70th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice: Prospects and Challenges for a Peace Agreement

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Cate Douglass; cdouglassgwu [dot] edu (cdouglass[at]gwu[dot]edu)

Shannon Mitchell; shannon [dot] mitchellgwu [dot] edu (shannon[dot]mitchell[at]gwu[dot]edu)

EVENT:

An unprecedented gathering of top military, nuclear, humanitarian, and academic experts will join Korea peace advocates for a one-day conference on July 28th at the George Washington University, titled the 70th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice: Prospects and Challenges for a Peace Agreement. Dr. Bruce Cumings, University of Chicago Professor Emeritus and eminent Korea historian, will deliver the keynote address.

The conference will feature two panel discussions. The first panel will focus on the human costs of the ongoing Korean War, which was halted but not formally ended by an armistice agreement in 1953. The second panel will examine how the unresolved state of the Korean War is the root cause of ongoing hostilities—and how a formal peace agreement is urgently necessary to reduce the growing risk of nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula and beyond. The full program and schedule are below.

WHEN:

Friday, July 28th, 2023; 9:00am – 3pm EST

WHERE: 

The GW Elliott School of International Affairs

Lindner Commons (Room 602),

1957 E Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20052

RSVP:

Journalists interested in attending the event should notify Cate Douglass at cdouglassgwu [dot] edu (cdouglass[at]gwu[dot]edu) or Shannon Mitchell at Shannon [dot] mitchellgwu [dot] edu (Shannon[dot]mitchell[at]gwu[dot]edu).

PROGRAM SCHEDULE:

9:00am Introduction

• Linda Yarr, Director of Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia, the George Washington University
• Christine Ahn, Women Cross DMZ Founder and Executive Director

9:15am Keynote Address

• Bruce Cummings, University of Chicago Emeritus Professor and eminent Korea historian

PANEL I: The Human Costs of Unending War 10:10 – 11:30am

• Kee Park, M.D., Harvard University Department of Global Health and Social Medicine
• Joy Gebhart, divided family member
• Rick Downes, Executive Director, Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs

Moderated by Jennifer Deibert, DPRK Program Director, American Friends Service Committee

PANEL II: The Threat of Nuclear War 1:00 – 2:20pm

• Dan Leaf, retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General
• Siegfried Hecker, Professor of Practice at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and at Texas A&M University
• Ann Wright, retired U.S. Army Colonel, Veterans for Peace

Moderated by Ji-Yeon Yuh of Northwestern University

-GW-