Amherst, MA – On Thursday, October 29, the River Valley Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) hosted FRSO Central Committee Member Chrisley Carpio at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for a reportback discussing her recent visit to South Korea as part of the Jaju Solidarity Delegation in August.

The delegation was organized by Nodutdol, with activists traveling from the U.S., Guam, Hawaii and the Philippines. They represented groups including FRSO, the Anti-War Action Network (AWAN) and many others.

Carpio presented to nearly a dozen attendees, telling the crowd, “In the United States, people often refer to the Korean War as the ‘forgotten war’, But in Korea, they call it ‘the war that never ended’.”

Carpio and others on the delegation visited multiple sites of U.S. military atrocities, including Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base in the world, as well as the mass grave of Sannae Gollyeongol – the “longest grave in the world” and Camp Casey, a military base known for its camp town where women were sex trafficked for American soldiers. Carpio explained to the room that the camp town sex trade is still operational, but now employs Filipino women instead of Koreans.

During her time in the country, Carpio met with organizers from the student movement, women’s movement, and other civic society organizations, like local anti-war groups as well as farmers and trade unions. She explained to the attendees the culture of anti-imperialist organizing in the southern part of the peninsula and how activists are fighting for justice for those killed by U.S. soldiers and displaced by the occupation while they organize against the military presence altogether. She also discussed the current organizing Korean by activists protesting the possibility of South Korean troops being asked to assist the U.S. in aggression against Iran and in the Strait of Hormuz.

The event ended with a question and answer session. One attendee asked if the delegates faced political repression during their visit, Carpio responded, “What we were doing was high profile enough that they didn’t enforce those rules, but if you are an author locally who writes something sympathetic to North Korea, you are likely to do prison time.”

Carpio continued, “But we did a lot of our organizing in private churches and in restaurants that were reserved for the day. We were followed by spies and policemen and they knew we were coming and knew about the protests, but I think it was a calculated decision to not make a big incident by arresting us.”

When asked what reunification would look like, after explaining the desire for reunification across the peninsula from Korean activists, Carpio said, “There is not reunification without socialism, even if there is a debate about what reunification will mean.”

#AmherstMA #MA #International #Korea #AntiWarMovement #AWAN #Nodutdol

Milwaukee, WI – On Sunday, September 20, members of the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee gathered at the Mitchell Street Branch of the Milwaukee Public Library to watch a webinar featuring activists who took part in the Jaju Solidarity Brigade to South Korea, put on by the Anti-War Action Network (AWAN).

The webinar comes at a crucial time, as the United States continues to ramp up its aggression in the Asia Pacific, aimed at limiting the influence of China. The U.S. has at least 80 military bases in South Korea and has been partnering in military-joint exercise since the Korean War.

The Jaju Solidarity Brigade was made up of 21 anti-war and anti-imperialist organizations. The Jaju Solidarity Brigade formed after the 2025 People’s Summit for Korea hosted in New York City, where community members, artists and students from around the country gathered to discuss the Korean liberation movement and building international solidarity for a unified Korea.

Sonya Chung, a member of Nodutdol, an anti-imperialist organization fighting to end the division of Korea said, “It’s helpful to understand the Korean war as an attempt to unite the Korean people again, and the U.S. and R.O.K. governments put down the resistance brutally.” She reflected on visiting the Daejeon Massacre Site, the world’s largest grave where an estimated 7,000 political prisoners were executed by R.O.K. soldiers while the U.S. military stood by and watched.

Meredith Aby, a member of the steering committee of AWAN who took part in the Solidarity Brigade stated, “South Korea functions in the Asia-Pacific similarly to the role that Israel plays in the Middle East, in terms of being proxy governments, but also giving the U.S. a place to park all of its weapons.”

The webinar watch party was hosted by the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC), a local grassroots anti-war organization affiliated with the national network AWAN.

MAC member Sam Charnon reflected on the webinar, saying “Being an anti-imperialist organization means educating ourselves on the history of Korea and opposing the United States aggression in the Asia Pacific today. We are honored to be a member organization of AWAN that was represented in the Solidarity Brigade.”

Although much of the focus in the U.S. anti-war movement has been on other countries such as Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and Palestine, the U.S. continues to escalate their “pivot to Asia” strategy and continues to be aggressive against China.

Attendees of the webinar watch party left feeling a strong solidarity with Koreans fighting for reunification and against the U.S. war machine.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #AntiWarMovement #International #Korea #AWAN #MAC #Nodutdol

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.

In mid-August, Nodutdol brought activists from over 20 different groups around the U.S. together to form the Jaju Solidarity Brigade, the first-ever international delegation to participate in the RoK’s long-standing August 15 protests. In addition to joining the 10,000-strong march on Seoul, members of this delegation spent a week traveling the country to visit occupation bases and learn from local activists about the history of Korea’s struggle for independence.

