[MANNAM World News] 6.25 (LEAD) Korean War veterans honored at official anniversary event

By Lee Chi-dong
 WASHINGTON, June 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top envoy to the United States on Tuesday emphasized the importance of further developing the alliance between the two nations based on their achievements over the past six decades.
   Delivering a speech at a formal ceremony to mark the 63rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, Amb. Ahn Ho-young said what South Korea has done over the last 60 years economically and politically would have not been possible without the mutual security ties.
   He attached special meaning to this year's event, noting 2013 marks the 60th anniversary of the birth of the Seoul-Washington alliance with the armistice ending the three-year conflict.
   "I think on the 60th anniversary, of course, we celebrate all the achievements we have made, but what is even more important is to look ahead to the coming 60 years and beyond of the relationship between Korea and the United States," he said at the wreath-laying event at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Korean War veterans attend a formal ceremony in Washington to mark
the 63rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. (Yonhap)

More than 150 Korean War veterans and government officials gathered for the ceremony, including Army Lt. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, nominated to become the top commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia David Helvey, and retired Lt. Gen. William Maloney, who served as a platoon leader in the Korean War.
   Ahn thanked Korean War veterans for their sacrifice.
   "Without your sacrifice 60 years ago, I wouldn't be here this morning," he said.
   Former USFK commander Gen. Walter Sharp also emphasized that their sacrifice has born "a lot of fruit" that has differentiated the South from the North.
   "I think everyone understands how the economics have moved forward but we all also must remember (South) Korea also stands on freedom, on human rights on dignity and that's such a difference, what is in South Korea and what is in North Korea," said Sharp, honorary chairman of the Pentagon's 60th Anniversary Korea War Commemoration Committee. "That would not have happened without sacrifices veterans did 60 years ago."
   From 2008 until 2011, Sharp headed the 28,500-strong American troops stationed in South Korea. His father was a Korean War veteran.
   In a separate message to the Asan Washington Forum 2013 on South Korea-U.S. ties, meanwhile, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said their alliance is the "linchpin" of peace and security on the peninsula.
   "The alliance is now positioned to address common challenges, build peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia, and address global challenges as we welcome the Republic of Korea's leadership and active engagement on the world stage," the outgoing top security aide to President Barack Obama said.
   He affirmed Washington's commitment to the defense of the South against the North's military threats.
   "No discussion of the alliance is complete without reinforcing the U.S. commitment to the security of the Republic of Korea," added Donilon, who will be succeeded by Susan Rice, ambassador to the United Nations.
   According to the U.S. government, 36,574 American troops were killed and 103,284 others wounded in the war.
   The Korean War ended in a ceasefire, not a formal peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.
   leechidong@gmail.com
(END)
Source: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2013/06/26/39/0301000000AEN20130626000300315F.HTML


 Before I knew it today is   63rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.
 The two Koreas fought the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty, leaving the sides still technically at war and their border one of the world's most heavily fortified.
There are no plans for reunification between the North and South just yet.
As one of the Republic of Korea,  I'm still hopeful that peace will someday be achieved in Korea. surely, many MANNAM Volunteer members are hopeful that peace comes true.
When we do for peace campaign, volunteer work etc. , the time will come soon when we shall live peacefully in the unified fatherland.

[MANNAM World News] 6.25 Korean War -(Yonhap Interview) Korean War veteran reminds people of 'forgotten war'

By Kim Eun-jung
 SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) - Larry Kinard's Korean War memories come back to him with a vivid clarity, which makes him shudder at the recollection of being so close to death.
   One of them is of an incident that took place in 1952, three years after he became a U.S. Army second lieutenant to serve in the 3rd Infantry Division on the front-line. He was 22.
   Looking out at the enemy territory over the Imjin River, an artillery shell exploded just 22 meters in front of a four-member observation team.
   "It literally blew us out of the bunker's back. Nobody was killed, but we suffered from concussion and shock for several days," Kinard, now 84 and the president of the Korean War Veterans Association (KWVA), said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.

