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This week is the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War. In honor of this milestone I recommend that ROK Heads spend some time reading about some of the great military personnel that proved themselves as true Heroes of the Korean War.
1950:
Lieutenant Colonel Charles B. Smith (USA), Commander 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, Taskforce Smith Battle
Major General William Dean (USA), Commander 24th Infantry Division, Battle of Taejon
Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. (USA), Squad Leader 2-19 Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, Battle of the Chongchon River
Captain Charles M. Bussey (USA), Commander 77th Engineer Combat Company, Firefight at Yechon
General Tahsin Yazici (Turkey), Commander 1st Turkish Brigade, Battle of Kunu-ri
Ensign Jesse L. Brown (USA), US Navy 32nd Fighter Squadron, Chosin Reservoir
Lieutenant Colonel William W. Harris (USA), Commander 65th Infantry Regiment, Chosin Reservoir
Lieutenant Colonel Russell Blaisdell (USA), Chaplain US Air Force, Operation Kiddy Car Airlift
1951:
Captain Lewis L. Millett (USA), Commander E Co. 27th Infantry Regiment, Battle of Bayonet Hill.
Colonel Paul Freeman (USA), Commander 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, Battle of Chipyong-ni
Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Monclar (France), Commander French Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, Battle of Chipyong-ni
Lieutenant Colonel James P. Carne (UK), Commander Gloucestershire Battalion, Battle of the Imjim
Lieutenant Colonel J.R. Stone (Canada), Commander Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Battle of the Kapyong
Lieutenant Colonel Dionisio Ojeda (Philippines), Commander Philippines Expeditionary Force To Korea (PEFTOK), Battle of the Yultong
First Sergeant Benjamin Wilson (USA), First Sergeant Company I, 3d Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Battle of Hell Hill
Private First Class Anthony T. Kaho’ohanohano (USA), 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, Battle of Chup’a-ri
1952:
Brigadier General Haydon Boatner (USA), Commander Geoje POW Camp
Colonel Young-oak Kim (USA), Commander 1-31 Infantry Regiment, First Asian-American Battalion Commander
1953:
Lieutenant Colonel George Koumanakos (Greece), Commander Greek Battalion, Battle of Outpost Harry
Post-Korean War:
Lieutenant General Subayya Kadenera Thimayya (India), Commander of the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC), Operation Big Switch
It looks like the pressure is on for Korea to increase defense spending:
National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said Thursday that South Korea is facing calls from the United States to align with the global trend of increasing defense spending, following a decision by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to raise its defense budget target.
Speaking to reporters after returning from the NATO summit held earlier this week in The Hague, Wi noted that NATO member states had agreed to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2035, a move he said carries implications for South Korea as well.
You can read more at the link.
It is pretty surprising that the ROK government is not providing children drafted to fight in the ROK Army during the Korean War the same benefits of normal veterans:
Park Tae-seung, 92, vividly remembers the day he was conscripted into the South Korean military to fight against North Koreans. It was near the end of August 1950, only three months after the 1950-53 Korean War began. He was 17.
“Age didn’t really matter — if we were physically big enough, then the country deemed us sufficient to enter the war,” Park, who now lives in the quiet city of Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, told The Korea Herald on Wednesday.
“I saw so many of us — both allies and enemies — fighting in the war and getting killed. It still haunts me to this day how I had to leave behind my friends on the battlefield just to survive,” he added.
Park is one of the 29,603 soldiers aged 17 and under who were conscripted for the Korean War, according to data provided by the Institute for Military History under the Defense Ministry in 2011. Among them, 2,573 were killed in the war.
Here is the rights these child soldier veterans are fighting for:
Under the current law, former child soldiers are recognized as war veterans but not as registered patriots. Registered patriots receive bigger rewards and better health benefits compared to those classified as war veterans. Bereaved families of registered patriots can also continue receiving similar benefits after his or her death. Families of war veterans cannot.
A bill to amend the Act on Honorable Treatment of War Veterans and Establishment of Related Associations, aiming to establish a compensation and support system for child soldiers, has been repeatedly drafted, yet scrapped at the National Assembly throughout the past decade. It has never been prioritized, according to attorney Ha Kyoung-hwan, who has worked closely with the survivors of the forgotten group since 2014.
You can read more at the link.
It appears the policies of prior President Yoon did have one positive impact which is improving the birthrate:
The number of babies born in South Korea rose at the fastest pace in 34 years in April from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday, driven by a rise in marriages and demographic changes.
A total of 20,717 babies were born in April, up 8.7 percent from 19,059 babies born a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.
It marked the steepest on-year increase in monthly births since April 1991, when the figure also rose by 8.7 percent.
It was also the first time in three years that the number of monthly births surpassed the 20,000 mark after hitting 21,164 in April 2022.
The country’s total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime, also rose by 0.06 from a year earlier to 0.79 in April.
“The rise in births appears to be influenced by increased marriages since last year, growth in the population of women in their early 30s, and various birth promotion policies by the central and local governments,” an official at Statistics Korea said.
You can read more at the link, but we will see if President Lee can continue this momentum to improve the birth rate with his policies.
It looks like Fighters for a Free North Korea are going to have a hard time continuing their activities under the new Lee administration:
Lee also directed the government to curb propaganda leaflets sent northward by balloon by activist groups in South Korea. The North characterized the balloons as an act of war. The balloons that sometimes carry rice, small radios and other essentials to aid impoverished North Koreans hinder diplomatic relations between North and South and “threaten the daily lives and safety” of border-area residents, according to a presidential office statement June 14.
You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see if the Lee administration tries to jail the leader of Fighters for a Free North Korea Park Sang-hak. During the Moon administration they arrested him Park multiple times in an effort to stop his group from sending balloons to North Korea.
