Commonwealth Korean War heroes to arrive in Seoul

KoreaTimes: Commonwealth Korean War heroes to arrive in Seoul
By Lee Tae-hoon

Former soldiers from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand who fought under the flag of the United Nations to defend democracy against Pyongyang’s invasion during the 1950-53 Korean War will arrive in Seoul this week, an official of the Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said Monday.

“Some 150 Korean War veterans, their families and ranking military officials from the four commonwealth countries will participate in events marking the 60th anniversary of the Imjin and Gapyeong battles,” the official said.

The four allies of South Korea dispatched some 95,000 troops during the Korean War.

Of them, 1,700 lost their lives in battle and about 5,000 suffered injuries.

The war veterans will visit the truce village of Panmunjeom and the National Cemetery on Thursday. On Friday they will pay tribute at the U.N. Memorial Park in Busan, where 885 British, 281 Australian, 378 Canadian and 34 New Zealand war heroes are laid to rest.

The following day they will participate in the 60th anniversary ceremony of the Imjin Battle in Paju, in which top military officials of the four U.N. members and Korea will also attend.

About 3,700 non-U.S. allied troops were killed.

The United States and 20 other coalition forces came to the Korean Peninsula under the U.N. flag to fight alongside South Korean troops against the North Korean military backed by communist China.

About 138,000 South Korean soldiers lost their lives during the war, while nearly 25,000 are listed as missing in action.