'Korea should honor Vietnam War vets'

By Kang Seung-woo

Lee Byung-hee, president of the World Council of the Korean Veterans Association

In Korea, the Vietnam War is a war few want to remember.

Although more than 300,000 Korean soldiers participated in the war between 1964 and 1972, there are few events to honor their service and sacrifice.

But a veteran, who took part in the war, says now is the right time for Korea to pay tribute to those who gave their lives for their country in Vietnam, with a donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Education Center, a two-story underground learning facility in Washington. The purpose of the center is to inform future generations of the honor and sacrifices by those who served their country.

“Korea dispatched 325,517 soldiers and 5,099 died in the battle, but unlike marking the Korean War, the government does not care much about the participation in the Vietnam War,” Lee Byung-hee, president of the World Council of the Korean Veterans Association, told The Korea Times.

“The United States has begun to earnestly observe the Vietnam War since U.S. President Barack Obama commemorated the 50th anniversary of the war on May 28, last year.”

He said as part of honoring the Vietnam War, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Education Center is under construction at the National Mall adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

In January, the ground for the education center was broken and it is scheduled to be completed by November next year, Lee said.

According to him, a total of $80 million is needed for the construction and about half of the required money has been donated up to now.

Lee, 80, said that the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund has campaigned to secure donations and the Korean government is on its list.

“There is no official donation from the Korean government thus far,” he said.

“Next to the U.S. troops, Korean soldiers accounted for a large part of the U.S.-led allied armed forces in the war and we need to show our commitment to the conflict.”

According to him, Australia announced earlier this year that it will donate $3 million.

He said that former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, now serving as the honorary chairman for the fund, has campaigned for the Korean donation, meeting high-ranking government officials, while John Tilelli, former U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander, is volunteering to fundraise from Korean sides including the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs for the construction.

Lee also met Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo this week and received a positive answer.

The education center will feature a selection of more than 400,000 personal items ranging from objects of respect from brothers-in-arms to keepsakes from parents to a token left by a child for a grandparent they will never meet. It will also display the images of the more than 58,000 whose names re memorialized, giving a face to the faceless.