“It’s important to know the relationship between the U.S. and South Korea is one defined by imperialism,” said Carpio, commenting on the historical context which the present movement has emerged from. “The U.S. went ahead and carved up Korea in 1945 and divided the Korean people.” Carpio went on to characterize the 1950 war as an attempt to reunite Korea, which the U.S. violently put down with the help of the same corrupt politicians who had supported the Japanese occupation during World War II.

Chung spoke to the current memory of this history, saying, “Many people still have really raw wounds, and I think that that was something we really experienced going through all the site visits.” As Chung explained, it is estimated that the RoK hosts around 80 U.S. military bases, though the exact number is kept intentionally obscured. Chung further characterized the U.S.-RoK relationship by quoting a top U.S. commander, who called South Korea “a dagger in the heart of Asia aimed at China.”

One major issue relating to U.S. bases which the delegation heard about is that of land disputes. On their trip to Camp Humphreys, the largest overseas military base in the world, the delegation learned about the 2004-2006 struggle of Daechuri village, a community forcibly relocated to create space for the foreign base to expand. A similar struggle is being waged today in the vicinity of the Gunsan Air Base, where a proposed expansion would devastate the local ecology, disrupting both nearby communities as well as endangered species.

Later on in the webinar, Aby reflected on her 2002 trip to Palestine, noting how “a lot of the messages that I heard from people in South Korea really reminded me of the messages I heard from Palestinians. About how they’ve been pushed off their lands, that everything that Israel wanted they got to just take in terms of land. Similarly, everything that the U.S. military wanted [in South Korea] they got to just take in terms of land.”

Another major issue which Aby spoke about is the sexual violence which the U.S. occupation continues to perpetrate against Korean women. “Not only did the U.S. take military control of the peninsula, they also took control of women’s bodies,” said Aby, as she described how the U.S. and RoK governments collaborated to establish “camptowns,” where Korean women were coerced into prostitution for the pleasure of U.S. soldiers. Emphasizing the scale of this project, Aby remarked that at one point this prostitution “got to be 5% of the South Korean gross domestic product.”

While in the vicinity of Camp Casey, the delegation visited an abandoned STD management center, where the women who worked in these camp towns faced further medical abuse. Here women were forcibly tested, “and if they tested positive, they got a dose of penicillin that was ten times the amount of penicillin that people would normally get,” said Aby. This treatment often left women unable to stand, at which point they “were then imprisoned in that STD management center for a week.” The particular facility visited by the delegation remained in operation until 1993.

As regards the protests which the delegation participated in, Chung commented on how impressive it was to see so many organizations and demographics gathered to protest with the same core message: “There is truly a unity of messaging, and there’s clarity in the political message of wanting the U.S. out.”

Carpio likewise spoke about how inspired she was by the strength of Korean protest culture, which she described as achieving a high degree of organization, while balancing a celebratory tone alongside a militant focus. Carpio put it, the prevailing mood was “We’re not going to obey. We’re going to get done what we need to get done.”

#AntiWarMovement #Korea #AWAN #AntiWarActionNetwork #Nodutdol #International #JajuSolidarityBrigade

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 #Feature

New York, NY – On August 15, over 100 people gathered in the heart of Times Square, near the Army Recruiting Office, to mark Korean Liberation Day. The protest was organized by Nodutdol and Bayan USA.

Korean Liberation Day is a celebration of the Korean resistance rising up and overthrowing Japanese imperialism on August 15, 1945. Since that day, it has become a yearly celebration to remember the militancy of the Korean people against imperialism and occupation.

For this protest, Nodutdol and Bayan demanded “U.S. out of Korea” and an end to the Pacific war. The United States has long engaged in violent meddling and intervention in South Korea to oppose North Korea. Additionally, weapon trade and war games in the region have escalated deaths of civilians.

A speaker from Nodutdol said, “My grandmother lived through the Korean War as a young girl. The U.S. claims to have saved Korea, but my grandmother and the millions of civilians killed would say otherwise. We cannot hear the voices of the dead, but we must hear the voices of the living!”

Next, the action marched to the Philippines Consulate, where a speaker from Anakbayan told of the complicity of the Philippines government in the oppression of its people both in the U.S. and at home. They went on to share how Filipino and Korean people are both affected in similar ways by U.S. imperialism, the military presence in their homelands, and “war games” conducted by the U.S., Philippines and South Korea, to imitate acts of war against China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Protesters marched to a corporate office for Hanwha, a South Korean weapons profiteer that also makes deals with the government of the Philippines. A speaker from the Philadelphia Alliance Against Imperialism explained how Hanwha has recently expanded its operations in the nearby city, directly profiting from U.S. imperialism’s warmongering and forcing its workers to endure dangerous and even deadly conditions.

