The march ended at the buses and we were back on and off to a restaurant with a table full of gold dishes and an air of celebration and toasts, followed by the bus ride to Kaesong. Maybe it was the wine at lunch or maybe it was that there was only a day left together, but it was this bus ride where my translator began to really open up to me. She told me about meeting her future husband at college, how she didn't like him at first and his continued courting of her which took two years before she introduced him to her parents. She mentioned that they were very 'progressive' so didn't expect to have any sway on her choice, but in meeting him they told her to continue her work for a few more years before deciding and she listened to them. He is also a translator but for businesses. They finally married and she told me how happy they were and that even though they both have jobs that take them away from each other a lot, their times together are sweet and if they both have to travel her mom takes care of their daughter. All the young women had a self-confidence and unflappability. They knew their jobs and took responsibility but also didn't feel like they had failed when I didn't behave. The answers to my questions revealed a deep commitment to the collective but an emphasis on self-reliance. They each asked me questions including what did I think about or what stories had I been told about North Korea before I came. What did I think of them now? Over the next two days I spent the bus time with one of my three translators, we could feel the end coming and wanted more of each other. I asked one of them what they longed for in the re-unification and she said for the sadness of the separation to end so her country would be happier. I asked her about her dreams for herself and she said she just wanted to live 'happily ever after.' I looked forward on the bus to Abby Disney and her daughter Olivia, and how funny it was that North Korea is full of Disney movies and here Walt Disney's relatives were on this trip with us. When I asked the younger of the women who she talked to, who she shared her deepest thoughts with, she said her mother. She told me she often got very sad and her mother was able to help her through the sadness, but sometimes she had to take her to the doctor, a doctor who talked with her and helped even more. Their stories were about the immediate, about the joy of their work, their need to be better with their English, time with friends having picnics, cooking, time with family and lots and lots of work. They said they normally work 8 hours a day but with us it was at least 12. All three told me our visit had changed their lives and they wanted us to come back with more friends.
Because North Korea had been carpet-bombed by the US between 1950-1953, all the buildings were from then or later. I learned from Suzy Kim, the Korean historian on our delegation from Rutgers University that a U.S. General testified in Congress during the Korean War that there is NOTHING left to bomb in North Korea. Kaesong had been part of South Korea during the war but when the final lines were drawn for the Armistice, it was moved to North Korea. We arrived at a taste of what Korea was like before the war. The inn we stayed at was eighteenth century with small rooms on courtyards. It was pleasant, beautiful and human scale, which was a stark difference to Pyongyang. We arrived just in time for dinner served on low tables with cushions on the floor. The evening gathering was quick as all we really needed was to run through the next day which was tight, we had to arrive in South Korea by noon to be on time for the event the South Korean women had produced.
It was another early morning, but we were all a buzz, it was really going to happen, we were going to cross the DMZ. Christine's dream was going to come true. It was more than two years ago when Christine Ahn dreamt of lights coming down the river that unites Korea, she followed the lights up the river to a circle of women stirring a pot and pouring the contents into bowls, lighting them and sending them down the river. She woke knowing it was going to be the women who could reunite Korea and had worked since then for this moment. She was already in tears as we boarded the buses.
Our first stop was the center of Kaesong for another march with the women, a bit smaller without the marching band but the women were also in their colorful traditional Korean best and they lined the road as we walked to the end of town 5 in a row behind our banners. It all went too fast as we were rushed back into the buses for P'anmunjom and the building where the Armistice was signed and where the original is on display. There had been much discussion about unfurling the quilt and singing here but once we were inside and could feel the end of our time in North Korea and South Korea so near, we couldn't help ourselves. We circled the quilt and sang. The soldiers didn't try to stop us, they listened and then joined us in our buses, thanking us and asking us to do all we could for reunification. As we stood outside I realized the building on the South Korean side was just a few hundred feet away and there was no wall, just two guards on the side. It was tempting. We went to the top of the visitors' center and onto a balcony where we looked across at the South Korean visitors building, it was so close you could see their soldiers looking at the North Korean soldiers. This had gone on for 63 years, it was more than time to end this madness with a peace treaty and allow the 10 million Korean family members to be reunited. Standing there at that moment, the insanity of that many years of separation by something so meaningless came over me like a wave and I wept. Crying for all those who had already died and never seen their family members, crying for all those who still longed for and all those who had felt forgotten. It was really a crime scene. Why had this gone on so long?
The short trip to the Kaesong border crossing was full of tears. It became very real that we were leaving and we might not see each other again. When we arrived at the border crossing a South Korean bus was indeed waiting for us, a big one so we were brought back together at the crossing after being separated into two buses for the entire time in North Korea. Hugging, more tears, more hugging and waves of goodbye as we passed through the immigration station and into the waiting bus. The wave of sadness was quickly replaced by the excitement of arriving in South Korea and accomplishing what everyone had thought impossible. Soon after our crossing, we learned that Ban Ki Moon finally came out in support of our walk. The impossible has become possible to those in power because a woman had a dream and others joined her in it.
At CODEPINK we plan to launch a campaign to continue to educate and put pressure on Congress with a Congressional briefing in late July for the Korea caucus and a campaign to end the sanctions on things like cosmetics by calling for the Koreas and US to Make Up!
Our Mission
On May 24, 2015, thirty international women peacemakers from around the world walked with Korean women, north and south, to call for an end to the Korean War and for a new beginning for a reunified Korea. We held international peace symposiums in Pyongyang and Seoul where we listened to Korean women and shared our experiences and ideas of mobilizing women to bring an end to violent conflict. We successfully crossed the 2-mile wide De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) that separates millions of Korean families as a symbolic act of peace.
2015 marks the 70th anniversary of Korea's division into two separate states by Cold War powers, which precipitated the 1950-53 Korean War. After nearly 4 million people were killed, mostly Korean civilians, fighting was halted when North Korea, China, and the United States representing the UN Command signed a ceasefire agreement. They promised within three months to sign a peace treaty; over 60 years later, we're still waiting.
Meanwhile, thousands of Korean elders die every year waiting on a government list to see their children or siblings after being separated by the DMZ. In North Korea, crippling sanctions against the government make it difficult for ordinary people to access the basics needed for survival. The unresolved Korean conflict gives all governments in the region justification to further militarize and prepare for war, depriving funds for schools, hospitals, and the welfare of the people and the environment. That's why women are walking for peace, to reunite families, and end the state of war in Korea.
Facts
4M people died in the Korean War of 1950-53, most of them Korean civilians.
10M families are still separated by the DMZ.
70M Koreans live in a state of war due to unresolved conflict.
60+ YRS after the war ended with a temporary cease-fire agreement, we're still waiting for a peace treaty.
$1T is spent by USA, China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea on militarization, fueled by unresolved conflicts.
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