This is a nice gesture by the Park administration which hopefully the Chinese government appreciates:
South Korea plans to return some 60 sets of remains of Chinese soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War to their homeland, a defense ministry official here said Monday.
In a symbolic gesture of friendship toward its former battlefield foe, South Korea pledged to repatriate the bodies to China by March during the Seoul-Beijing security talks held in Seoul earlier in the day, according to the official.
“After the repatriation last year, we’ve unearthed some 60 more bodies of the Chinese servicemembers. After taking some necessary steps, we will send them back to their home by March,” the official said, asking not to be named. “The Chinese side expressed gratitude for the decision.”
In March last year, the South Korean government returned the bodies of 437 Chinese soldiers killed on Korean soil during the war on humanitarian grounds, after President Park Geun-hye made such an offer during a 2013 summit with her Chinese counterpart. [Yonhap]
The dark gray granite stone, erected by U.S. Army Garrison Daegu in front of the Camp Walker chapel, includes an image of Capt. Emil Kapaun supporting an injured soldier and the inscription, “He paid the ultimate sacrifice and consecrated the soul of Korea.” The monument, about four feet tall, was unveiled Dec. 19.
It’s the first memorial on the Korean peninsula for Kapaun, who died in a prisoner of war camp in May 1951 after being captured at Unsan the previous November. Although U.S. forces were surrounded and ordered to evacuate, the Roman Catholic priest stayed behind to comfort the wounded, despite the certainty of capture, and made rounds even as hand-to-hand combat broke out between U.S. and Chinese troops.
“We need inspiration and motivation to continue to serve the country,” deputy garrison chaplain Maj. Moon Kim said of Kapaun’s legacy. “People get easily discouraged or demotivated. But we see those forefathers who have gone before us and died, and they inspire us.”
The chaplain, a native of Pilsen, Kan., was awarded the Medal of Honor in April 2013. [Stars & Stripes]
1st Lt. Alvin Anderson, one of the many repatriated POW’s to return home aboard the USNS Marine Phoenix, embracing his mother and sister as other members of his family look on. Fort Mason, CA, September 14, 1953. Herb Weiss. (Army)
I am a bit surprised that London did not have a memorial of any kind in it in recognition of the United Kingdom’s valiant soldiers who fought in the Korean War until now:
The first public memorial in London to British soldiers who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War was unveiled in a ceremony Wednesday along the banks of the River Thames.
The memorial incorporates a bronze statue of a British soldier by award-winning Scottish sculptor Philip Jackson that stands in front of an inscribed Portland stone obelisk on a base of Welsh slate.
The 5.8 by 3.1 meter (19 by 10 feet) memorial is just outside the headquarters of the U.K. Ministry of Defence. It is the last such monument to be erected in the capital of one of the 16 countries that allied with South Korea during the war. Over 300 members of the British Korean Veterans Association (BKVA) attended the unveiling ceremony in Victoria Embankment Gardens in central London.
The ceremony was also attended by 200 British and Korean officials, including the Duke of Gloucester and Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se. The memorial is a gift from the Korean government to express thanks to the 81,000 British soldiers who served in the Korean War, which includes 1,106 troops killed and 1,060 who were prisoners of war.
Queen Elizabeth II sent a congratulatory message that was read by the Duke of Gloucester. “The memorial is a fitting tribute to the veterans of that fierce conflict,” she said in the message, “and will ensure that they, and their fallen comrades, are never forgotten.”
“The Korean War was the first UN action against aggression,” reads an inscription on the obelisk. “Although exhausted and impoverished after the Second World War, Britain responded immediately by providing strong naval, army and air forces and became the second largest contributor after the United States. A distant obligation honorably discharged.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
A wounded soldier on a hospital ship in Incheon, Korea eats Thanksgiving dinner, in 1952. ( National Museum of Health and Medicine/Flickr ) via the Atlantic.
