Group Region: East Asia

CanKor is an electronic information service for readers interested in the issues of peace and security on the Korean peninsula, published by Weingartner…

The International Peace Film Festival in Gangjeong (IPFFIG) in Gangjeong village, South Korea, was created in the wake of the completion of Jeju Naval Base. The festival aims to surround the navy base with the power of culture. Military tension is increasing in the region, but IPFFIG believes that culture is mightier than the sword. The festival features screenings of thirty-four films from ten different countries, which include films dealing with the issues of war bases in Gangjeong and Okinawa.

Thanks to a collaboration between the Cultures of Resistance Network and the American Friends of SOAS (AFSOAS), two postgraduate scholarships will be available in 2014/15 at SOAS, University of London. Valued at £24,000 per student, the scholarships will be used to help their recipients meet the costs of tuition fees at the overseas rate and also help them meet any additional costs (e.g. transport, purchasing books, research costs) associated with their stay in London.

The Korean Women Peasant Association (KWPA), founded in 1989, seeks to improve the status of women farmers and oppose neoliberal agricultural policies in South Korea. In order to forward its goals, KWPA has been a leader of the country’s food sovereignty movement, through which it has advocated for sustainable agriculture and against the state’s preferential treatment for large-scale farms. Among other projects, KWPA has helped create local, ecologically friendly agricultural supply chains and has organized native seed banks to defend against corporate control of the food system.

The Hope Bus is a grassroots movement that works towards a world without mass dismissals and precarious work. Recognizing that neoliberal policies have led to increased polarization between rich and poor, and confronting the great disparities in how workers and owners experience economic downturns, the Hope Bus is supporting the struggle of Hanjin Heavy Industries workers, who have attracted the attention of Korean society.

The DMZ Forum, a New York-based non-profit organization, is dedicated to conserving the unique biological and cultural resources of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and surrounding areas through the creation of a transboundary peace and nature park. Since much of the DMZ has been untrammeled by humans over the past 50 years, it has the potential to inform scientists and citizens about nature’s reclamation powers.