Throughout the rally and march, protesters chanted, “No boots on the ground, no bombs in the air, U.S. out of everywhere!” and “From Korea to the Philippines, stop the U.S. war machine.”

#NewYorkNY #NY #NYC #Korea #USOutofKorea #Nodutdol #BayanUSA #AntiWarMovement #KoreanLiberationDay #Feature

New York, NY – On the evening of January 8, over 2000 people gathered in Foley Square, across the street from the ICE headquarters in New York City, to protest the murder of Renee Good at the hands of ICE agent Jonathan Ross.

The protest was called by the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR), who just launched the ICE Out! FEDS Out! Campaign. It was endorsed by NYC Ice Watch, Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, Brooklyn Against War, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and NYU Students for a Democratic Society.

Forces gathered early and the protest began with chants like “Chinga la migra” and “Donald Trump you stupid clown, we don’t want ICE in this town!”

Daniel Koh of NYAARPR led the rally and told the crowd, “Whether from gunshot wounds or the denial of care, those ICE agents murdered Renee Good! Then had the audacity to lie. It didn’t matter that there are dozens of videos. Kristi Noem called her a domestic terrorist. JD Vance and Donald Trump blamed her for her own murder, in complete contradiction to the video evidence. And the news has done what they usually do, implying that the facts are contested and platforming the lies of people like them!”

The crowd continued to chant and echoes of “Fuck ICE” could be heard throughout Foley Square.

Michela Martinazzi of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “So to Trump, Noem, ICE and everyone in this administration – you are nothing but the dirt beneath our shoes. You will be dust in the pages of history, because the people will win!”

Shivani Ishwar from the New York Alliance closed out the rally with, “But the police, the feds, they won’t give us what we want just because we ask. We need to raise our voices! We need to be loud! We need to fight! So if you’re ready to keep this fight going, to keep building real people power, it’s time to get organized!”

The massive crowd of people marched towards the Department of Homeland Security to protest the further shootings that occurred in Portland earlier that day. The protest ended at Washington Square Park where plans to continue a campaign to get ICE Out! FEDS Out! out of New York City was re-affirmed.

#NewYorkNY #NY #ImmigrantRights #ICE #InJusticeSystem #NYAARPR #ReneeGood #KillerCops #KillerICE #SDS #Nodutdol #NYCICEWatch

New York, NY- On August 15, 100 New Yorkers gathered in Herald Square, joining protesters around the country to demand U.S. out of Korea. The rally was part of a National Day of Action organized by Nodutdol, an organization of Koreans in the U.S. fighting for the national liberation and reunification of Korea.

The date marked the 80th anniversary of Korean liberation from the Japanese in World War II and the eve of the U.S, and the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) annual joint military exercises, Ulchi Freedom Shield. Speakers from Nodutdol condemned the war games, discussing how the U.S.’s excessive military presence and tight control of the ROK’s military amounts to another occupation.

Other speakers included representatives from City Workers for Palestine and Anakbayan Queens, as well as an organizer from South Korea. In her speech, the representative from South Korea spoke of the struggle for reunification of the peninsula and the importance of the anti-Imperialist movement within the United States, saying, “The people of South Korea stand shoulder to shoulder with you all and will continue our resolute struggle. Long live the unity and struggle of the peoples of the world!”

Chanting in English and Korean, the crowd marched south to Madison Square Park, where organizers closed the rally in a militant tone. They reminded the protesters that it was not enough to protest for a single day, but that only through organization and struggle can imperialism be overthrown and liberation achieved once and for all.

#NewYorkNY #NY #International #Korea #Nodutdol #AntiWarMovement

New York, NY – On the weekend of July 25-27, the Anti-War Action Network sent members from the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Detroit Anti-War Committee, Tucson Anti-War, and Seattle Against War to the first ever People’s Summit for Korea in New York City.

The conference was held at Riverside Church in Harlem, and organized by Nodutdol, an organization of Korean Americans organizing for a world free of imperialism, and for Korea’s reunification and national liberation. Founded in 1999, Nodutdol has organized against U.S./South Korea war games and training exercises on the Korean peninsula, the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement in 2006, and in 2024 launched the U.S. Out Of Korea campaign.

The summit opened with an energizing performance of traditional Korean drumming, setting the tone for the weekend and ending in roars and applause from the crowd. The final speaker of the opening ceremony, Miyeon Jang of Nodutdol, declared, “The era of U.S. impunity and waging war without consequence is over. Across the U.S., we are organizing working people to create consequences for the U.S. empire and building towards our inevitable socialist future.”

Jang also spoke about the consequences of U.S. and South Korean military presence on the peninsula observing, “The United States and South Korean puppet soldiers will beat grandmothers until they need surgery simply for defending their farmland, and call it protection against North Korea. They impose lethal sanctions against pregnant mothers and children and call it diplomacy. They stage war exercises that drop bombs on villages and call it peacekeeping.”

