The ruling Saenuri Party said Thursday it will collect funds to erect a Korean War memorial in the United States.
“Our party will take the lead in collecting funds to build a memorial for the Changjin Lake Campaign in Quantico, Virginia,” Kim Moo-sung said in a meeting with senior party members.
The Changjin Lake Campaign, also known as the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, was one of the fiercest battles in the Korean War.
In the battle, the 1st U.S. Marine Division fought against seven Chinese divisions, stopping them from moving south in order to buy time for the Heungnam evacuation, a massive operation that pulled some 105,000 U.S. and South Korean troops and about 98,000 refugees to safety during the war.
A South Korean box-office hit, “Ode to My Father,” which chronicles the Korean War and other hardships South Korea has gone through, begins with a scene of the evacuation.
The movie is South Korea’s second-highest-grossing film of all time, drawing some 14.2 million viewers.
While data varies, more than 900 U.S. soldiers were killed and thousands of others went missing during the battle.
“We need to repay the victims for their sacrifice,” Kim said.
The U.S. Marine Corps will hold a groundbreaking ceremony on July 27 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
The U.S. led the 21-nation Allied Forces to help South Korea repel the Chinese-backed communist troops invading from the North.
Nearly 38,000 U.N. troops, most of them from the U.S., were killed in action during the conflict.
The 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the divided peninsula technically still at war. (Yonhap)
