On May 24, 2015, which is International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament, 30 women peacemakers from 12 countries plan to walk across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea. This will be an important first step in establishing a peace process and supporting Koreans who are working towards reconciliation and hoping to reunite their families.
Some of the women who will be participating in this historic walk are Nobel Peace Prize laureates Mairead Maguire and Leymah Gbowee, feminist author Gloria Steinem, retired U.S. Army Colonel Ann Wright, Suzuyo Takazato from Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, American filmmaker Abigail Disney and Northern Ireland woman Ann Patterson. I had been hoping to be able to join them in their walk, but due to time constraints, visa arrangements and uncertainty around gaining the appropriate authorisation for the actual walk, I am unable to join them on the day.
Last week, the government of North Korea agreed to support the walk, but it has only just been confirmed that officials from South Korea have agreed support for the initiative. The United Nations Command at the DMZ had said it would facilitate the crossing once the South Korean government had given its approval, so it is now “all systems go”.
In many countries around the world, women are walking and calling for demilitarization and an end to war. As the DMZ is the most highly militarized border in the world, women peacemakers believe it is only right that they should walk there in solidarity with their Korean sisters, who want to see an end to the 70-year-old conflict and reunite millions of Korean families.
As I can’t personally be present I am demonstrating my solidarity with my Korean sisters by walking across our “ Peace Bridge” in Derry/ Londonderry starting from Sainsbury’s carpark at 3.00 pm on Sunday 24th May 2015 to St. Columb’s Park in the Waterside and would welcome the company of as many like- minded women ( and male allies) as possible to demonstrate our solidarity with these 30 women peacemakers who will be symbolically walking across the DMG and our sisters in Korea to help bring about a reunification of their country and reuniting of families forcibly separated by the 70 year war which has caused the annexations in their country.
I will be carrying a banner, sponsored by FOCUS: THE IDENTITY TRUST explaining why I am walking but whilst I welcome the support and company of all women from all political parties, ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientations and religions, I would ask for no other political displays of any sort by those joining me on the day so that the message of walking in solidarity with our Korean brothers and sisters in their objective of reunification is not lost. I just simply ask that those attending bring a white flower of any sort and dress in white if at all possible.
Seventy years ago, as the Cold War was being waged, the United States drew a line across the 38th parallel – later with the former Soviet Union’s agreement – dividing an ancient country that had just suffered 35 years of Japanese colonial occupation. Koreans had no desire for their country to be divided, but had no say in the matter. Now, seven decades later, the conflict on the Korean peninsula threatens peace in the Asia Pacific and throughout the world.
In Korean culture, just like in Ireland, family relations are deeply important, and millions of families have been painfully separated for 70 years. Although there was a period of reconciliation during the Sunshine Policy years between the two Korean governments in which many families had the joy of reunion, the vast majority of families remain separated. Many elders have sadly died without ever seeing their families reunited.
North Korea’s economy has also suffered greatly due to Western sanctions and isolationist policies. While the country has come a long way since the 1990s, when hundreds of thousands – and possibly even millions – died from famine, many people are still very poor and lack the basics for survival.
During a visit to Seoul in 2007, an aid worker told Mairead Maguire that most people in South Korea would love to pack their car with food and drive an hour up the road into North Korea to help their Korean brothers and sisters if the governments would agree to open the DMZ and let them cross over to see each other.
The DMZ, with its barbed wire, armed soldiers on both sides, and thousands of explosive landmines, is a tragic physical manifestation of how much the Korean people have suffered and lost in war. Yet, from all Mairead’s encounters with the Korean people, it seems all they wish for is to be reconciled and live in peace with each other.
On May 24, 30 leading women Peace Activists, including Mairead Maguire and Ann Patterson from Northern Ireland, want to walk for peace in North and South Korea, and hope that all governments will support their crossing of the DMZ, recognising that they are doing this because they care for our Korean brothers and sisters. They and I want to plant a seed showing that Koreans, too, should be free to cross the DMZ in their work towards reconciliation, putting an end to the division and fear that keep them in a state of war.
Please show your solidarity by encouraging as many women (and male allies) in your networks, to join me on 24th May 2015 at 3.00pm, by sharing this e-mail in all your networks.
I hope to see as many of you there as possible.
Frances Shiels
Secretary
FOCUS: THE IDENTITY TRUST
FOR FURTHER INFORMAION ON FOCUS AND THIS INITIATIVE
Please follow the following links:
I will be carrying a banner, sponsored by FOCUS: THE IDENTITY TRUST explaining why I am walking but whilst I welcome the support and company of all women from all political parties, ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientations and religions, I would ask for no other political displays of any sort by those joining me on the day so that the message of walking in solidarity with our Korean brothers and sisters in their objective of reunification is not lost. I just simply ask that those attending bring a white flower of any sort and dress in white if at all possible.
Seventy years ago, as the Cold War was being waged, the United States drew a line across the 38th parallel – later with the former Soviet Union’s agreement – dividing an ancient country that had just suffered 35 years of Japanese colonial occupation. Koreans had no desire for their country to be divided, but had no say in the matter. Now, seven decades later, the conflict on the Korean peninsula threatens peace in the Asia Pacific and throughout the world.
In Korean culture, just like in Ireland, family relations are deeply important, and millions of families have been painfully separated for 70 years. Although there was a period of reconciliation during the Sunshine Policy years between the two Korean governments in which many families had the joy of reunion, the vast majority of families remain separated. Many elders have sadly died without ever seeing their families reunited.
North Korea’s economy has also suffered greatly due to Western sanctions and isolationist policies. While the country has come a long way since the 1990s, when hundreds of thousands – and possibly even millions – died from famine, many people are still very poor and lack the basics for survival.
During a visit to Seoul in 2007, an aid worker told Mairead Maguire that most people in South Korea would love to pack their car with food and drive an hour up the road into North Korea to help their Korean brothers and sisters if the governments would agree to open the DMZ and let them cross over to see each other.
The DMZ, with its barbed wire, armed soldiers on both sides, and thousands of explosive landmines, is a tragic physical manifestation of how much the Korean people have suffered and lost in war. Yet, from all Mairead’s encounters with the Korean people, it seems all they wish for is to be reconciled and live in peace with each other.
On May 24, 30 leading women Peace Activists, including Mairead Maguire and Ann Patterson from Northern Ireland, want to walk for peace in North and South Korea, and hope that all governments will support their crossing of the DMZ, recognising that they are doing this because they care for our Korean brothers and sisters. They and I want to plant a seed showing that Koreans, too, should be free to cross the DMZ in their work towards reconciliation, putting an end to the division and fear that keep them in a state of war.
Please show your solidarity by encouraging as many women (and male allies) in your networks, to join me on 24th May 2015 at 3.00pm, by sharing this e-mail in all your networks.
I hope to see as many of you there as possible.
Frances Shiels
Secretary
FOCUS: THE IDENTITY TRUST
FOR FURTHER INFORMAION ON FOCUS AND THIS INITIATIVE
Please follow the following links:
v
