War, the US-led maximum pressure campaign is impeding inter-Korean progress through actions that are leading to the breakdown in peace talks, including repeated renewal of sanctions, provocative military drills that simulate invasions, and requiring that maximalist demands be met by North Korea. Concretely, the US and the rest of the international community must actively foster conditions conducive to the implementation of the Panmunjom Declaration. 
  3. Lift sanctions in order to let people on the Korean Peninsula respond to the COVID pandemic. The United States and UN Security Council must lift sanctions that confound initiatives intended to help reunite families and improve humanitarian conditions in the DPRK. Tomás Ojea Quintana, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, has recently called on the UN Security Council to seriously reconsider “any sanctions … that impact on the livelihood of people and hinder the Government’s capacity to respond to COVID-19.” Additionally, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has called for easing sanctions to enable medical systems to fight COVID-19 and limit global contagion, and Renato Zerbini Ribeiro Leão, Chair of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, said, “States should seriously consider lifting economic sanctions to avoid weakening health care systems and obstructing much needed medical equipment and supplies.” We urge the international community to support inter-Korean public health cooperation and the development of a joint response to the COVID-19 outbreak on the peninsula.
  4. Support women’s participation in the Korea peace process. Research shows that women’s participation in peace processes results in more durable and stable peace agreements, yet very few women are involved in the official Korea peace process. We call on the international community to support the inclusion of women’s organizations in peace negotiations in order to ensure long-term solutions that protect all people through disarmament and demilitarization, investments in economic and social rights, and sustainable development.

North Korea and South Korea  must be allowed to pursue peace, reconciliation and cooperation on their own terms with the support of, not obstruction from, the international community, especially the United States. And for the Korea peace process to be successful, women must have a seat at the table. We must step back from the brink of renewed hostilities and work to end the Korean War now. 

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Press Conference Statement on the Occasion of May 24 International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament

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이 문장의 한국어 버전을 여기에서 읽으십시오.

May 24 is International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament. On May 24, 1981, 49 women from 11 European countries gathered to proclaim the day “International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament,” and on May 24, 1983, about 1 million women gathered to speak out against nuclear weapons and the arms race and to call for peace. Since then, May 24 has been observed as a day when women convey their collective desire for peace and disarmament.

In Korea, Women Making Peace marked the day for the first time in 1997, and has consistently made demands for peace and disarmament from the perspective of women. On May 24, 2015, a group of 30 international women peace activists staged a historic crossing of the DMZ on the divided peninsula from North to South. Since then, the global women’s peace movement has made ending the Korean War and the signing of a peace agreement a key part of their agenda, which has led to the launch of the global campaign Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to End the War.

This year, International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament comes amid an unprecedented global pandemic, creating huge challenges to Korea’s women, peace and civic movements. COVID-19 exacerbates conditions for the most vulnerable among us, with women often in charge of caring and nurturing, and part-time workers and those exposed to violence further subjected to harm. Due to gender discrimination structure, women face challenges in various sectors such as labor, social security, and health care, but the government does not consider gender in its response to COVID-19.

However, we welcome the positive changes that have been made as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept of “human security” that women, peace and civic movements has continuously urged for was reflected in the special address by President Moon Jae-in to mark three years in office. At the same time, the government also reduced the national defense budget by 1.46 trillion won in the process of supplementing the nation’s finances to provide emergency disaster support and to revitalize the economy. Although this is not a real cut in the arms acquisition budget because the schedule for payments, such as F-35 payments, has been postponed and the costs of overseas test evaluations is expected to be canceled, this could be a very meaningful start.

In order to improve human security and civil safety, we must create concrete changes in policy, especially toward peaceful disarmament.

To this end, we demand:

To South Korean Government

The South Korean government has set aside more than 50 trillion won in its defense budget in 2020, making South Korea the sixth-largest country in global military strength. However, the COVID-19 crisis shows us that military security does not protect the safety and livelihoods of citizens, and we should build society around a spirit of solidarity and cooperation, including strong quarantine measures, the protection of the vulnerable class, and the expansion of the economic safety net, while simultaneously managing and preventing the spread of the virus. Therefore, the South Korean government should make efforts to create a national financial structure that is suitable for the basic philosophy and values of human security mentioned by the president. The funding of the third supplementary budget to counter COVID-19 should be raised through drastic cuts in defense spending.

