By Jung Sung-ki
It was like the eve of a big festival.
At the Collier Field House in the South Post of Yongsan Garrison, U.S. soldiers and staff were busy with setting up a stage, while a military band was rehearsing, playing the national anthems of the United States and Republic of Korea and other songs.
That was the scene just hours before U.S. President Barrack Obama was to visit the gym and meet the men and women in uniform serving in South Korea.
Obama arrived in Seoul Wednesday to attend the G20 Summit.
The day also marked Veterans’ Day in the U.S.
“Any President’s visit can be honored,” Sgt. Juarez of the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade told The Korea Times. “It’s a big thing. We have a chance to meet the President at this close distance.”
The gym was getting packed with about 1,400 U.S. servicemembers making their way to their seats as Obama’s appearance, scheduled for 10:30 a.m., was nearing. A group of Korean and U.S. Korean War veterans who participated in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir sat near the podium, while several South Korean generals working with the Combined Forces Command were sitting in the stands.
Maj. Gen. Lawrence L. Wells, deputy chief of staff for the U.S. Forces Korea, however, was standing back with the enlisted soldiers.
“If the soldiers are standing, I’m also standing with them,” said Wells.
“The soldiers are excited about the hope he (Obama) brings,” he said. Wells expected Obama’s visit to Yongsan to “definitely” boost the morale of troops, which are serving as a deterrent against North Korea.
Obama entered the gym around 10:45 a.m., receiving a standing ovation with roars and cheers from the troops.
In his speech, the American head of state was emotional when he spoke of the solemn sacrifice of U.S. fallen heroes, while he was resolute in warning North Korea to stop its provocative acts.
This was Obama’s second town hall meeting-like event with U.S. troops on the peninsula. He addressed troops at Osan Air Base during his visit to South Korea last November.
“Sixty years have come and gone since the communist armies first crossed the 38th parallel. Within three days, they had captured Seoul,” he said. “By the end of the next month, they had driven the Korean army all the way south, to Busan. And from where things stood in the summer of 1950, it didn’t appear that the Republic of Korea would survive much longer.
“Nearly 37,000 Americans would give their lives in Korea. But after three years of fighting, our forces finally succeeded in driving the invading armies back over the 38th parallel.”
The U.S. Commander-in-chief called on Pyongyang to take a different path of offering its people lives of growing opportunity instead of crushing poverty.
“The United States will never waver in our commitment to the security of the Republic of Korea,” he said. “The alliance between our two nations has never been stronger, and along the with the rest of the world, we have made it clear that North Korea’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons will only lead to more isolation and less security.
“Today, the Korean peninsula provides the world’s clearest contrast between a society that is open and one that is closed; between a nation that is dynamic and growing, and a government that would rather starve its people than change,” Obama said. “It’s a contrast so stark you can see it from space, as the brilliant lights of Seoul give way to utter darkness in the north. This is not an accident of history. It is a direct result of the path that has been taken by North Korea ― a path of confrontation and provocation; one that includes the pursuit of nuclear weapons and the attack on the Cheonan last March.”
In the wake of this aggression, Pyongyang should not be taken for granted, he stressed.