The Marmot’s Hole

A group of foreign war veterans who fought in the 1950-1953 Korean War pay tribute to fallen comrades at the National Cemetery in Tongjak-dong, Seoul, Tuesday, 10/12/04. Photo courtesy The Korea Times (in turn ripped off from the Korean War Veterans Association).

I’m not sure if it got a lot of attention in the English-language press, but President Roh met on Friday with elderly Korean War vets of the International Federation of Korean War Veterans Associations (IFKWVA), who were in Seoul for their 7th General Assembly. Roh told the veterans:

Next year is the 55th anniversary of the Korean War, and I once again thank you for not forgetting Korea during all that time, for continuing to support and visit us, and for your unchanging strong support for peace and unification in Korea… If it weren’t for the continuous help given us by the veterans and allies, our success would not have been possible… Our citizens have not forget your sacrifice.

He added:

While Korea exists, your service will always be remembered… Like you did 54 years ago, Korea and its people are working to contribute diligently to world peace and common prosperity.

After which, he said:

As I greeted each of you one by one and saw the medals upon your chest, I felt a tremendous weight… Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are still an issue of interest and concern for the entire world, but with strength gotten from help from our citizens and allies, peace will take root and unification achieved peacefully without war, and we will definitely become an excellent nation that contributes to peace with both surrounding nations and the world.

The head of the IFKWVA, an 81-year-old brigadier general of the South African Air Force reserve, said:

When the Korean War broke out 54 years ago, 21 nations participated at the request of the United Nations, and we, too, participated in the war without hesitation… When I left Korea after the conclusion of the war, the image of a war-torn Seoul was stuck in my brain… But when I came back at the invitation of the Republic of Korea Korean War Veterans Association, I couldn’t believe Korea had made such a surprising recovery… When I visited Pohang Iron and Steel and the Hyundai Motor factory, I was surprised at the Korea, which had achieved such remarkable development… There is no nation on the planet that treats veterans with such respect as Korea.

To this, Roh answered:

As [the S. African veteran] said, Korea is continuing to record surprising development… I think this is the result of the Korean people’s blood and sweat-filled efforts, but if we hadn’t received continuous help from the veterans who are here now and the allies who participated in that war, our success of today would have been impossible.

The Rohmeister then went on to discuss North Korea policy:

We judge that North Korea, too, has the intention to economically reform and open up and introduce the market economy. A person or group that has lost hope is dangerous… The help of surrounding countries like the United States, China, Japan and Russia is necessary to allow North Korea to economically succeed and give it hope… But if North Korea is to receive help from surrounding nations, it must give up its nuclear program and weapons of mass destruction.

He also mentioned North Korean violations of the North Limit Line in the West Sea:

We are responding to violations of the North Limit Line by separating the violations into mistaken ones and ones with hostile intentions… But separating the two and responding, we are doing our best to prevent clashes between North and South.

Let’s ignore Roh’s analysis of North Korean intentions for the moment. I was still quite nice of him to meet with the vets and say all the right things, even if you wonder when he’ll go to KBS or the like and claim he was just exaggerating and, of course, foreign participation in the Korean War left the peninsula divided with a colonial presence in Yongsan and former Japanese collaborators in control.

BTW, Roh met the previous day with foreign democracy activists who participated in Korea’s democratization movement. The Oranckay discusses one man’s participation in that meeting at his blog.