To the U.S. Government

Despite the COVID-19 crisis, the U.S. government has taken no action to lift sanctions on North Korea, exacerbating conditions that could lead to a humanitarian crisis. Also, the U.S. government is demanding the South Korean government pay an excessive share of U.S. military defense costs. The 6 trillion won allegedly demanded in the first place far exceeds the combined budget of 5.5 trillion won for the 2020 Ministry of Unification/Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the $1.3 billion recently demanded is also an excessive amount that is hard for the South Korean government to accommodate as we face a fiscal tightening due to COVID-19. Moreover, the U.S. has continued its reconnaissance flights with North Korea until recently, heightening tensions on the Peninsula. Therefore, the U.S. should stop its excessive demand for defense cost-sharing from South Korea while immediately halting military actions that create a crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

To the international community, including the United Nations

The international community, including the United Nations, should strive to end the Korean War. At the same time, efforts should be made to lift sanctions on North Korea, which further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. In particular, in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, the United Nations and the international community should focus on mutual support for human security and civil safety, not arms proliferation and competition. At the same time, Northeast Asian countries should overcome the current crisis together through solidarity and cooperation through human security and joint security beyond militarism.

We women, peace and civil society organizations, gathered on May 24 to commemorate International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament, will work together for peace, unification and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. To this end, we will join forces to ensure a formal end to the Korean War, the prevention of armed conflicts in the two Koreas and in Northeast Asia, the peaceful disarmament for this purpose, and sustainable peace through human security and common security. We will work to create peace not through military power but through the realization of citizens’ safety, women’s well-being, young people’s futures, and the transition of militarized areas to peace zones.

Organizations of the Press Conference on the occasion of May 24 International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament

Korean Women’s Movement for Peace (Korea Women’s Alliance, Women Making Peace, Korean Women’s Association United, National YWCA of Korea), Civil Peace Forum, Gangjung&Jeju Women Organizations, Gangjeong Peace Network, Jeju Women’s Association, Jeju Provincial Association of Korean Women Peasants’ Association(KWPA), Jeju Association for Women’s Rights, National Women’s Committee of PeaceRailWay, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, Solidarity for Camptown Women’s Right in USAFIK, Teenager Movement Union Nalda, Women’s Division of The Southern Committee on June 15th Joint Declaration, Women Peace Readers

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Letter to Minister Champagne to Repeal Canadian UniIateral Economic and Political Sanctions

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Dear Minister Champagne:

Warm greetings to you from Mennonite Central Committee Canada, the Nobel Women’s Initiative, and The United Church of Canada.

We write to express appreciation for the leadership your government is demonstrating in response to the unprecedented challenges presented by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we applaud your government’s support of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’s call for a global ceasefire and the recent announcement of $159.5 million in funding to support the global COVID-19 response.

We join with others who share a vocation to be peacemakers and a commitment to work for the health and wholeness of the human and created world. This calling leads us to encourage you to demonstrate further global leadership by ensuring that humanitarian assistance is not impeded by economic and political sanctions during this health crisis.

As civil society actors, we have active relationships with partner organizations and friends in Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Gaza, Iran, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe working for a peaceful end to conflict, the creation of conditions for reconciliation and peace, and the provision of the basic needs for everyone, including women, children, the elderly and the disabled. Even when sanctions provide an exemption mechanism for humanitarian aid, humanitarian agencies still face challenges with financial institutions blocking wire transfers to local partners. Given the threat that COVID-19 presents to the most vulnerable, it is essential that sanctions, embargoes or blockades not block the delivery of humanitarian assistance to civilian populations in these and other countries.

We lift up the words of UN Secretary-General Guterres:

“I am encouraging the waiving of sanctions imposed on countries to ensure access to food, essential health supplies, and COVID-19 medical support. This is the time for solidarity not exclusion…. Let us remember that we are only as strong as the weakest health system in our interconnected world.”

