Tag: Korean War

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

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) November 29, 2018

It is pretty amazing that General Paik Sun-yup is now 99 years old and still going strong:

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.

The demilitarization of the ironically named Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) continues:

Military construction crews from North and South Korea, building the first central inter-Korean road in 65 years, met today at Arrowhead Hill in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and shook hands.

Arrowhead Hill was the place of one of the bloodiest battle sites of the war is now the first.

In October South and North Korea troops began the task of removing land mines from the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjom as well as the Arrowhead Hill (Hwasalmeori) region in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, where joint exhumation of the remains of Korean War MIA/POW are set to take place. (Hani.co.kr)

On Thursday troops from the North and South met and shook hands on Arrowhead Hill.  [Gateway Pundit via a reader tip]

Chow line for Thanksgiving dinner of 1st SigBn at Hamhung, Korea during the Korean War.  [Morning Calm Weekly]

A group of foreigners studying in South Korea pose for a photo during a program to experience the excavation of the remains of soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War on a hill in Paju, north of Seoul, on Oct, 18, 2018, in this photo provided by the defense ministry. (Yonhap)

Park Young-shik (R) receives an identification certificate for his late father, Park Tae-hong, from Lee Hak-ki, head of the defense ministry’s remains excavation and identification task force, during a ceremony in Yangju, east of Seoul, to mark the return of the national hero on Oct. 16, 2018. PFC. Park was killed in action there during the 1950-53 Korean War, and his remains were excavated from a hill in Pohang, 370 km southeast of Seoul in 2009. (Yonhap)

I am willing to bet that Lieutenant General Eyre is saying things that US generals are not allowed to express:

A senior officer in the United Nations Command is urging caution about a declaration to end the Korean War, warning it could be a North Korean ploy to pull the South Korea-U.S. alliance apart.

Canadian Lieutenant-General Wayne Eyre is quoted as calling the prospective declaration a “slippery slope” in terms of the U.S. troop presence in South Korea.

In remarks at a Washington seminar, Eyre described the North Koreans as experts at “divide and conquer.”

Abut 28-thousand-500 U.S. troops are based in South Korea to deter or defeat a repeat of North Korea’s 1950 invasion or other provocations.

He said it needs to be questioned why North Korea is pushing so hard for an end-of-war declaration.

While noting that the recent climate of negotiations offered hope for a lasting peace, he suggested that a war-ending declaration would lead the public to question seriously the need for a continued U.S. troop presence on the peninsula.  [KBS World Radio]

I have said this repeatedly that after a peace treaty is signed the South Korea left will then mobilize to make life difficult for US troops in South Korea.  Every traffic accident, parking ticket, drunken fight, etc. will become a national headline to increase anti-US sentiment.  It will be the 2002-2004 timeframe all over again and this time the Korean left will hope that the US president decides to pull out USFK on his own accord.

Here is an unusual ceremony that was recently held at Osan Airbase.  It is good to see that the remains of these two New Zealanders were able to be returned to their home countries:

The remains of two New Zealand servicemembers who died in South Korea shortly after hostilities ended on the peninsula finally began their journey home Friday.

Army driver Herbert Hunn, 24, and navy telegraphist Peter Mollison, 19, were brought aboard a New Zealand Air Force jet after a repatriation ceremony at Osan Air Base’s passenger terminal. The pair were to be returned to family members Sunday at Royal New Zealand Air Base Auckland.

“These two men beside me were not killed in combat and in fact died after the armistice agreement,” New Zealand Ambassador to South Korea Philip Turner said during the ceremony. “They were part of New Zealand and the international community’s commitment to security here.”

Both Hunn, who died in a vehicle accident in 1955, and Mollison who succumbed to meningitis in 1957, had been interred at a United Nations cemetery in Busan.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

It is pretty amazing how long it takes to identify these remains, but the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues to get these remains identified:

South Korea on Monday held a solemn ceremony marking the repatriation of the remains of 64 soldiers who were killed in North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War.

President Moon Jae-in presided over the repatriation ceremony at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, 40 kilometers south of Seoul, with the attendance of top military and government officials and religious leaders, including Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Vincent Brooks.

Escorted by a fleet of F-15K and FA-50 fighter jets, the remains arrived at Seoul Air Base on Sunday afternoon aboard a South Korea Air Force transport plane from Hawaii.

In Hawaii on Friday, the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency handed them over to Seoul’s Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk. POW stands for Prisoner of War, and MIA means Missing in Action.

The remains were found during a joint excavation project between the United States and North Korea in major Korean War battle zones in the communist state, such as Changjin, South Hamgyong Province. The project was conducted from 1996-2005  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.