Coordinator
Ann Wright, kpc@veteransforpeace.org
The next Korea Peace Campaign meeting will be: Tuesday, Jan 14, 8pm ET, 7pm CT, 5pm PT, 3pm HT. Participants will share developing news on Korea and discuss our campaign plans for the future. If interested in this video meeting, please email kpc@veteransforpeace.org for Zoom information.
Mission
Korea Peace Campaign (KPC) is a national project of VFP whose mission is to achieve a peaceful end to the lingering, costly Korean War; heal the wounds of the War; and promote reconciliation and friendship between American and Korean people.
KPC's Work
Launched in 2002, when the Bush administration discarded the US-DPRK Agreement of 1994, the Campaign aims to accomplish its mission by a) educating the American public about the real history of the U.S. role in Korea; b) exchanging peace delegations between U.S. and Korea; c) helping the victims of the Korean War; and d) advocating for an official end to the Korean War by replacing the Armistice Agreement with a peace treaty.
In 2005, KPC organized a National Conference for Ending the Korean War at Georgetown University Law Center with the National Lawyers Guild-Korea Peace Program, and adopted the American Declaration of Peace with the Korean People.
In 2006, KPC sent a VFP peace delegation of five veterans, including three veterans of the Korean War, to South Korea to show our solidarity with the Korean villagers at Pyongtaek who were struggling against the expansion of the U.S. military base there.
In 2009, KPC assisted a coalition of U.S. peace groups in organizing the National Campaign to End the Korean War as a founding member.
From 2010 to 2015, VFP members, including Col. Ann Wright, Larry Kerschner and Tarak Kauff, visited Jeju Island to join the South Korean villagers who were protesting against the construction of a big naval base at Gangjeong Village.
In 2015, KPC helped to launch the Korea Peace Network, a coalition of U.S. peace groups and humanitarian organizations working on Korea issues, as a founding group.
KPC joined other organizations in the Korea Peace Network for Korea Advocacy Days at the U.S. Congress in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2020 members of the KPC contacted US Congress persons through Zoom calls.
In 2019, KPC sent a joint letter to the UN Secretary-General, raising questions on the legality of using the UN flag by the so-called "United Nations Command," which was unilaterally created by the U.S. to intervene militarily in the Korean civil war in 1950; but this fake entity is now being used by the U.S. to block the inter-Korean cooperation projects.
In 2020, the VFP-Korea Peace Campaign sent an Open Letter to The Korean People, which was translated and read to the audience who attended the ceremony at the Hyosoon-Miseon Peace Park which was created in memory of two young Korean school girls crushed to death by a heavy U.S. armored vehicle that was travelling on the South Korean countryside road in 2002. VFP-Korea Peace Campaign project donated $1,300 to cover part of the cost of building the Hyosoon-Misun Peace Park.
KPC encourages veterans of the Korean War, in particular, to participate in this campaign.
Background
The U.S. is waging the longest war in its history in Korea.
After dividing Korea into two arbitrarily at the end of the WW II, the U.S. military has been more or less occupying South Korea since 1945. Uncle Sam established a U.S. military government in South Korea for three years, set up a separate regime in the South (ROK) in 1948, and intervened in the Korean civil war, 1948-53, destroying the entire country with heavy, indiscriminate bombing raids. The terrible War was stopped with a cease-fire only in 1953. Thereafter, the U.S. brought in its nuclear weapons into South Korea in 1958 in violation of the Armistice Agreement--igniting an intense arms race with North Korea. The U.S. military troops in South Korea number about 30,000, which cost us billions of dollars each year that are solely needed at home. From 1950, the U.S. also imposed and maintains heavy economic sanctions on DPRK. The tragic Korean War is still continuing today without a peace treaty.
- The Military Armistice in Korea
- Timeline on Nuclear Threats on Korea
- Joint Statement from Six -Party Talks (9/19/2005)
- Joint Statement from Six-Party Talks (2/13/2007)
- Joint Statement from Six-Party Talks (10/3/2007)
- US/DPRK Statements (2/29/2012)
- Joint Statement from US-DPRK Summit (6/12/2018)
- The Threat of Nuclear War, North Korea or the United States?
By Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2/8/2016) - North Korea's Reactor in Syria by Gareth Porter
- "Beyond No Gun Ri", an excerpt by Sahr Conway- Lanz, Ph.D.
- Picasso's 'Massacre in Korea'
- Rep. Honda's Statement (7-25-2013)
- WCC Statement on Korea-2013
- "A Murderous History of Korea" by Prof. Bruce Cumings
- "Bad History" by Leon V. Sigal
- "A Path Forward on North Korea" by Col. Ann Wright (retired)
- "Cyber War v. DPRK"
- Retired Generals Call for Diplomacy
- Open Letter to President Trump
- Open Letter to Three Leaders
- Panmunjeom Declaration for Peace (4/27/2018)
- Open Letter to President Trump
- "Ending the Korean War Is in the National Interest" by Doug Bandow
- Pyongyang Joint Declaration of September 2018
- Joint Statement of US Civil Society Groups in Support of the Current Peace Process in Korea (12/6/2018)
- Civil Society Letter to UN Secretary-General (2019)
- "Returning to Korea: A Change of Viewpoint" by Ellen Barfield
- Open Letter to President Biden on Economic Sanctions (3/2021)
- Civil Society Letter to UN SG (2/2022)
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Open Letter to President Biden (8/2022)
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"I'm Calling for Peace with North Korea" by Lt. Gen. Dan Leaf (retired)
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"Peace in Korea is My Last Wish" by Joy Lee Gebhard
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"Seventy Years Too Long" by Rep. Barbara Lee
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"North Korea Does Not Want a War" by Denny Roy, Ph.D
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Call For a New Korea Policy by Gen. Dan Leaf and Christian Ahn
Writings by Veterans of the Korean War
- "Sailor's Night Out on the Beach" by Stan Levin
- "A Tribute To An American Soldier" by Jack Doxey
- "A Plea to My Congressman" by Jack Doxey
- "I Saw Myself In My Enemy" a poem by Jack Doxey
- Poems by Chuck Overby
- "No Gun Ri" a poem by Tom Kennedy
- "I Got Sick in the Korean War" By Tom Kennedy
- "B-29 Operations in the Korean War, 1953" by Chuck Overby, Ph.D
- ."Our Korean War Memoirs" by Wilson M. Powell and
- Zhou, Ming-Fu"
- "My Obituary" by Col. John F. Barr
- Statement by Merrill Newman
- "Some Memories of the Korean War" by Arthur H. Westing
- "Strategic Patience' with North Korea" by Lt. Gen. Robert Gard
- A Korean War Veteran Remembers by Woody Powell
Events
2024
"Korean Atomic Bomb Victims Seek Justice— And The Outlaw of Nuclear Weapons— through People’s Tribunal" - August 16th @ 5pm ET.
Presenters: Juyeon JC Rhee, Brad Wolf, Ann Wright, Elliot Adams, Joseph Essertier, Kapsong Kim, Gil Kim
Description: As an effort to abolish nuclear weapons in the world, this panel will introduce a journey for justice by Korean atomic victims. In August of 1945, 70,000 Korean a-bomb victims were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They had been forcibly removed from their homeland by the Japanese and became victims of the atomic blasts. They were noncombatants and were not enemies of the United States. While they suffered for the past 79 years through neglect, discrimination, and oppression, they have won individual victories from the Japanese government for medicare and from the Korean government for social welfare. And now, they seek an apology from the United States. They also seek through this people’s tribunal a legal ruling that the US atomic bombings in 1945 violated international law at that time, and that nuclear weapons and the threat to use nuclear weapons are currently in violation of international law.
Korea Peace Advocacy Week (online), March 18-22, 2024. We will contact members of Congress, and urge them to cosponsor H.R.1369, the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act. If interested in joining this advocacy, contact kpc@veteransforpeace.org for registration by March 1, if possible.
