Register for Korea Peace Advocacy Week

UPDATE: The deadline for registration has been extended to Monday, May 19. Register here and help us to end the Korean War once and for all.

The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns and our partners in the Korea Peace Network invite you to join us for Korea Peace Advocacy Week, June 9–13. Participants will take part in up to three virtual meetings with their members of Congress. There will be an online training for participants the evening of May 29.

Active fighting in the Korean war ended with an armistice in 1953, but no formal peace agreement was ever signed. Seventy-seven years later, tensions remain high between North and South Korea, including the separation of families, the isolation of North Korea resulting in a lack of access for humanitarian aid, and the threat of nuclear war. U.S. policy has too often exacerbated the situation. A formal end to the war would pave the way for a reduction of tensions and nuclear risk, increased diplomacy and engagement between North Korea and South Korea, and the reuniting of families. Read more here.

Korea Peace Advocacy Week participants will urge lawmakers to co-sponsor and pass the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act, which would call upon the Executive Branch to pursue a lasting peace agreement and a formal end to the Korean War, and require the Secretary of State to report to Congress on steps taken to carry it out.

Maryknoll missioners have felt firsthand the pain of unending war and separation on the Korean Peninsula. Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers founded the diocese of Pyongyang 102 years ago, and Maryknoll Sisters oversaw the founding of the Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the first Korean congregation of Catholic religious sisters. But during World War II, Maryknoll missioners and many of their parishioners were forced to flee the north. Maryknoll Bishop Patrick Byrne and Maryknoll Sister Agnes Chang were both martyred during the Korean War. Maryknoll Fr. Gerry Hammond has made over 60 humanitarian trips to North Korea in recent years to visit tuberculosis patients, dreaming of peace between the people he has come to love on both sides of the DMZ. Please join us in advocating for peace at last on the Korean Peninsula.