Throughout the summit, attendees listened to many engaging panels including Solidarity and Sovereignty: Anti-Imperialism in the Indo-Pacific, the Long Revolution of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and Toward a United Front: U.S. Out of Everywhere. The South Korean delegation also provided an insightful panel on fighting empire from within the Republic of Korea. The summit also provided workshops including Surviving Sanctions, Occupation is a Crime!, and Policy and People Power.

Representatives from the Anti-War Action Network found the conference to be fruitful in continuing their analysis of anti-imperialism globally. Maria Sohn Hasman of Tucson Anti-War said, “It has been 72 years since the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed – 72 years since the United States forcibly divided Korea, began its occupation, and imposed the world's longest standing sanctions. As a Korean adoptee, it is critical that I understand my people's history of resistance. Adoptees and diaspora around the world have the responsibility to fight U.S. imperialism. In the United States specifically, we need to organize and deal a blow to every monopoly capitalist we can to support the liberation and national determination for not only Korea, but for the Philippines, Palestine, and all under the control of the United States. The U.S. sanctions imposed on the DPRK have crippled their economic development and livelihoods. All around the world, U.S. sanctions kill 500,000 people every year.”

Rae Minji Lee of Seattle Against War explains, “There are 28,500 U.S. troops stationed across 62 bases in South Korea, which have for decades been a source of violence as assaults, murder, rape, pollution and noise have been imposed onto the Korean people, with no justice or reparations. When the South Korean people are forced to bear the cost of moving or expanding these bases; when the U.S. can position operational nuclear warheads on their soil in secret for decades; when their army can be mustered by a U.S. general as a standing army in wartime, how can anyone not see that South Korea is occupied and has no sovereignty?”

Lee also spoke to the Western perceptions of North Korea that we are inundated with and the need to think more critically about them saying, “My own family repeated U.S. propaganda about the Korean War and its continued presence on the Korean Peninsula all throughout my childhood; I consider unlearning these lies and unpacking the propaganda against the DPRK to be critical for generational healing, as well as becoming a more effective anti-war organizer within the united front against U.S. imperialism.”

The connections between the fight for Korean liberation and Palestinian liberation were everywhere at the conference, with many attendees wearing keffiyehs and other clothing showing their support for Palestine.

Allison Gunderson of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee shared why she attended the conference, saying, “As an anti-imperialist, and as one who organizes around Palestine in particular, it’s crucial to learn the effect U.S. imperialism has on Korea and that you cannot have a liberated Palestine without a liberated Korea. You cannot be an anti-imperialist without advocating for the reunification and self-determination for Korea free of U.S. imperialism. There are 62 military bases on the Korean peninsula alone and Korea is used as a foothold in the Indo-Pacific region for the U.S. to ramp up war against China. That fact alone should tell you the ways in which Korea's Liberation is crucial to anti-imperialism, so of course I went to the summit!”

In the final plenary on Saturday afternoon, Mick Kelly of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization highlighted the importance of internationalism and building a global movement. Kelly expounded upon the recognition that the capitalist system is in its dying stages and is an enemy to people in the U.S. and around the globe, and the understanding of that fact is what creates the basis for working class internationalism. Going further he added, “the fact is when the Korean people strike a blow for liberation, it is of great benefit to those of us here in the United States and vice versa.”

After touching on the need for solidarity with the people’s struggles currently happening in Korea and the Philippines, Kelly laid out the tasks of people in the United States, stating, “We need to be about solidarity and it’s important that that solidarity is extended to the DPRK. It’s important that we have a global point of view and realize we have friends all over the globe. It’s vital that we build an anti-imperialist wing of a broader anti-war movement, a movement that’s inclusive not exclusive. We have a lot of work to do in the future, but we need to do it in a practical way that relies on drawing tens of thousands, if not millions of people into this effort. It is the masses of people that make history, it cannot be made by us alone and it depends on us being able to pull large numbers of people in behind us to do things.”

The weekend ended with a protest on Sunday in Times Square, in the heart of American finance capital, Manhattan, New York City. Speakers from several of the organizations that attended the conference took a stand to demand the U.S. out of Korea and an end to U.S. imperialism, not only in Korea, but also the Philippines, and of course Palestine. Attendees were also encouraged to hold or join a rally on August 15 for Korean Liberation Day. Organizers rallied around the chant of “No boots on the ground, no bombs in the air, U.S. Out of everywhere!” as they took to the streets to cap off a historic weekend.

The summit was seen as a major success. With organizations like Nodutdol bringing together organizers not only from across the U.S. but across the world, we can be sure that the fight to end U.S. imperialism will grow stronger.

#NewYorkNY #NY #International #Korea #AntiWarMovement #AWAN #Nodutdol