60th Anniversary of the Korean War

The Korean War Veteran, while independently compiled, is also published and archived for future reference on the Korea Veterans Association of Canada national website. KVA Canada is a founding member of the International Federation of Korean War Veterans Associations. We are proud of this honour.

The following is not an official communication from the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee. It is a response from the Korean War Veteran Internet publication to those who have made inquiries and to thousands around the world who have an eager interest in the 2010 programs.

The information given is not official and it is subject to change, but as of today it can be taken to the bank.

First, Korea plans to hold the commemoration observances in a single commemoration year. It will be 2010. There is no three-year program planned like there was in the 2000-2003 50th Anniversary commemoration period.

The Commemoration Committee plan is to divide ceremonies and events between those held in Korea and those held in the UN Allies home countries.

In Korea, there will be more than 40 events, many of which involve Korean War Veterans.

Of these major ceremonies, the Liberation of Seoul – referred to often by the Commemoration Committee as the “Recapture of Seoul,” is the main event. It eclipses the opening June 25 ceremony in size and importance. By contrast, in 2000, the June 25 opening ceremony had been the main event for the 50th anniversary of the Korean War commemoration period.

During the Veteran revisit programs there will be special ceremonies at battle sites that are significant to each of the nations.

In addition, there are many, many cultural events, some connected with the major ceremonies. They express the theme of peace on the Korean peninsula. One of them involves a five-night hike along the southern wire of the DMZ by patriots. There are symphonies, stage performances, seminars, festivals. The plate is very, very full.

Most inquiring Veterans are vitally interested in the revisit programs. This is the responsibility of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and not of the Commemoration Committee.

In 2010, instead of delegating the program to the Korean Veterans Association (Korea) for management, the MPVA is working in partnership with defence attaches wherever this is practicable.

The defence attaches take on responsibility for conveying information about the programs to the primary veterans organizations in their home nations.

In turn, those veterans groups are expected to develop rosters of successful revisit applicants and fully coordinate their participation.

This new program management approach does not exclude participation by the Korean Veterans Association (Korea). The MPVA works with them in a consulting capacity.

Since the Revisit Korea program was launched in 1975, some 26,000 Veterans have visited Korea in honoured guest status, with Korea paying all expenses for meals, lodging and transportation within the Seoul area.

This very generous program is being significantly expanded for the 2010 Commemoration Year.

While usually about 600 veterans participate each year, for 2010 the total allotment has been expanded to 2,400 veterans!

While the veterans associations in each country undoubtedly will use their own procedures, there are eligibility criteria that should be followed.

(This includes Red Cross and other civilian medical personnel, individuals who worked in orphanages and other humanitarian aid workers).

If the quotas are not filled, eligibility will extend to Veterans who have not participated in a revisit in the past five years. (In some countries veterans organizations are mistakenly referencing the past ten years, which was the regulation in 2009).

There probably is only the slimmest of chances that all quotas will not be filled. That’s because the MPVA has officially announced that it will subsidize the air fares of Veterans.

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has made the subsidy announcement on its international website (see link below this column) in the selection category, International Cooperation. It reads as follows:

Airfare subsidies will be provided, 50% of the cost absorbed for the Veterans and 30% for the guest family member or caregiver.

The Government will fully pay the airfare of Veterans and family members coming from Ethiopia, India, Colombia and Turkey

The Korea Veterans Association of Canada national vice president, Paul Rochon, has conveyed the fare subsidy information to all KVA Canada units.

Paul explains in his message that he has received the quota and air fare subsidy information from Canadian Defence Attache Colonel Stephen LaPlante.

Paul reports that he already has a list of 80 applicants in hand. This will probably cover most of the Canadian allocations for the full year.

The British Korean Veterans Association also has posted air fare subsidy information and other information about the revisits on its national website www.bkva.co.uk

Please note, from this writer: While it is the most sincere desire of the MPVA to provide the air fare subsidies, as of this date Korea’s National Assembly still has not approved the Korean Government's 2010 budget. The Ruling and Opposition party members in the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Committee met jointly for the first time to work on budget approval on December 29.

