Rest in Power and Peace Cora Weiss: Tribute by Christine Ahn
December 16, 2025
In early December, our world lost a true peacemaker, the legendary Cora Weiss, who dedicated her life to promoting world peace, denuclearization, civil rights, and women’s leadership.The New York Times published a heartfelt obituary about her life and the profound impact she had on all of the movements she was involved in, from the Women’s Strike for Peace to the anti-war movement that ultimately led to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam.
I first met Cora in 2014 through Gloria Steinem, who recommended we invite her to join our historic women’s peace walk in Korea in 2015. When I asked her to participate, she eagerly accepted our invitation. But soon the reality of leaving behind her beloved husband, Peter Weiss, the renowned international human rights lawyer, sank in. Although Cora wasn’t able to join our crossing, she was as good as there because she helped guide and shape every step of our journey—reviewing press releases, calling influential contacts she knew, and personally picking up the phone whenever I needed some wisdom and perspective.
After appearing on the Wolf Blitzer show, where I was accused of ignoring North Korean women’s human rights, I was devastated. While many sent messages praising my performance, it was Cora’s words that brought me comfort, not because they were warm or fuzzy—that’s not her style. Instead, she reminded me that the path to peace is long and difficult, and that we must do everything possible to prevent war. She always provided perspective, recalling the horror stories she endured during her activism to end the U.S. war in Vietnam, like the time she came out of her home to find her car tires slashed.
Cora was generous to me and Women Cross DMZ in countless ways. She and Peter invited me to their welcoming home for dinner during my visits to New York, and after we crossed the DMZ in 2015, she hosted our delegation for a celebratory lunch where we strategized how to build on our momentum. As we navigated numerous political landmines in our efforts to promote peace in Korea, whenever a difficult foreign policy question arose, Gloria would often say, “Let’s ask Cora.” And without fail, Cora would always provide an insightful political assessment. She stayed laser-focused on her message: stand for peace, invite women to the peace table, and call for UNSCR 1325, which advocates for women’s participation at all levels of decision-making in peace processes. “It’s the law,” Cora often said, “international law.”
After reading an article I wrote or seeing me on television, she would mostly send affirming messages. During the 2018 peace summits, after Suzy Kim and I appeared on Democracy Now, Cora sent us an email: “You both were well informed, made informed comments, and looked gorgeous! Well done.” It was such a big deal to get such positive feedback from Cora, who had extremely high standards. And trust me, she didn’t hold back when she thought you could have done better. That’s Cora. Straight shooter. Brutally honest. Strategic. Sharp.
I’ll end with one of my favorite Cora stories.
In 2019, we launched our Korea Peace Now! campaign, calling for an end to the Korean War through a peace agreement and advocating women’s leadership in peacebuilding. Although we met with Trump’s National Security Advisor on Asia, we were unable to secure a meeting with Stephen Biegun, Trump’s North Korean envoy.
In February, before the Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, Biegun delivered what many believed was the most thoughtful, comprehensive, and pragmatic speech on transforming U.S. relations with North Korea by a senior official. Kathleen Richards, our communications director at the time, attended his talk at Stanford and afterward approached him. Biegun, who made clear he was not taking any more questions, paused to listen when Kathleen explained she was with Women Cross DMZ. This piqued his interest and led him to invite her to walk with him to his car. By the end of that encounter, Biegun had given her his card and encouraged her to reach out.
So we gave it a shot. When we traveled to Hanoi and Washington, DC, I emailed Biegun but never received a response.
When we launched our campaign at the United Nations Correspondents Association, a journalist told us that Biegun was going to give a briefing at the US Permanent Mission to the UN, just a few blocks away. So we hurried over carrying our signs and banners, joining the media crews waiting for Biegun’s arrival.
Kathleen was the first to approach him when he arrived, but she got brushed aside by his security detail. Next was my turn, I thrust myself into the “media scrum” (as Biegun described it) and handed him our peace scarf and urged him to sign a peace treaty with North Korea and invite women to peace talks. He flashed a smile and took the scarf.
But still, we got no response from Biegun.
Several months later, the invitation arrived, through none other than Cora. She was going to attend Biegun’s talk at the Council on Foreign Relations, and she asked me to draft a letter. After his talk, she cornered him, handed him our letter, and introduced herself, “I’m an advisor to Women Cross DMZ…”
He responded, saying, “Yes, I know Christine Ahn…” and he talked about the peace scarf we had given him. Cora urged him to meet with women peace leaders, and he promised that he would. That afternoon, I emailed him again and said I would be in Washington DC the following week, and this time, his secretary wrote back.
Thanks to Cora, the lead U.S. negotiator on North Korea was finally meeting with women peacemakers.
As beloved Cora Weiss would say, the work for peace continues. Rest in power, dear Cora. You made this world a better place.