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.

Chrisley Carpio, a member of the standing committee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, participated in the delegation and stated, “We visited memorials of children killed by U.S. troops, mass unmarked graves of political prisoners who defied U.S. occupation, lands where villages were displaced to make way for U.S. military expansion – and yet these were not wholly sites of tragedy, but of struggle. There was a movement, campaign, and demand at every step. Together, countless organizations spoke with one voice: the U.S. needs to leave Korea now.”

#SeoulSK #SK #Korea #International #JajuSolidarityBrigade #Nodutdol #BAYAN #Featured