On November 5th, as the Korea Peace Now! network wrapped up another week of advocacy in Washington D.C., 130 people across the United States and 66 organizations contacted 83 Members of Congress twice daily to advocate for the “Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act” (H.R. 3446). The bill now has 32 co-sponsors, and is one step closer to achieving an official end to the Korean War.

Accompanying this advocacy week, the world premiere of the documentary “Crossings” was shown in Honolulu. “Crossings” commemorates the 2015 historic crossing of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) by a group of women known as Women Cross the DMZ. Under the leadership of Christine Ahn, women from all around the world joined together to take this risky journey across the Korean divide and to call for an end to the Korean War, a war which has now lasted more than 70 years.

Koreans have suffered under their nation’s division since 1948. At the end of World War II as Korea was liberated from the Japanese, Allied Forces from the United States and U.S.S.R. (Russia) entered the Korean Peninsula. But at the same time, the onset of the Cold War was beginning and tension was already growing between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Their conflicting ideology resulted in the division of Korea, a nation which has a history of roughly 5,000 years.

As a result, the current generation of Koreans only know about the other half of their nation through stories. Unfortunately, due to both division and trauma from the Korean War, fear has been instilled in the hearts of Koreans on both sides of the border. Continuously being passed down from one generation to the next, this fear now penetrates all of Korean society. Without question, fear is imbedded into the hearts of every Korean in both the North and the South.

The main way to combat this fear is through real life engagement. As Christine Ahn tells her story, she explains that it was not until she personally met the people of North Korea that the walls of fear in her own life started to crumble. It was then that she understood the legacy that war had inflicted upon her own people.

Through her leadership, women from around the world started to demonstrate for peace. In fact, women are disproportionally impacted by war and violence. Women are the ones who often understand the deep horrors of war, and therefore, are now starting to raise their voices for peace.

Despite the protests of hundreds along the border, 30 women, including two Nobel Peace laureates, walked arm-in-arm across the DMZ with 10,000 Korean women from both the North and the South. These women called for an end to the Korean War, reunification of separated Korean families, and the involvement for women at all levels of the peace-building process.

Unfortunately, most people still believe that the only way to deal with North Korea is to eliminate it. The world has forgotten that North Korea is made up of real people. How can the powers that be continue to call for the prolonged division of this nation, directly impacting  the lives of approximately 77 million people? The arbitrary division along the 38th Parallel has remained now for 73 years. And since the Korean War has never officially ended, it the longest lasting American war in history.

My husband and I are one of the few Americans who have over a decade of experience living on the ground in North Korea. Indeed, there are only a handful of foreigners in North Korea. Most from the West who are able to live in the country, if not diplomats, are part of international humanitarian organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), and are there for benevolent reasons. Whether for humanitarian or business purposes, our intent has been to serve ordinary North Koreans. We also believe that through engagement with people in the nation, barriers begin to break down and trust has room to grow. (Excerpt from Discovering Joy: Ten Years in North Korea)

We absolutely must begin to break down the barriers that have kept the Korean Peninsula a prisoner to war and isolated all of these years. It is time to re-engage with actual people living in North Korea. U.S. citizens need the freedom to travel into the country and participate at various levels of engagement, including all the way from humanitarian outreach to cultural exchanges. The more we engage, the more we will begin to see a way forward. And above all, the path to peace must include an end to the Korean War!