By Hannah Kim

On July 27, 2009, U.S. President Barack H. Obama issued a Presidential Proclamation (8399) designating July 27 as the National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day.

The proclamation asks America ``to fly the U.S. flag at half-staff in memory of those Americans who died as a result of their service in the Korean War." Later that day, the Korean War Veterans Recognition Act became Public Law 111-41.

The process of passing a law in the U.S. is complex. The Korean War Veterans Recognition Act was no exception, generating two years of twists and turns too numerous to remember, let alone tell. However, throughout it all, ``Arirang," the quintessential Korean folk song, indelibly became my march song as it was that of the U.S. Army 7th Infantry Division after its service during the Korean War.

It was also branded into a hymn for peace after the New York Philharmonic played it in Pyongyang in February 2008, genuinely convincing me there was a glimmer of hope for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

At the time, I even wrote in an article, ``It was profoundly breathtaking to hear Arirang beautifully orchestrated by Maestro Maazel in Pyongyang. In those final moments of the New York Philharmonic's performance, 250 million worldwide viewers and I were spellbound, and emphatically bonded by our communal human emotions. And in the context of such heightened connectedness, I believe the time has never been better to finally bring the Forgotten War to an end ― this time, together and without weapons."

In that same article, I introduced myself ``as a young Korean American girl ― or a woman, who now feels compelled by her tears that she must do something, anything, to conclude this tragic chapter in our history … I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the Korean War veterans, to whom I owe my freedom. And so as President Eisenhower had justly underscored in 1954, we must 're-consecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.'"

Out of those seminal words, the Global Coalition for Korean War Reconciliation was born to foster reconciliation of the Korean War through remembrance and recognition of the sacrifices made by all veterans of the war. ``Global," because the Korean War was not a civil war, but rather one of history's bloodiest conflicts, involving 26 countries spanning the globe, and ``Coalition," because I wished to mobilize all (the children and grandchildren of) Korean War veterans, friends of Korea, and promoters of peace to coalesce at a grassroots level and provide auxiliary support to the current peace process.

Why now? Because, ``Given that it took more than fifty long, arduous years for the governments to cross the DMZ and initiate an amicable dialogue, we cannot wait around for another fifty, naively and passively hoping time will make progress."

We took our first big step on July 27, 2008 when a few of us gathered in front of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial, near the National Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C., to hold a candlelight vigil for remembrance, recognition, and reconciliation of the Korean War and its forgotten heroes.

This was our inaugural Armistice Day Commemoration and Peace Vigil. Some of those attending included Dr. Paul Kyo Jhin, who came to America as an interpreter in the U.S. Army; he spoke on the significance of remembering the war. So did Colonel Louis T. Dechert, former president of the Korean War Veterans Association. Big John P. Miska, a Vietnam War veteran and former commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who cares for the young wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital, relayed the importance of recognizing the veterans. I had met Big John a few weeks before, on Memorial Day 2008, while collecting petition signatures for the Korean War Veterans Recognition Act. That same day I also encountered Father John Keane, a Franciscan friar who served in Vietnam as a chaplain, and who called for reconciliation.

At the closing of the event, we joined to sing Arirang. Our rendition of the song that evening might not have been as grandiose as New York Philharmonic's, but it echoed celestially into the Capitol buildings and the White House, culminating in the passage of the Korean War Veterans Recognition Act exactly one year later. And of course, Arirang was beautifully sung in unison once again on July 27.

This year, however, the Global Coalition for Korean War Reconciliation became ``Remember727" because we realized that peace-building is elusive unless we first remember and recognize what it is we are supposed to reconcile.

I realize that reconciliation in Korea is still an indeterminate and highly contended notion. But my personal desire to facilitate transnational peace-building on the Korean Peninsula to bring about an eventual replacement of the Korean War Armistice with a peace treaty remains intact. Nevertheless, how best to actualize that vision is a matter to be discussed ― together.

As Luciano de Crescenzo, a famed Italian writer and film actor, once said, ``We are, each of us angels with only one wing; and we can only fly by embracing one another." Our goals can be attained, and our dreams realized, only if we embrace each other and fly together.

Hannah Kim is a 2009 Master's graduate at the George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, specializing in Legislative Affairs. She spearheaded the passage of the ``Korean War Veterans Recognition Act, U.S. Public Law 111-41," which was signed by President Obama on July 27, 2009, 56 years to the day that the Korean War Armistice was signed in 1953. She can be reached at hkim@remember727.org.