Christine Ahn is a Korean-American peace activist who serves as the Executive Director of Women Cross DMZ, an organization of women advocating for an end to the Korean War. In 2015, she led 30 international women peacemakers across the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) from North Korea to South Korea. She is also the 2020 winner of

The US Peace Prize The US Peace Prize is an annual award given by the US Peace Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization that recognizes the "most outstanding and prominent American antiwar leaders." The award's first recipient was Cindy Sheehan in 2009. The mi ...

for her work for peace on the Korean peninsula and her advocacy for women's leadership in peace-building efforts.

Early life and education

Ahn was born in South Korea and immigrated to the United States at age three. She is the youngest of 10 children, and according to Ahn, her mother, who was the breadwinner of the family, grew up in Korea during the period of Japanese colonial rule and had a sixth-grade education. Ahn graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science from the

University of Colorado, Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

in 1998, and she earned a master's degree in International Policy from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

and a certificate in ecological horticulture from the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

. Ahn is an American citizen and lives in Hawaii.

Career

Korea Policy Institute and Korea Peace Now! Campaign

Ahn was a policy analyst with the Korea Policy Institute and the international coordinator or the Korea Peace Now! campaign, which Women Cross DMZ launched in 2019 with three feminist peace organizations:

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

, Nobel Women's Initiative, and Korean Women's Movement for Peace.

Women Cross DMZ

Ahn is a co-founder and Executive Director of a non-profit group, Women Cross DMZ, which is known for organizing a group of thirty female activists in crossing the

demilitarized zone A demilitarized zone (DMZ or DZ) is an area in which treaties or agreements between states, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities, or personnel. A DZ often lies along an established frontier or boundary ...

(DMZ) between North and South Korea in 2015. Ahn and other activists, such as

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem ( ; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social movement, social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ...

and Nobel Peace laureates,

Mairead Maguire Mairead MaguireFairmichael, p. 28: "Mairead Corrigan, now Mairead Maguire, married her former brother-in-law, Jackie Maguire, and they have two children of their own as well as three by Jackie's previous marriage to Ann Maguire." (born 27 Januar ...

of Northern Ireland and

Leymah Gbowee Leymah Roberta Gbowee (born 1 February 1972) is a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women's non-violent peace movement, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her ...

of Liberia, crossed the DMZ to bring attention to the need for peace between the two nations and for a formal declaration of the end of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. Critics have claimed that Ahn has not adequately addressed human rights violations committed by the North Korean government and that the event would be used for propaganda by the North Korean regime. In 2017, Ahn was barred from entering South Korea on her way to China; the Justice Ministry of South Korea stated that Ahn was denied entry because of a concern that she could “hurt the national interests and public safety” of South Korea. Ahn said that her 2015 Women Cross DMZ campaign may have caused the conservative administration of President

Park Geun-hye Park Geun-hye (; ; born 2 February 1952) is a South Korean politician who served as the 11th president of South Korea from 2013 until Impeachment of Park Geun-hye, she was removed from office in 2017. Park was the first and to date only woman ...

to put her on a blacklist.

Congressional and White House advocacy

In July 2023, on the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice, Ahn appeared at a DC press conference with House reps Barbara Lee (D-CA), Judy Chu (D-CA) and Delia Ramirez ( D-ILL) to support the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act, legislation introduced by House rep Brad Sherman (D-CA) calling for a formal end to the Korean War. In an interview with the Washington Post, Ahn said, "We are still in a state of war, and as we see in the current growing tensions on the peninsula, with the U.S. sending three nuclear submarines and the massive military exercises and North Korea testing unprecedented numbers of missiles, we are just one step, one accident away from nuclear war." In 2017, Ahn organized a letter writing campaign to the Trump administration with female activists from more than 40 countries to defuse tensions on the Korean peninsula and to express their concerns that inaction could lead to nuclear war. Ahn is also a co-founder of Korean Americans for Fair Trade.

Media

Ahn's OpEds have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post and Time Magazine, and she is a regulator contributor on MSNBC Democracy Now! and CNN.

Awards

Ah is the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2023 Certificate of Recognition from the Honolulu City and County Council, the 2022 Social Activist Award from the Nobel Peace Laureates, and the 2020 US Peace Prize from the US Peace Memorial Foundation.

Selected writing

* Ahn, C., Park, T., and Richards, K., "Anti-Asian Violence in America Rooted in US Empire," ''The Nation'', March 19, 2021 * Ahn, C., "For Biden, the answer to North Korea is now impossible to ignore," ''MSN'', December 18, 2020 * Ahn, C., Susskind, Y., and Wiesner, C., "Opinion: Women of Color Should be the Ones Remaking U.S. Foreign Policy," ''Newsweek'', November 17, 2020 * Ahn, C. and Steinem, G., "Opinion: Women marched for Korean reconciliation. Washington is in our way," ''The'' ''Washington Post'', February 24, 2019 * Ahn, C., "While Two Koreas Talk, Trump is Throwing Shade," ''Foreign Policy in Focus'', February 8, 2018 * Ahn, C., "Opinion: Unwanted Missiles for a Korean Island," ''The New York Times'', August 5, 2011

References

External links

Women Cross DMZ
Korea Peace Now!

Korea Policy Institute

Korean Armistice Agreement

Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act

Members of Congress hold event for 70th anniversary of armistice ending Korean War
- YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahn, Christine Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American women activists American anti-war activists South Korean emigrants to the United States Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni University of Colorado Boulder alumni University of California, Santa Cruz alumni American women non-fiction writers