2023
WORKSHOP: Rising Danger of War in Asia-Pacific: U.S. v. China and North Korea? - Saturday, August 26 @ 3pm CT
Presenters: Ann Wright, K.J. Noh, Simone Chun, Peter Kuznick
Description: Numerous US intelligence analysts, diplomats, officials, and military generals have described China as an existential threat, and the 2022 National Defense Strategy, or NDS, places a primary focus on the need to “sustain and strengthen U.S. deterrence against China." Sixty percent of US naval power is now stationed around China, while US and allied military bases surrounding China prepare for a war to "contain" China's peaceful economic rise. In the meantime, tensions on the Korean Peninsula are escalating. The "Washington Declaration" from the Biden-Yoon summit in April openly threatened that the US "will further enhance the regular visibility of strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula," including an "upcoming visit of a US nuclear ballistic missile submarine to the ROK." What are the risks of war, even nuclear war, as US elites push our world towards a global war in Asia? Four experts will discuss the situation and the dangers involved.
Register here
Korea Peace Action: National Mobilization to End the Korean War - Washington, DC, July 26-28
VFP is a Co-Convenor of this event, along with Women Cross DMZ, AFSC, MCC, United Methodist Church, etc.
To mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice, peace advocates from around the country will converge in the nation’s capital to call on President Biden and Congress to officially end the Korean War and replace the armistice with a peace agreement.
This national gathering is being organized by peace activists, humanitarian aid organizations, and groups representing veterans, faith traditions, and Korean American communities. Activities will include a press conference at the House triangle with Korea Peace champions, a community grief ceremony, a rally at the White House calling for peace in Korea, and a conference featuring strategists and activists organizing for peace in Korea.
The Korea Peace Advocacy Week is coming up from June 5-9, 2023, and we are hoping you'll join us!
As you may know, this year marks the 70th anniversary of the armistice that halted but did not officially end the Korean War. This is an especially important time to remind members of Congress about the human costs of this unresolved war and the urgent need to avoid a nuclear conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
During past Advocacy Weeks, hundreds of participants around the country met with representatives from their congressional offices, securing support for Korea peace legislation, including the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act, the Enhancing North Korea Humanitarian Assistance Act, and the Korean War Divided Families Reunification Act.
Your participation is crucial for building support to officially end the Korean War. We must continue telling our stories and making our voices heard by our representatives. Can we count on you to participate?
Please register here! As you may recall, participating in Advocacy Week involves attending an optional training session and two or three half-hour meetings with your Congressional offices. All meetings will be held online via Zoom. We will provide more information in the coming weeks if you register.
Support HR 1369, Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act
On March 3, 2023, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) reintroduced the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act. It calls, among others, for an official end to the endless US war in Korea by signing a peace treaty among the main parties involved in the Korean War: the ROK, DPRK, and the US.
"The continued state of war on the Korean Peninsula does not serve the interests of the United States nor our constituents with relatives in North and South Korea," Sherman said, according to his office.
Although the horrific Korean War was stopped with a military ceasefire agreement in 1953, the state of war in Korea is still continuing today unfortunately because the US refuses to sign a peace treaty with N. Korea so that it can keep its troops and bases in South Korea. What a terrible price the Korean people are paying for the US hegemony in NorthEast Asia!
Please contact your House Rep. and urge him/her to cosponsor HR 1369."
2022
Korea Peace Advocacy Week (Online): October 11-14
Join us in our last collective push for H.R. 3446 in this year's Congress! The Korea Peace Now! Grassroots Network is hosting an online call to action week before the important midterm elections.From October 11th to 14th, 2022, we will be contacting members of Congress and urging them to support legislation for peace in Korea.
VFP Convention Workshop: Peace Warriors from the Korean War
August 26th, 11am Central Time: It is very fortunate that we have some outstanding American peace warriors who emerged from the horrific Korean War. This workshop will explore the life and peace work of a few of these veteran peacemakers. What did they do in the forgotten U.S. war in Korea, 1950-1953? Why did they become peace warriors? What did they accomplish as peacemakers? These are some of the questions to be explored in this workshop, sponsored by VFP's Korea Peace Campaign.
