On Sunday, September 20, the Anti-War Action Network (AWAN) held a webinar to hear from activists who traveled to the Republic of Korea (RoK) to participate in demonstrations against the U.S. military occupation of the country.

Speakers on the webinar included Meredith Aby of the AWAN steering committee, Chrisley Carpio of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and Sonya Chung of Nodutdol, the organization of Korean American activists who organized the trip. The event was moderated by Maria Sohn Hasman of the AWAN-aligned Tucson Anti-War Committee.

Seoul, SK – On August 15, the Jaju Solidarity Brigade, led by Nodutol, joined 10,000 people marching in Seoul, Republic of Korea to demand “U.S. out of Korea.” This was the first international delegation to ever join the annual National Liberation Day protest in South Korea, which has historically brought together the country’s most progressive trade unions, student organizations, women’s groups, and other civil society organizations to oppose the Ulchi Freedom Shield war drills.

June Colcol, the secretary general of BAYAN USA, explained the purpose of the delegation at a press conference for the delegation, “We aim to contribute to uplifting the Korean national liberation struggles against U.S. militarism by raising the people's resistance and linking our efforts to kick out the U.S. from our homelands. U.S. military presence continues to place our people in danger.”

21 international anti-war and progressive organizations, from the U.S., Hawai’i, Puerto Rico, Guåhan (Guam), the Philippines and India, participated in the Jaju Solidarity Brigade. The brigade spent a week visiting sites of U.S. military occupation, including Gusan Air Base, Camp Casey and Camp Humphreys. The delegation also met with people’s resistance leaders from across South Korea to learn about their fightbacks to U.S. occupation.