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Honoring 11 years of women’s leadership | WCDMZ Anniversary Newsletter

May 24, 2026 

News categories: Media • Newsletters • Political Education

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Forget the World Cup—the Most Important Soccer Match Is Happening in Korea This Week

May 18, 2026  | Common Dreams

News categories: In the News • Political Education

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Congresswoman Ramirez, Human Rights Organizations Call for Recommitment to Human Rights, Dismantling of Systems of Oppression, including DHS and Defense

May 13, 2026 

News categories: In the News

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U.S.-China Rivalry and the Militarization of the Pacific: Panel Recap

May 1, 2026 

News categories: In the News

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“No Different Than the Comfort Women Issue We Raise”: On Lee Jae-myung’s Recent Remarks and Connecting Militarized State Violence, From Palestine to Korea

April 27, 2026 

News categories: Political Education

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🎐 Today is International Women’s Day for Peace and 🎐 Today is International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament. #OTD in 2015, 30 women peacemakers from around the world crossed the DMZ to boldly call for peace. Women Cross DMZ’s 2015 peace walk follows in the footsteps of a long legacy of Korean and global women mobilizing for peace and an end to war in Korea. 

In honor of this legacy, we share an inspiring and rich history of international women seeking creative avenues to pursue dialogue, solidarity, and action for liberation and peace on the Korean peninsula. Swipe to see a working timeline of women-led Korea peacebuilding ➡️ 

📍Beginning with the 1949 Asian Women's conference in Beijing, an international women’s delegation to North Korea during the Korean War in 1951, Lim Su-kyung’s DMZ Crossing in 1989, the 2008-12 Northeast Asian Women’s Peace Conference, our 10-Year Anniversary Peace Walk outside the largest overseas U.S. military base, Camp Humphreys, in Pyeongtaek last year, and more. 

🌏 On WCDMZ’s 11th anniversary, we honor the tireless advocacy of all women peacebuilders who crossed divides and renew their call for genuine peace, collective liberation, and an end to wars everywhere.

Feminist histories are told by and through collectives. We invite you to join us in celebrating today’s history and Korea peace by sharing below the histories and individuals who inspire you today ⤵️

#koreapeacenow
⚽️ "As Korean peace advocates, we know that openin ⚽️ "As Korean peace advocates, we know that openings are few and far between, and we cannot afford to miss this window of opportunity. Soccer may be a spectator sport, but people-led peacebuilding efforts require us all to participate," WCDMZ Executive Director Cathi Choi writes for @commondreams. 

The upcoming soccer match featuring Pyongyang-based Naegohyang Women’s Football Club and Suwon FC Women is more than just a semifinals match; it marks the first time North Korea has sent athletes to South Korea to compete since 2018. 

In support, some 200 South Korean civic groups have formed a 3,000-strong cheering squad for the historic inter-Korean match, and South Korea’s government set aside 300 million won ($202,000 USD) in government funds to support the cheering squad. 

"These exchanges allow ordinary Koreans to encounter one another—and the global community—outside the framework of hostility and forever war," Cathi reflects. "Moments like this have the power to catalyze efforts for change." 

"Peace is not built in a single summit or event, but gradually through relationships, trust building, and repeated acts of engagement. While this week’s match in Suwon will last only 90 minutes, if we are wise enough to recognize its significance, its meaning could endure far longer." 

🔗 Read the full article at bit.ly/ball4peace
⚽️ Game, Set, Peace: Sports as Inter-Korean Engage ⚽️ Game, Set, Peace: Sports as Inter-Korean Engagement and Cooperation ✌️ 

This week, Pyongyang-based Naegohyuang Women’s Football Club and Suwon Women’s Football Club are scheduled to face off in the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Champions League semifinals in South Korea, making it the first time North Korea is sending athletes to South Korea to compete since 2018. 

Although this match is rare, there is a long, established history of sports competition as an important venue for inter-Korean engagement. Competitive sports have been a vital form of unofficial diplomacy and engagement between the Koreas, and civic and state responses to these games reveal how sports allows for dialogue, interest, and curiosity around inter-Korean relations, as well as cooperation over hostility and support for people-to-people engagement efforts. 

