This was a nice gesture by President Park to remember the soldiers from Columbia who came to fight communist aggression against South Korea over 60 years ago:
Colombian soldiers arrive in South Korea during the Korean War
South Korean President Park Geun-hye met with Colombian veterans of the Korean War on Saturday as she wrapped up her three-day visit to the South American country.
The meeting illustrated that Seoul appreciates the sacrifice Colombia made to help defend South Korea, then a little-known, faraway nation across the Pacific.
Colombia was the only nation from Central and South America to fight alongside South Korea against Chinese-backed North Korean forces. About 5,100 troops were dispatched halfway around the world to help fight the North’s invasion, of which 213 were killed and 448 wounded.
About 1,000 veterans are believed to still be alive. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but this link to an article in a local Bogota paper explains why Colombia became involved in the Korean War. Unsurprisingly it had a lot to do with US economic benefits for dispatching troops to assist the United Nations effort to defend South Korea. I was surprised to read though that the veterans that did fight in the Korean War have been largely forgotten in Colombia though this attitude has been slowly changing according to the article.
