Drawing Hope is a trans-local peace project that delivers messages of hope through children’s artwork, fostering intergenerational dialogue.
Okedongmu Children in Korea
어린이어깨동무
Republic of Korea
Okedongmu Children in Korea (OKCK), located in the Republic of Korea, is dedicated to transforming conflict into a peaceful future on the Korean peninsula. Okedongmu means “standing shoulder to shoulder as friends.” We aim to create a peaceful future where children on the Korean peninsula can live together as friends. children, OKCK provides aid to children in North Korea, including medical, nutritional, and educational facilities and equipment. To promote the importance of peace for children, OKCK delivers peace education from children to adults in South Korean society. To connect children and break down barriers, OKCK organizes intercultural exchanges, such as those between North and South Korea, within East Asia, and among countries affected by conflict.
The Drawing Hope Project began as an art exchange between children in South and North Korea, divided by the peninsula’s separation. It has now grown into a space of exchange and solidarity among diverse local organizations around the world. Through their drawings, children have reached beyond the walls built by adults, introducing themselves and initiating dialogue.
Okedongmu Children in Korea hopes that, through these brave greetings from children living amid deepening conflict and division, people will rediscover the values of peace and coexistence.
We also hope our solidarity—built together with children who never let go of the thread of hope—continues to grow. And we will not give up the hope that one day, children from both South and North Korea will meet again.
- Yunseon Kim, Okedongmu Children in Korea, General Director
Drawing Hope was born in the 1990s from an exchange of children’s self-portraits and peace messages across the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a line drawn by adults, yet carried by the young. What began as a gesture of innocence has grown into a trans-local movement where children and youth from conflict-affected societies reclaim their voices and reimagine our shared humanity. Drawing Hope exposes the absurdity of the dehumanization embedded in the social divisions we inherit and invites us to learn from the courage of the young, whose imagination keeps humanity from mutual destruction, and whose hope awakens our critical agency to grow peace.
- Dong Jin Kim, a board member of Okedongmu Children in Korea (OKCK),
Kim Dae Jung Chair Professor of Peace Studies, Hanshin University,
and ISE Adjunct Professor in Peace and Reconciliation, Trinity College Dublin