The listing below shows the approximate number of allocations for some of the nations. More specific information will be conveyed to the KVA organizers in each country. Some nations such as Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Greece, Luxembourg, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Italy, India, the Netherlands, Norway are not listed on this revisit schedule, but will receive the specific information for their countries as it is finalized.

Australia, Canada, Greece, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey. United Kingdom, United States

Australia, Canada, France, India, Italy, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Belgium

This program for the grandchildren of Korean War Veterans was successfully implemented in 2009. It received rave reviews from Veterans and the general public in all of the participating nations.

In the July 2009 program 20 students who are grandchildren of Korean War Veterans were selected from seven countries: Australia, Canada, Columbia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Thailand and the United Kingdom. Participants from six of the nations were flown to Korea and they all spent six days as quests of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.

The Youth Ambassadors visited historic war sites, including the Koje-do prisoner of war compounds, the DMZ and one of the incursion tunnels dug beneath the DMZ by North Korean troops. They visited Korean industry, sampled Korean culture, received lectures from experts – and vastly enjoyed each other’s companionship. The cultural exchange was magnificent!

In 2010 the MPVA has expanded this program to 300 participants, spread across all of the nations that participated in the Korean War. Specific allocations have not yet been determined.

The youth camps will be held in July. This year, except for involved developing nations, sponsors of the grandchildren may be asked to pay one half of the participant’s air fare.

The selection process is the same as that employed in 2009. Criteria and quotas are sent to the Korean Embassies in each of the UN Allies nations.

The embassies usually enlist the aid of the predominant KVA and the KVA canvases for applicants. The actual selection process used by the KVA's may differ from country to country.

In Canada in 2009 the revisit coordinator managed canvassing and selections. The selections were made by blind draw, using outside adjudicators from the Royal Canadian Legion who had no affiliation with the Korean War Veterans.

For those in countries that did not participate in the 2009 Ambassador for Youth program, we present here the roundup article in our coverage of the 140 youths who met and experienced Korea in July, and who were drawn a little closer to their Veteran grandfathers and the country they helped to save... and to form as it exists this day!

After six adventurous days participating in the Youth Ambassador for Peace Camp sponsored by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs of the Republic of Korea, 140 grandchildren of Korean War Veterans from seven nations finally must say good-bye. We will let the photographs speak for them as they share their last night together... and begin to realize they will carry Korea and their friends with them in their hearts forever.

There was a gift exchange, there was singing, there was dancing, there was longing… a feeling like, this should go on forever… that surely we will all meet again so happily… and, yea, the grandfathers knew the feeling well and although their days and nights in Korea were very different, friendships no less strong were formed

Yea, the grandfathers left there not so much saying good-bye, not even knowing they would miss their comrades or the people they had met, maybe the girls they had met… their mind was on going home, going home…

But years later they wished they had said their good-byes with their hearts… They realized what they had there, no matter the horror of the war and the cruelty and suffering… the love of mankind was secretly in their hearts and stayed with them, although the road for most, perhaps all, was very, very lonely.

Yes, rejoice grandchildren, now grown and of the age your grandfathers were so many years ago… rejoice in that same place where few of them ever danced, where some suffered and may still do this day,,, and for them, know the freedom so cherished and always know love for others. Sometimes when you say good-bye, you do not really know that it will be a very long good-bye.

yes, I know there is no light
in a room where the sun is absent,
if you are not here with me.

I'll go with you
to countries I never
saw and shared with you,
now, yes, I shall experience them

and, yes, I know
that you are with me;
you, my moon, are here with me,
my sun, you are here with me

I'll go with you
to countries I never
saw and shared with you,
now, yes, I shall experience them.

I'll go with you
on ships across seas
which, I know,
exist no longer;
it's time to say goodbye

Above article provided courtesy of the Korean War Veteran, koreavetnews@aol.com