A Recap of Women Cross DMZ’s 10-Year Anniversary Solidarity Trek to Korea
June 23, 2025
Posted in: News
Last month, Women Cross DMZ marked the 10-year anniversary of our historic crossing of the DMZ by bringing a delegation of feminist leaders from the U.S. to meet with fellow peace activists in Korea to build transnational solidarity and amplify our calls to end the Korean War. Building transnational solidarity is particularly important as democracies across the globe face growing attacks by far-right forces, and tensions continue to escalate between the U.S. and China, raising the risk of war in Northeast Asia.
Our delegation included Afghan American, Indigenous (to Turtle Island), Korean American, and South Asian feminist leaders.
From Pyeongtaek to Jeju Island, we learned about the ongoing impact of the Korean War, and how everyday people — especially women — are working to bring peace and undo decades of harmful militarism. WCDMZ delegates saw firsthand the connections to their own struggles against U.S. militarism and forever wars in their respective homelands, from Afghanistan to Turtle Island.
Here’s a recap of our activities:
Day 1, May 23, 2025: DMZ, Civilian Control Zone, and Yongjugol
Women Cross DMZ 10 Year Anniversary Solidarity Trek Day 1: DMZ, Civilian Control Zone
On the first day, our group visited the Civilian Control Zone — a buffer zone just south of the Demilitarized Zone that is controlled by the military, with limited civilian access. We toured the area and saw firsthand the impacts of the unresolved war. For example, the road to the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a joint economic venture between South and North Korea that shut down in 2016, is now deserted. While the lush landscape is beautiful and fertile for farming, many areas are restricted because of landmines. We also staged the flags from Yong Soon Min’s work, “Movement Towards” (2018).
Afterward, we traveled to Yongjugol, a red-light district in Paju where we met with organizers from Scarlet Cha Cha and Birch Tree Association, who are fighting for the basic social rights and livelihoods of sex workers resisting eviction, criminalization, and marginalization. The fight against militarism is deeply intertwined with the fight for sex workers’ rights due to the long history of sexual policing and violence in and around U.S. and South Korean military bases and camptowns, or “kijichons.” This history is shaped by Japanese colonization, U.S. militarism, and South Korea’s anti-sex work regime through which thousands of Korean women have been subjected to harsh violence and exploitation at the hands of U.S., South Korean, and Japanese military and state officials. Many sex workers in red light districts are single mothers and primary breadwinners for their families, facing harsh policing, surveillance, and displacement at the hands of state authorities.
Day 2, May 24, 2025: Pyeongtaek Peace Walk on International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament
Women Cross DMZ 10 Year Anniversary Trek Day 2: Pyeongtaek March
The following day, on International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament, we commemorated the ten-year anniversary of our inaugural DMZ crossing by marching with hundreds of women peace activists outside the largest overseas U.S. military base, Camp Humphreys, in Pyeongtaek. With this action, we called for an end to the 75-year-old Korean War and rampant militarism in Korea.
Camp Humphreys was built atop rice fields and farming villages, and was once the site of a Japanese military base. Encompassing more than 3,500 acres, it has been the focus of protests and resistance against U.S. militarism and foreign occupation. A local women’s group, Gyeonggi Women’s Network, has organized an annual peace walk here since our 2015 crossing, and this year’s walk was organized by Gyeonggi Women’s Association United. The walk also served as a reminder of the gendered dimensions of the ongoing war.
“Women in Korea have been living in the shadow of unresolved war for more than 70 years, bearing the burdens of militarization, division, and separation. We are joining with our sisters from across the globe to take a stand to show that Korean women demand peace and disarmament,” said Lee Jung Ah, Standing Representative of Gyeonggi Women’s Association United.
We also spoke with organizers at Pyeongtaek Peace Center about how they’ve assisted villagers and farmers impacted by the expansion of the U.S. military base Camp Humphreys.
Women Cross DMZ 10 Year Anniversary Trek Day 4: Pyeongtaek
Caption: Diné Human Rights Advocate Janene Yazzie drew connections between the Land Back movement and the struggles against the expansion of Camp Humphreys.
Day 3, May 25, 2025: Dongducheon
Women Cross DMZ 10 Year Anniversary Trek Day 3: Dongducheon
[Caption: In this video, University of Denver Professor Marie Berry explains the history of the “Monkey House.”
On the third day we visited the site of a former medical detention center, euphemistically called the “Monkey House,” in Dongducheon.