Swipe to learn more ➡️
🎐 Today, Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03) an 🎐 Today, Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03) and national human rights leaders introduced the Renewed Mandate for Human Rights, a resolution to designate a United States Human Rights Commission. The resolution also serves as a comprehensive roadmap outlining the policies members of Congress must commit to, including affordable housing, universal health care, climate resilience, humane immigration, the abolition of detention, the dismantling of the Department of Homeland Security, the redirecting of the Department of Defense’s funding, and more. 

Women Cross DMZ was proud to endorse this visionary resolution alongside The legislation has the endorsement of local and national organizations, including IMEU Policy Project, Center for Constitutional Rights, Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America, MADRE, Climate Justice Alliance, Illinois Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, Muslim Civic Coalition, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, Equality Illinois, and The Peoples Lobby.

Swipe to see WCDMZ Executive Director Cathi Choi's quote in today's press release.
Last month, President Trump nominated former Congr Last month, President Trump nominated former Congresswoman Michelle Steel as U.S. Ambassador to South Korea. As Korea peace advocates, we strongly oppose the nomination of former U.S. Representative Steel as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, the highest ranking diplomatic representative of the United States to South Korea. Here’s why ➡️

• Steel will undermine prospects for lasting peace in Korea. As Congresswoman, Steel took a staunchly conservative, hardline approach to China and North Korea, including by firmly opposing efforts to end the Korean War. Steel does not represent the interests of the majority of U.S. voters who want peace and dialogue with North Korea. Over 400 South Korean civic groups have already raised concerns about her appointment, while some far‑right fringe groups have been energized by it in part due to her prior support of the now-impeached and far-right former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

• Steel has promoted increased U.S. military spending for forever war. Steel has advocated for increased military funding and a more aggressive defense postureunder the theme of “deterring North Korea” and “countering China.” Increasing military spending fuels arms races, deepens mistrust between countries, and further destabilizes international relations and diverts critical funds away from genuine peace-building initiatives. 

• Steel has failed Korean American and Asian American communities. Steel has promoted divisive rhetoric and even used inflammatory “McCarthyist” imagery in campaign ads against political opponents of Asian descent, directly harming Asian American and immigrant communities.

Join and view the full petition at bit.ly/no2steel 🔗
🌏 U.S.-China Rivalry and the Militarization of the 🌏 U.S.-China Rivalry and the Militarization of the Pacific: Panel Recap 

WCDMZ joined the Futures Beyond Militarism conference held at the University of Texas Austin, along with our Feminist Peace Initiative partners @antiwarfeminist, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance @ggjalliance, and MADRE @madrespeaks. This convening of scholars and activists examined global alternatives to militarism and ways communities envision and enact sustainable and interdependent futures.

WCDMZ Executive Director Cathi Choi joined a panel with scholars Mark Tseng-Putterman and Kyle Kajihiro, moderated by Christine Ahn, WCDMZ Founder & Institute of Policy Studies Fellow on the opening panel, “U.S.-China Rivalry and the Militarization of the Pacific." Panelists explored the mainstream framing of the U.S. and China as a “rivalry” and how this narrative conceals multiple histories of colonization, connecting U.S. imperialist violence across China, Korea, Hawai’i, the Middle East, and globally.

Panelists spoke on recent U.S. marine deployments targeting China and the history of U.S. aggression and expansion across Asia and the Pacific, the ongoing U.S. military control and occupation of Korea, as well as links between anti-Asian violence at home and abroad and the conditions of inclusion in the U.S. empire. 

Other panel discussions throughout the conference highlighted the fight for sovereignty as a broader struggle for the right to life and agency, and how intertwined movements are resisting militarism across the Pacific. The conference also included a screening and discussion of the documentary Mālama Mākua @malamamakua malamamakua on the multi-generational fight to reclaim and restore ancestral land in Hawai’i, which was seized by the US military. We were honored to join this collective and collectively imagine demilitarized futures. 

Thank you to everyone who joined! Stay tuned for our next event 👉

Videos

 

Feminist Wins in a World on Fire

Across the globe, feminists are confronting authoritarianism, gender backlash, and violence, and they are winning, even as backlash intensifies. From Kenya to Latin America to Korea, women organizers are changing laws, shifting public understanding, and building power for a more just future.

In a world that often feels like it is on fire, join the Inclusive Global Leadership Initiative (IGLI) for an International Women’s Day webinar to hear these stories of hope, courage, and persistence. Hear from WCDMZ Executive Director Cathi Choi, Ruth Mumbi, Catalina Martínez Coral, Julia Zulver, and Marie Berry.

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