We believe that this crisis provides an opportunity for Canada to build on its commitment to a feminist approach to foreign policy, a robust Women, Peace & Security agenda, and the Feminist International Assistance Policy that supports the economic, political, and social empowerment of women and girls, and makes gender equality a priority, for the benefit of all people. Unilateral economic and political sanctions discriminate against women and the most marginalized: They hurt ordinary people and have the most severe negative consequences on women, children, the elderly, the disabled, and those living in impoverished communities.

We ask that Canada demonstrate its commitment to international and humanitarian law in this time of particular crisis by repealing Canadian unilateral economic and political sanctions, and by providing facilitation and support to Canadian and other INGOs providing humanitarian assistance in countries experiencing global sanctions, embargoes or blockades.

We look forward to consulting with you further on these concerns and providing you with more information as desired.  

Grace and peace to you and your staff as you continue to exercise leadership in these unprecedented times.

Sincerely,

Rick Cober Bauman
Executive Director
Mennonite Central Committee Canada  

(Ms) Liz Bernstein
Co-Executive Director
Nobel Women’s Initiative

 (Rev.) Michael Blair
Executive Minister – Church in Mission
The United Church of Canada

Cc:       

Honorable Chrystia Freeland,
Deputy Prime Minister

Honorable Karina Gould,
Minister of International Development

Conservative Party of Canada
Leona Alleslev
Mike Lake

 Bloc Quebecois
Stephane Bergeron 

New Democratic Party of Canada
Jack HarrisHeather McPherson

Green Party of Canada
Elizabeth May

The Korea Peace Now! Campaign Urges Increased Humanitarian Aid to DPRK and Sanctions Relief for Coronavirus Prevention

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In light of growing concerns about the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, and the vulnerability of the civilian population in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK/North Korea) while under crippling sanctions and forced isolation, the members of the global campaign Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to End the War urge governments around the world to take every step available to increase humanitarian and medical assistance to the DPRK. That includes increasing contributions to the UN, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and other humanitarian organizations providing aid in the DPRK, working with the UN Security Council and the US government to ensure unhindered delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid, and offering direct assistance to North Korea. The campaign also urges the UN Security Council and governments imposing sanctions on the DPRK to lift or reform those undermining the capacity of the government to respond to the humanitarian crises as found in the October 2019 Korea Peace Now-commissioned independent report “The Human Costs and Gendered Impact of Sanctions on North Korea.”

With an impending pandemic, now is the time for all countries to work together for the health and safety of everyone.

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CANCELED: Human Rights Council Side Event Panel to Address the Link Between Peace and Human Rights on the Korean Peninsula

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UPDATE, MARCH 2, 2020: Due to the global COVID-19 situation, all side events at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva have been canceled. (effective 3 March 2020 until the end of the session)

For immediate release:

February 24, 2020

Panel to Address the Link Between Peace and Human Rights on the Korean Peninsula

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the DPRK will be among the speakers

Geneva, Switzerland—As the unresolved Korean War enters its 70th year, a panel discussion will explore the connection between peace and human rights, the impact of sanctions on human rights, and the role of women peacebuilders in resolving the crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Tomás Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), will be among the speakers.

“Peace on the Korean Peninsula as a Human Rights Issue: War, Sanctions, and Women Peacebuilders,” a side event to the 43rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, will also include several co-authors of the Oct. 2019 report The Human Costs and Gendered Impact of Sanctions on North Korea, the first comprehensive assessment of the adverse consequences of sanctions for ordinary North Koreans. The panel is being organized by the global campaign Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to End the War, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), and the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, World Council of Churches, and will take place ahead of an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the DPRK and an oral update on the DPRK at the Human Rights Council.

“A declaration on peace and development in the Korean Peninsula, and a swift resolution of the armistice status, would create the atmosphere and space needed for further discussions on denuclearization, less isolation, more access, and respect for human rights,” said Tomás Ojea Quintana, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“The unresolved Korean War has perpetuated a worsening security and human rights crisis on the Korean Peninsula,” said Ko YouKyoung, a consultant for Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), one of four women’s peace groups that launched the Korea Peace Now! global campaign in 2019. “But in order to get to peace, women must be included in the process.”

“Sanctions have not only been ineffective at convincing the DPRK to denuclearize, but in their current form may be in violation of international law, in particular humanitarian and human rights norms,” said Henri Feron, a co-author of The Human Costs and Gendered Impact of Sanctions on North Korea and a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.