In the 1960s and ‘70s, thousands of Korean women were forcibly subjected to mandatory STD testing twice a week — a measure primarily intended to protect U.S. servicemen, with no regard for women’s health. Women were required to carry health cards, and when they tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases, were forcibly detained for treatment in this medical detention center. If women were caught without their health cards, or if their tests were not up to date during random inspections by the authorities, they were also detained and forcibly treated without further testing.
The South Korean government and the U.S. military cooperated in creating this system of violence against women. According to a survey conducted by the Gyeonggi Province Women and Family Foundation, an average of 10,000 women in the military camptowns of Gyeonggi Province were registered and managed by the government for STDs in the 1960s and ‘70s.
Now the government wants to demolish the site. But activists are hoping to preserve it so that future generations can learn about the history of human rights abuses there — another harmful legacy of the war and militarism. They’ve held an encampment at the site for over 270 days to prevent its destruction. We were honored to visit these activists and support their ongoing struggle and resistance. You can donate directly to Dongducheon organizers here.
Day 4, May 26, 2025: Gangjeong, Jeju Island
Women Cross DMZ 10 Year Anniversary Trek Day 4: Gangjeong, Jeju Island
[Caption: Arash Azizzada, co-director of Afghans for a Better Tomorrow, reflects on his time in Gangjeong, Jeju Island, and the commonalities between Afghans and Koreans.]
On the fourth day we traveled to Gangjeong on Jeju Island, where the construction of a South Korean naval base in 2016 has become a focus of ongoing resistance. Every day, activists hold a human chain rally in front of the base to protest its presence, draw attention to the ongoing human and environmental impacts, and call for the complete demilitarization of Jeju.
“Jeju is important for the peace of Northeast Asia, but I also want to remind people that Jeju is one of many islands that are militarized by the United States as part of its Indo-Pacific military strategy,” said longtime Gangjeong activist Sung-hee Choi. “If you are concerned about Jeju, you should also consider the plight of all sites of U.S. militarism across the globe.”
Learn more and give your support at savejejunow.org.
Day 4, May 26, 2025: 4.3 Peace Park, Jeju Island
Women Cross DMZ 10 Year Anniversary Trek Day 5: 4.3 Peace Park, Jeju Island
On the fourth day we traveled to Jeju Island, where we learned about how U.S.-backed Korean police forces indiscriminately killed tens of thousands of civilians between April 3, 1948 and May 1949 — what is referred to as the April 3rd Jeju “Incident.” Historian Bruce Cumings writes that through Jeju 4.3, “the postwar world first witnessed the American capacity for unrestrained violence against indigenous peoples fighting for self-determination and social justice.”
In the aftermath of Korea’s division, Jeju civilians organized protests against the division and a strike against the forced elections in the U.S.-occupied half of southern Korea. In response, U.S.-backed Korean police forces and paramilitary groups killed an estimated 30,000 people — a brutal “collective punishment.” They also destroyed 300 villages, displacing 80,000 to 90,000 people who were then forcibly relocated to internment camps along the coastline.
U.S. military and Korean government authorities stoked intense anti-communist fervor, referring to Jeju as a “red island.” U.S. Col. Rothwell Brown infamously said, “I’m not interested in the cause of the uprising. My mission is to crack down only.”
ROK government officials heavily censored and covered up evidence of the massacre. Survivors were silenced, disappeared, or imprisoned. After years of civic activism, the National Committee for Investigation of the Truth about the Jeju 4.3 Events was established in 2000, and among its findings was that the U.S. military played an active role in overseeing the mass executions, forced displacement, and starvation of civilians. While President Roh Moo-hyun issued an official apology for the atrocities, the U.S. has yet to take accountability.
In 2008, the Jeju 4.3 Peace Park opened to memorialize the victims of the massacre, including interviews with survivors, historical exhibits, and art installations. We visited the Peace Park and held a memorial to remember the victims.
Learn more at jeju43peace.org.
Additionally on the trip, we also:
- Met with progressive South Korean National Assembly members in Seoul to discuss U.S.-Korea relations, protecting democracy, and women’s leadership in peace- building
- Joined BDS Korea at the 42nd Urgent Action organized by Korean Civil Society Condemning Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
Overall, it was an inspiring trip that helped us build international solidarity and collective resistance against militarism and forever wars. Thank you to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Women’s Foundation of Colorado, and all our donors and supporters for your generous support!