Veteran to be buried in S. KoreaSouth Korean Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Pi Woo-jin (R) bows before the remains of Albert Hugh McBride, a Canadian veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War, at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on June 11, 2019, in this photo provided by the ministry. The remains will be buried at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in the southern port city of Busan the next day. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
I hope no one really thought a deal on this issue was going to be reached because I never did:
A United Nations Command honor guard prepares to repatriate a casket carrying Korean War remains at Yongsang Garrison in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018.
In a new sign of troubled relations with North Korea, the Pentagon said Wednesday it has suspended its efforts to arrange negotiations on recovering additional remains of U.S. servicemembers killed in the North during the Korean War.
In a statement Wednesday, the Pentagon’s Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency said it has had no communication with North Korean authorities since the Hanoi summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February. That meeting focused on the North’s nuclear weapons and followed a June 2018 summit at which Kim committed to permitting a resumption the recovery of U.S. remains, which had been suspended by the U.S. in 2005.
“As a result, our effort to communicate with the Korean People’s Army regarding the possible resumption of joint recovery operation for 2019 has been suspended,” the agency said. “We have reached the point where we can no longer effectively plan, coordinate, and conduct field operations in the DPRK during this fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, 2019.”
You can read more at the link, but the only way a deal was getting done was if the US paid North Korea an exorbitant amount of money to recover the remains as has been done in the past.
The North Koreans know exactly where the bulk of the remains are because the US military buried a large number of casualties in marked cemeteries before evacuating North Korea after the Chinese intervened in the war.
Cpl. Charles Price sounds “Taps” over the graves of fallen Leathernecks during memorial services at the First Marine Division cemetery at Hungnam, following the division’s heroic break-out from Chosin Reservoir. December 13, 1950. Cpl. W. T. Wolfe. (Marine Corps)
To be able to repatriate these remains to their family members the North Koreans have been demanding inflated prices which just shows how low the Kim regime is willing to go to make money. The work to recover the remains ended in 2005 and so far does not look like it will begin again any time soon.
Every time I watch any Western documentary about Korea – in this case, Netflix's "Street Food" – regardless of the subject matter, people always end up talking about "the tragedy of the Korean War," and it annoys me to no end. Just how many Koreans actually think about the war?!
— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) April 28, 2019
S. Korea returns remains of 10 Chinese war deadChinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong drapes a Chinese flag over a box containing the remains of a Chinese soldier killed in the 1950-53 Korean War at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on April 3, 2019. The repatriation is the sixth of its kind since South Korea and China agreed in 2014 to bring back the remains of Chinese soldiers who were killed while fighting alongside North Korean soldiers during the three-year conflict. (pool photo) (Yonhap)
Inchon City Council seeks compensation for victims of the Sept 15, 1950 "Inchon Landing," a turning point in the #KoreanWar, from the #ROK AND the #US & #UN. Why leave out the culprit of the war, the #DPRK? https://t.co/mGBXgW302K
Secretary of State Pompeo is using the term “peace mechanisms” now which is a term the Moon administration often uses:
With the United States and North Korea striving for a give-and-take compromise in their summit next week, a declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, or a peace statement, is surfacing as a possible concession from Washington. The North has long eyed such a political declaration, which is not legally binding, to end decades of enmity with the U.S., ensure its regime security and ultimately sign a peace treaty that some say could undercut the rationale for American troop presence on the peninsula. At his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, slated for Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi, President Donald Trump is expected to discuss the possibility of ending the war that was ceased only with an armistice agreement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last Thursday. “Remember we not only discussed denuclearization, but we talked about creating security mechanisms, peace mechanisms on the Korean Peninsula,” Pompeo told Fox News. “I hope the two leaders have a chance to talk about that as well. I fully expect that they will.”
You can read much more at the link, but the Moon administration has been pushing for a peace mechanism in order to advance their goal of creating a confederation with North Korea. A peace treaty ending the Korean War is one of the first steps to making this happen.