For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Nina Maria Hansen, Communications Manager, WILPF, nina[dot]hansen[at]wilpf[dot]org.

What: Panel discussion on“Peace on the Korean Peninsula as a Human Rights Issue: War, Sanctions, and Women Peacebuilders”

Where: Room VII, Palais Des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland

When: 5 March 2020, 11:00 a.m.-12:00pm

Speakers:

  • Peter Prove, Director, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, World Council of Churches (moderator)
  • Ewa Eriksson, former Head of Country Delegation in the DPRK for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (retired)
  • Kevin Gray, Professor of International Relations, University of Sussex
  • Youkyoung Ko, Consultant, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
  • Henri Feron, Senior Fellow, Center for International Policy
  • Tomás Ojea Quintana, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK

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Korea Peace Now! Condemns the Trump Administration’s Decision to Loosen Restrictions on the Use of Landmines

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For immediate release
January 31, 2020

The Korea Peace Now! campaign strongly condemns the Trump administration’s decision to loosen restrictions on the US military’s ability to use landmines.

Given that the DMZ has one of the highest concentrations of landmines in the world, that the United States has stated its commitment to build a “lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula,” and that the two leaders of Korea pledged to transform the Korean Peninsula “into a land of peace free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threats,” the decision to expand the use of landmines is antithetical to the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, as well as a threat to the peace and security of Koreans, Americans, and people all over the world.

“The United States, South Korea, and North Korea should be signing the Mine Ban Treaty to once and for all end the use of these horrific weapons of war,” said Jody Williams, the chair of the Nobel Women’s Initiative. “Mr. Trump should not be rolling back U.S. landmine policy when we have been making steady progress in creating a landmine-free world.”

Williams shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which she helped create. In 2018, she met with soldiers in South Korea who described to her how the process of de-mining portions of the DMZ with North Korean soldiers led to a greater understanding of their shared humanity. “Artificial borders and weapons keep us apart when we need to come together,” said Williams.

The women leaders of Korea Peace Now! point out that while the Obama administration restricted the use of landmines and put a moratorium on production, it excluded the Korean Peninsula, allowing the US military to continue to use landmines there.

“Landmines have killed and maimed hundreds of people in South Korea since the Korean War, and hundreds of landmines remain,” said Youngmi Cho, executive director of the Korean Women’s Movement for Peace. “They are not making us any safer, and they will not make the world any safer. This is a dangerous step backward for peace.”

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Join the National Grassroots Gathering for Peace in Korea in March 2020

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2020 marks the 70th year of the Korean War. It’s time to end the war and make it year one of peace.

Join the Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network, Peace Treaty Now and the Korea Peace Network in Washington DC to raise a unified voice for an end to the Korean War and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

What: 70 Years Too Long: National Action to End the Korean War

Where: Washington, DC

When: March 15-17, 2020

Schedule of events:

SUNDAY, MARCH 15

“End All Endless Wars, Korea Peace Now!” March and Rally at the White House
Time: 1-2:30 pm
Location: Lafayette Square, Pennsylvania Ave. NW & 16th St. NW, Washington, DC

Joint National Convening of the Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network and Peace Treaty Now
Time: 3-5 pm (followed by dinner and dwipuri)
Location: Human Rights Campaign, 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Washington, DC
Registration required.

MONDAY, MARCH 16

Annual Korea Peace Network Conference
Time: 8:30 am-1:30 pm
Location: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 301 A St. SE, Washington, DC
Registration required.

“70 Years of War and Division: The Path to Peace with North Korea”
Public forum with keynote by Dr. Bruce Cumings
Location: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 301 A St. SE, Washington, DC

  • 1:30-2pm: Keynote address by Dr. Bruce Cumings
  • 2-3:15pm: “70 Years of the Korean War”: intergenerational Korean American women dialogue. Speakers: Joy Lee Powell Gebhard; Aiyoung Choi, Women Cross DMZ; Grace Choi, Re-generational Movement; Minju Bae, Nodutdol for Korean Community Development; Yeonhee Kim, Korea Peace Now! Hawaii
  • 3:30-4:30pm: “The Path to Peace”: panel on the challenges and opportunities for a peaceful resolution to the conflict between the US and North Korea. Speakers: Jessica Lee, Senior Research Fellow in the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute; Joy Yoon, Co-Founder and International Director of the Ignis Community; Erik Sperling, Executive Director of Just Foreign Policy; Catherine Killough, Advocacy and Leadership Coordinator of Women Cross DMZ

TUESDAY, MARCH 17

Korea Peace Advocacy
Time: 9 am-5 pm
Location: Capitol Hill, Washington, DC
Registration required.

