Grassroots Updates and Post-Summer Reflections | September KPNGN Newsletter
Dear Friend,
Our September KPNGN meeting will take place next Thursday, September 11 at 5pm PT/8pm ET! We will debrief our summer mobilizations, including the People’s Summit for Korea, share committee reports, and discuss upcoming regional events and political updates. Immediately after, on the same zoom link, we will also resume our three-part Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network Orientation this month! In Part 1, we’ll be covering the history of the Korean War 101. RSVP here.
🗓️ Upcoming Events
TODAY! Deals, Dilemmas, and Diplomacy: Analyzing the Lee-Trump Summit at 5pm PT/8pm ET
Join us today at 5pm PT/8pm ET (Sept. 3 at 9am KST) for a webinar debriefing South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s first meeting with U.S. President Trump. We’ll hear from speakers Youngmi Cho (PEACEMOMO), Paul Liem (Korea Policy Institute), and Dae-Han Song (International Strategy Center), moderated by Cathi Choi (Women Cross DMZ). View the recording here.
September 15-19, 2025 | Commemorating 80 Years of Liberation and 60 Years of Korea–Japan Relations “East Asia–North America Peace Workshop & Campaign: Ending the Korean War and Colonial Legacy”
Women Cross DMZ and Korea Peace Now! are sponsoring “East Asia–North America Peace Workshop & Campaign: Ending the Korean War and Colonial Legacy,” a collaborative multi-workshop campaign taking place from September 15-19 in Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. Objectives of the campaign include strengthening the role of civil society and academia in advancing peace on the Korean Peninsula and in East Asia and building networks of cooperation between U.S. and East Asian organizations. Some of the workshops and events will be open to the public. Learn more about the campaign and partners here. Please contact Echo at echo@womencrossdmz.org if you are interested in joining us in Washington D.C.
🗣️ Community Report-Back
8.15 National Liberation Day Rallies
From Washington D.C. to Philly to Los Angeles, KPNGN members joined rallies for National Liberation Day on Friday, August 15. On the 80th anniversary of division, we called for an end to the ongoing Korean War alongside dozens of partner organizations. We also called to halt Ulchi Freedom Shield war drills. These massive war drills escalate tensions, renew the threat of war, and exact serious tolls on civilian lives. Thank you to Sheen Kim, a Nodutdol and KPNGN member, for co-organizing the DC rally.
👥 Ongoing Advocacy
On August 28, KPNGN Members and allied peace activists met with Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office to advocate for new language in the National Defense Authorization Act, the national military spending bill. In July, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed a version of the bill that would prohibit military spending on withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea; this is the first time in five years that the NDAA includes this ban. The bill also contains a new ban for the first time prohibiting the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) over troops in South Korea unless in U.S. national security interest. Some highlights from constituents and local peace leaders below:
“South Korea is one of the only nations over which America has operational control (OPCON). South Korea has been at war for over 70 years. It is utterly incomprehensible that a nation as developed as South Korea, with the economic standing that it has, that over the decades has accomplished what it has, doesn’t have operational control over its own military. And it’s high time to start to treat South Korea as an actual ally, not a vassal.”
“We have the military exercises going on now. And were the Senate version to be adopted ultimately, this sends a really hard message to North Korea. . . . How would we feel if France or Korea could control our troops? I mean, it’s ridiculous.”
“Why does this have to be an endless confrontation? And I think Senator Warren is there in her thinking and we’d love to hear her take an initiative on this.”
We celebrate the constituents who advocated for peace!
📚 Recommended Viewings
From the Education Committee:
- U.S. threats against Korea in a changing world: Remarks from the People’s Summit for Korea. Save the date for a Korea Peace Study Group report-back on October 10th at 8 pm ET!
- Disfigured, shamed and forgotten: BBC visits the Korean survivors of the Hiroshima bomb discusses issues facing ethnic Korean survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and perspectives on peace, reparation, and apology.
- Why North Korea Is Coming Clean on Its Role in the Russia-Ukraine War provides analysis on recent public acknowledgement of North Korean troops in the Russia-Ukraine War by North Korean leadership and what it means for regional alliances and joint military operations.
- North Korea slams South’s president over denuclearisation remarks reports on the critical response from North Korea towards Lee Jae-myung’s recent remarks on the U.S.-ROK alliance and denuclearization.
- Lee-Trump summit highlights risk posed by far right’s growing international network analyzes concerning developments in and connections between the U.S. and Korea’s far-right movements, including conspiracy theories and the recent travels of far-right figures in the U.S. to Korea.
✌️Follow Korea Peace Now! on Bluesky! Say hello and check out our account!
🛍 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.
Sincerely,
Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network