Remains excavation exempted from U.N. sanctionsAn excavation team handles the remains of a soldier found at a Korean War battle site in Cheorwon, northeast of Seoul, in this Oct. 25, 2018, pool photo. The inter-Korean project for recovering remains in the Demilitarized Zone was exempted from U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea, sources said on Jan. 28, 2019, allowing the delivery of needed equipment to the North for the work. (Yonhap)
It is pretty strange that Korean War veterans are intentionally excluded from a Korean War memorial event:
I felt a little foolish this year when reporters and others present at the Turn Toward Busan ceremony at the UN Cemetery on Nov. 11 congratulated me for being prominently mentioned in the program. Some thought I was actually present, among the various dignitaries.
I wasn’t there. Nor were any veterans invited from the various nations that sent soldiers to fight in Korea during the war years.
The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs excluded the aging veterans from participating this year. Instead, they gave more than 100 places usually reserved for veterans to family members of those who fell in the war.
While no veteran will object to giving up his place to a bonafide grieving family member of a comrade, it was a major error of the MPVA to exclude veterans.
Ironically, the ceremony gave the impression that veterans from the many nations were actually present. The huge video screens set up on each side of the altar displayed a sign in English that read, “Thanks, Veterans.” But they were not there.
Bereaved family members are much younger than the veterans. In most cases they will be on this Earth much longer. Presumably, they will continue to be invited to Korea long after the veterans revisit programs end in 2020.
In several cases the family members invited were very distant relatives of the fallen soldiers. They were not born until many years after the Korean War ended, and never met or actually grieved for the fallen soldiers.
While their presence does perpetuate the memory of those who fell, it also excluded participation by those who served alongside those soldiers ― those who fought in the war and were spared. [Korea Times]
I don’t understand what the problem is with adding more chairs to accommodate family members and veterans? Why exclude veterans especially when they have been invited in prior years.
Here is what Dr. Tara O thinks is going on:
Min of Patriots & Veterans Affairs didn't invite Korean War vets from UN Sending States this year, unlike in the past. Many are in 80s. The Minister is Pi Woo-jin, who strongly supports Moon, whose priority is Kim Jong-un. How does Kim feel re UN vets?https://t.co/rekH21tM2e
It is pretty amazing that General Paik Sun-yup is now 99 years old and still going strong:
Gen. Paik Sun-yup, in a wheelchair, center, is congratulated on his 99th birthday on Wednesday by a kneeling U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris, second from right, at the Ministry of National Defense Convention Center in central Seoul. [BYUN SUN-GOO]The U.S. Eighth Army held a surprise birthday party on Wednesday for General Paik Sun-yup, one of the most celebrated commanders of the 1950-53 Korean War.
The celebration of Paik’s 98th birthday — or the celebrated 99th by Korean count — was held at the Ministry of National Defense Convention Center in central Seoul with nearly the full roster of American representatives in Korea in attendance, including U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris and the new commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) Gen. Robert B. Abrams.
Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Park Han-ki and Commander of the First ROK Army Park Jong-jin were also present to congratulate the general.
Jeong presented Paik with a ceremonial military baton inlaid with mother-of-pearl as a birthday gift. Crouching before Paik, who was in a wheelchair, Gen. Abrams handed him a booklet of congratulatory messages and photographs from all current and former commanders of the USFK.
“You are like the foundation of the U.S-Korea alliance,” Abrams told Paik.
The two men share a unique connection that goes back to the Korean War. Abram’s father was Creighton Williams Abrams, a U.S. Army general who fought in Korea alongside Paik. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I had the chance to talk to General Paik many years ago and got him to sign a copy of his book,From Pusan to Panmunjon (Memories of War). He was fascinating to talk to because his great memory of events that occurred and people he met during the Korean War. If you haven’t read his book I highly recommend reading it because of the ROK perspective it provides in regards to events during the Korean War.
