KOREA PEACE NOW

A conversation with GYOPO volunteers Cathi Choi, Alison Choi, and Haeri Lee on the US travel ban on North Korea and the Korea peace movement.

July 27 marked 70 years since the signing of the Armistice Agreement that halted — but did not end — the Korean War. On this occasion, the Korea peace activist organization Women Cross DMZ, along with co-convener partners, hosted a three-day national mobilization in Washington DC, Korea Peace Action: National Mobilization to End the War. To this day, the Korean Peninsula is still divided and remains locked in a state of war, as no official peace treaty has been signed. Cathi, Alison and Haeri attended the mobilization as young Korean American activists advocating for President Biden to end the Korean War and lift the US travel ban on North Korea.

Alison:
Cathi, during the Korea Peace Action week, you asked us, “Who are you bringing to this Korea peace movement?” I wanted to revisit that question here.

Haeri:
When I first heard that question [in July], I thought of the history of this movement and how many people have paved the way to reunification for us: the millions of Korean activists, organizers, workers and students who are counting on us, Koreans who live in the U.S., to pressure the U.S. government to lift the travel ban and sanctions on the DPRK and support a peace treaty. They are the ones who resisted the U.S. military occupation of South Korea from 1945-1954, they are the ones who defend the rights of the working class, the disabled, the elderly and children, they are the ones who are opposing the noxious impact of U.S. militarism in Korea and calling for reunification in Korea to this very day and far beyond. We as Koreans of the diaspora must commit to helping them heal our fractured homeland.
I also brought my family to this mobilization, my dad in particular. He was deeply committed to his work about ROK-DPRK relations, though from a conservative stance. Had he been around longer, I am certain we would have had serious conversations about these topics, and that I would have shifted his views. I have imagined countless conversations with him about the future of Korea, and while attending the mobilization, I imagined him standing right next to me, lending me his strength and focus.
I also brought my mother, who used to hold similarly conservative views as my dad, but after years of us talking and me offering her different historical perspectives, my mom now understands that she was taught modern Korean history from an extremely narrow view. She, like many proud Korean nationalists of her generation, thought of the Korean War as a shameful taint on Korea’s history, preferring to focus on the economic growth of the ROK in the 70s and 80s, which was the result of over-working millions of Korean workers, condensing power into the conglomerates, and neoliberal financialization. Now, I believe my mother and I are at this incredible middle ground politically when it comes to understanding modern Korean history. We are never alone in wanting peace on this peninsula. We were taught such a narrow view on the issue of Korean unification growing up, but we can gain power from learning our deep history while we are in this movement. I feel not alone; like our shoulders are being held.

Alison:
My first thought on this question went to my family. My grandparents literally experienced the war. Even though we’ve disagreed about our beliefs and ways of carrying out life, and their values about wealth and religion, I bring them in. I think a lot about my North Korean heritage because I’ve been so alienated from that part of me. I have never touched the soil of North Korea. Due to Western stigma against North Korea, I also never felt understood around my whole Korean identity as a child, and I feel like I’m reconnecting with it. My desire for unification is an embodied longing for connection with where I’m from. For myself and all Korean people.
At the same time, as a new activist in this movement, I can’t pinpoint every reason and person I’m bringing into the space, but I know I’m supposed to be here.

Cathi:
What Alison said about embodied knowledge is so important. For gyopos especially, trusting our bodies and intuition can be a strange and confusing journey because we have often been severed from direct experiences, like touching the land of our ancestors, as you said. I also relate to your point about not knowing exactly who I’m bringing in. It changes day-to-day. My paternal side comes from the north, and several relatives visited the DPRK prior to the 2017 travel ban. I am slowly learning to carry my family from all across the peninsula, on both sides of the DMZ, and from across the diaspora. I am also bringing in my chosen family from all chapters of my life – people who are not necessarily in Korean organizing spaces but in spaces like abolitionist and other diasporic liberation movements. I am so deeply grateful to them. Drawing lines between these different movements and diasporic communities is crucial.

Cathi:
To even dream about the possibility of lifting the travel ban or reunification can feel terrifying because fighting for change opens you up to heartbreak. So some may be tempted to settle instead into pessimism and dismiss any attempts for change as “naive.” A Korean elder organizer described this tendency as “so Korean”: to break your own heart, before anyone else can break it for you. However, in DC we learned how our predecessors across generations paved the way for us. We saw how individuals across generations take action – “big” and “small” – to change the world. All of this is empowering. As Haeri said, our shoulders are definitely held. We are just part of a wider tapestry – members of a resilient community that has long been fighting to end this war, end the draconian travel ban, and lift the deadly sanctions imposed on the DPRK.

Alison:
Historically, we’ve been pounded by grief. That embodied knowing of wanting to reunite our homeland involves politics that will make you challenge all that you know and have been taught. It creates a real reality check. American politics can become obscured.

Haeri:
As one of the many crucial steps that must be taken that leads towards the ultimate goal of an official peace treaty, lifting the travel ban will allow meaningful communication and exchange with the DPRK. Prior to 2017, separated families were reunited and humanitarian workers, students and scholars engaged in rich cultural and academic exchanges across borders. These channels of connection came to a sudden halt in 2017 when Trump issued the travel ban, restricting U.S. passport holders from visiting the DPRK. Koreans with U.S. citizenship have been unable to connect with their long-separated families in the DPRK for the last 7 years. This travel ban is renewed every August, giving the Biden administration the option of either ending the ban or renewing it.
A few weeks ago, on July 27th, Korea peace activists visited the U.S. Department of State holding piles of postcards signed by 1,000 individuals and endorsements from 62 different organizations. They demanded an end to this travel ban and sent the postcards by mail.
As we enter our 70th year of this unending war, we hold separated families close in our hearts. Renewal of the travel ban will only deepen the chasms of separation and disconnect that war and flawed policy has created. We must call for an end to the travel ban on the DPRK!

Cathi:
Also, the Korean government has facilitated 21 reunions of separated families, but Korean Americans have been left out of that process. Biden promised that Korean Americans would be reunited during his presidential campaign. He has not worked to make this happen.