For more info: contact US National Organizer Hyun Lee.

Download the flyer.Download

Letter to President Trump and Chairman Kim from the Korea Peace Now! Campaign

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December 16, 2019

Dear President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un:

We are representatives of Korea Peace Now!, a women-led global campaign to end the Korean War. Our coalition includes Nobel Peace laureates, activists, professors, human rights lawyers, a retired Army colonel, and a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.

We are writing to respectfully urge you to find a peaceful settlement while the window of diplomatic opportunity is still open.

Christmas has been an occasion to call for peace on earth and goodwill to all people. During World War I, there were spontaneous truces in which soldiers would cast aside their guns, crawl out of the trenches, and embrace their enemies. We appeal to you to demonstrate the same magnanimous spirit.

A return to escalation would not only reignite the danger of nuclear war, but also seriously set back the political momentum for peace painstakingly built over the past two years. Ever since the Singapore Declaration called for “new U.S.-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity,” we have seen growing and unprecedented support for normalization.  A recent poll conducted by YouGov and Data for Progress shows that 67 percent of Americans now support negotiating a peace agreement with the DPRK, and support is even higher among registered Republican voters, at 76 percent.

As a global movement dedicated to ending the Korean War, we have consistently advocated that a durable resolution of the conflict requires a peace agreement, sanctions relief, women’s participation in the peace process, and the right of all to live without fear of nuclear war. Any delay prolongs the suffering of those who wish to live in peace.

Next June, the Korean War will have languished for 70 years. We must all push back against the forces, habits, and structures that perpetuate it.

As peace activists, we are doing our utmost to educate the public, organize peace-loving people everywhere, and encourage all sides to find a resolution. Thanks to the bold steps you have taken to meet and engage with each other, the historic resolution we helped introduce in the US Congress this year to formally end the Korean War with a peace agreement now has over 40 co-sponsors, and the list is growing.

There can be no progress or resolution, however, without meaningful talks. Too often, one step forward in diplomacy is followed by two steps back in opposition. This Christmas, we urge you to finish what you started and do what no other US and DPRK leaders have succeeded in doing: end the Korean War.

You have the power to heal millions of hearts broken by three generations of war. We are counting on you to implement the vision of peace that Koreans, Americans, and all citizens of the world wish for.

May peace prevail on the Korean Peninsula and around the world.

Sincerely,

Korean Women’s Movement for Peace (Korea Women’s Association United, Women Making Peace, National YWCA of Korea, and Korea Women’s Alliance)

Nobel Women’s Initiative

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

Women Cross DMZ

Liz Bernstein Announced as Co-Coordinator of Korea Peace Now!

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Effective immediately, Liz Bernstein has been named Co-Coordinator of the global campaign Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to End the War.

Bernstein is the founding Director and Executive Director of the Ottawa-based Nobel Women’s Initiative, one of four organizations — including Women Cross DMZ, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), and the Korean Women’s Movement for Peace — that launched the Korea Peace Now! campaign in March. She brings with her decades of experience in growing the global women’s peace movement and amplifying the messages of grassroots activists from conflict countries. She is a master campaigner and has led many successful global campaigns, including the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Bernstein joins Christine Ahn, Executive Director of Women Cross DMZ, as Co-Coordinator of Korea Peace Now!

“I’m honored to be named the co-coordinator of the women-led Korea Peace Now! campaign,” said Bernstein. “Ending the Korean War is one of the important pressing issues for global peace and security, and women’s leadership is key to ensuring a successful peace process. I look forward to working with our campaign partners to achieve these goals.”

Korea Peace Now! Women Mobilizing to End the War is a global campaign to educate, organize and advocate for a Korea peace agreement. It is a growing movement of civil society organizations working for an end to war, lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, and women’s inclusion in the peace process.

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