2021
Advocacy Week for Peace on the Korean Peninsula - November 1-4, 2021 (via Zoom)
Co-sponsored by VFP's Korea Peace Campaign and the Korea Peace Now Grassroots Network
We will be urging members of Congress to support legislation for peace on the Korean peninsula. From Nov. 1-4, there will be two daily Zoom calls (one during the day and one in the evening) with an optional mini-training session on how to call and/or email your member of Congress, followed by the group placing themselves on mute while they call and/or email their member of Congress to ask them to support legislation for Korea peace.
Contact: kpc@veteransforpeace.org
- A Peace Agreement to end the Korean War;
- Life-saving humanitarian assistance; and
- Other issues such as lifting the travel ban, reuniting separated families and repatriating the remains of U.S. service members
International Campaign to End the Korean War Launched, July 2020
On July 27, more than 300 South Korean civil society groups and 18 peace groups worldwide launched an international petition campaign to end the Korean War with a peace agreement. Veterans For Peace-Korea Peace Campaign also joined as one of the International Partners of this new initiative for permanent peace in Korea. This campaign, officially known as Korea Peace Appeal, aims to collect its supporting endorsements worldwide until July 27, 2023 when we will observe the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice. The collected sign-ons will be presented to the major participants in the Korean War (US, China, ROK, and DPRK) and the UN. We urge you to sign this Appeal and share this info with your friends. The online site address is https://endthekoreanwar.net.
You may sign this petition by clicking here.
A Memorial Peace Park Opened in South Korea, 2020
Concerned South Korean peace groups have finished and opened the Hyosoon-Miseon Peace Park recently, in memory of the two young Korean school girls crushed to death by a heavy U.S. armored vehicle that was travelling on the South Korean countryside road in 2002.
The opening ceremony took place on June 13, at the nearby site where the girls died (Gwangjerk-Ri, Yangju City, Gyonggi-Do). In connection with the ceremony, the VFP-Korea Peace Campaign sent an Open Letter to The Korean People, which was translated and read to the audience who attended the ceremony.
Read more
2019
Hyosoon-Misun Peace Park, 2019
On June 13, some 40 S. Korean groups held a special ceremony to launch building of the Hyosoon-Misun Peace Park at the site where two S. Korean teenagers were killed by a U.S. Army armored vehicle in 2002. In connection with this event, the VFP-Korea Peace Campaign project donated $1,300 this week to the SK Committee for Building the Hyosoon-Misun Peace Park to cover the cost of building the peace park. KPC project thanks all VFP members who have contributed for the peace park, which is built in memory of the two teenage victims of U.S. militarism.
Korea Peace Advocacy Days in D.C 2019
About 70 participants from nationwide participated in the Korea Peace Advocacy Days in D.C., 3/13-14, 2019. They made more than 60 Congressional visits—both House and Senate—starting in the afternoon of March 13. Four members of VFP (Ellen Barfield, John Kim, Robert Prokop, and Ann Wright) joined in the advocacy teams.
Noteworthy meetings in the Capitol were with assistants of Senator Sanders, Warrant, Gillibrand, and Booker. In addition, Ann Wright had a personal meeting with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and other participants also had some personal meetings with Rep. Meeks (D-NY), Rep. Massie (R-KY), etc. Many participants urged further dialogue with North Korea and Congressional support to an official ending to the costly Korean War.
VFP-KPC urges local VFP chapters and other concerned groups to organize a local Korea Peace Forum (film showing, speakers, etc.), to increase the public's understanding of the need to end the lingering Korean War officially with a peace treaty.
Please contact Korea Peace Campaign: kpc@veteransforpeace.org if you are organizing a forum or need further info or help.
Korea Peace Advocacy Days 2018
In observance of the 65th anniversary of the temporary Armistice Agreement of the Korean War in 1953, as well as to raise our voices for an official end to the lingering Korean War with a peace treaty, there was a special Memorial Day ceremony at the Korean War Veterans Memorial site in D.C. in 2018.