Larry Kinard, the president of the Korean War Veterans Association,
speaks during a lecture at the Korea Military Academy in Seoul on June 21, 2013. (Yonhap)

   "There were several experiences where I came close to dying. When it comes that close to death, you remember it."

The KWVA president living in Forth Worth, Texas visited Seoul as part of a veterans' event hosted by the Ministry of the Patriots and Veterans Affairs as South Korea commemorates the 60th anniversary of signing the Armistice Agreement that ended hostilities.
   The three-year war came to a halt in 1953, with a cease-fire agreement establishing a demilitarized zone roughly running along the 38th parallel that separated the two Koreas. Still today, there is no peace treaty and tensions continue with Pyongyang's threats of missile attacks and nuclear war.
   Although the Korean War has stuck with Kinard and other veterans for their entire lives, the war has been overshadowed in the public consciousness following many subsequent American military conflicts in recent decades.
   As the number of survivors with first-hand accounts of the war is dwindling -- with the youngest now nearing 80 -- Kinard decided to devote the rest of his life to tell stories of the "forgotten war" through an education program called "Tell America."
   Since 2005, the energetic veteran has traveled across the U.S. to meet people and students to tell what happened 60 years ago on the Korean Peninsula, and distributed booklets and brochures to libraries.
   Kinard stressed the education program is important because people should learn from history so as not to make the same mistakes in the future.
   "We tell the students that war is not fun," he said. "Some of what they see in movies and on TV is not real. War is terrible."
   If it is so terrible, why do people go to war?
   "Sometimes, you have to fight a war to defend freedom you have. I try to get them to understand what the real price of freedom is," he added.
   While the veteran's program was initially designed to raise awareness among students, Kinard discovered many teachers had very little knowledge of the war. So, he decided to expand the program from schools to churches and other organizations across America to give people the opportunity to talk with veterans and stimulate their curiosity.
   The great-grandfather with three children says the young generation should not forget where today's prosperity came from.
   "We stress to these children what it means to be a patriotic American, what it meant to us to fight for the freedom of the Korean people," he said. "We teach them that freedom is not free and many have paid a huge price for the freedom we enjoy today."
   The Korean War VA president called for more revisiting programs for survivors to make them in close contact and remember what they had sacrificed and contributed.
   "By meeting, living and fighting with these soldiers from other countries, we all became closer and learned first-hand what it truly means to be comrades-in-arms," Kinard said. "Through this togetherness, this comrade-in-arms personal contact, the entire world has become smaller and all of us have benefited as we learned each other's culture, language, history and traditions."
   The old veteran was particularly proud of the economic and political progress of South Korea, which has risen from the destruction of war to one of the leading economies, saying Koreans "accomplished a miracle."
   "I hope you know that the U.S. Korean War veterans are extremely proud of the Korean people and their accomplishments over the last 60 years," he said.
   Kinard, however, expressed regret that Korea still remains divided and hoped peace will come someday.
   "It's sad. I wish Korea to be reunified, but at this point, it seems to be almost impossible with standoffs from both sides," Kinard said. "Being strong is the best thing," he said, adding 28,500 American troops stationed in South Korea should remain in the country as a way to deter North Korea aggression.
   Though the last thing he wants is war, the white-hair veteran demonstrated his last-remaining fighting spirit to preserve the Korean War legacy.

   "Should war ever come to the Korean Peninsula again," he said, "we will be there, as we were in the 50s -- comrades-in-arms, fighting side by side with you."

Source: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2013/06/21/84/0301000000AEN20130621006800315F.HTML


The Korean War was a bloody battle of brother against brother.
It tooks the lives of some 5 million men and women.
The divided Koreas remain technically at war since an armistice stopped fighting between them in 1953.
It is regrettable that many soldiers have to be parted from family by war and civilians died.
Also, It’s a sad fact that many of those killed were children.
I hope that the day of reunification would come as soon as possible.
All humankind must exert every effort for peace.
MANNAM and MIYC memvers work for the world peace.
"We need to stick together!"
World peace is the greatest prize of all.