[Hidden Hero of the Korean War] ‘Remember July 27’ honorary granddaughter’s long journey… “No More Forgotten Wars”

“In order to go to reunification, we need the 3 Rs: remember, recognition, and reconciliation.”

In an interview with Yonhap News in Washington, DC on the 6th (local time), Hannah Kim (40), who is called the “honorary granddaughter” of Korean War veterans, explained the importance of remembering the Korean War and the sacrifices of the Korean War veterans. revealed

Kim, who served as chief aide to former U.S. Congressman Charles Langall, well-known as a Korean War veteran, served in the Biden administration in various positions, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Asian Pacific Policy Advisor to the White House Chief of Staff.

After visiting the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington DC for the first time in 2007, Hannah Kim organized an organization called ‘Remember 7·27’ in 2008 as an individual and has been working voluntarily ever since. He said, “People think peace is difficult and don’t know what to do, but remembering it means longing for peace.”

It is in the same context that the name of this organization, which was originally called the Korean War Reconciliation Association, was changed to “Remember 7·27,” meaning to remember July 27, the day of the Korean War Armistice. This is because the first step to reconciliation is to remember.

The first thing Mr. Kim did for this was to create an event to commemorate the July 27th. This commemorative ceremony was first held in 2008 under the name of ‘Candlelight Night in Remembrance of Korean War Veterans’ and has continued every year since. This year, the event will be held in the lobby of the Rayburn Building, a federal congress building, with four Korean-American U.S. congressmen, including Young Kim and Andy Kim.

Along with this, Mr. Kim petitioned Congress to designate July 27, the day of the Korean War Armistice Day, as the anniversary of raising the flag at the US federal government building, and played a leading role in passing the bill in 2009. .

Until it was passed, 429 of the 435 U.S. House of Representatives, excluding 6 who participated in the bill, went to the House of Representatives office and appealed for support.

With this incident, Mr. Kim joined the House of Representatives office at the time of Langal, who proposed this bill as an aide, and formed a relationship with former Congressman Langal. When Korean War veteran and close friend Rep. Langal retired in January 2017, he started the ‘Visiting Veterans Project’.

Mr. Kim said, “When I started ‘Remember 7/27’, I had three goals: passing the Korean War veterans recognition bill, holding a commemorative ceremony, and collecting the stories of the veterans, but I couldn’t do the third.” When, it was decided to do the rest before it was too late. He said it was because veterans were getting older.”

From 2017 to 2019, Mr. Kim toured 30 countries around the world and 50 states in the United States, visited the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and met 1,200 Korean War veterans in person.

Mr. Kim said, “I didn’t make all plans in advance, but I posted my schedule on Facebook and went (randomly) while looking for ‘someone to sleep’, ‘someone to drive’, ‘someone to interpret’, etc.” I went there not knowing if I would be able to meet the war veterans, but with the help of the veterans, the Korean community, and the residents, it turned out like a miracle.”

When Mr. Kim met the war veterans and bowed deeply, saying, “Thanks to you, the Korean people are enjoying freedom, but not all Koreans can come, and I want to convey their feelings,” the veterans say, “I want to see a united Korean Peninsula before I die.” ” he said in unison.

Mr. Kim said, “I felt like I had become a messenger who conveyed the Korean people’s gratitude to the Korean War veterans and conveyed the wishes of the Korean War veterans to the Korean people.”

When asked about a memorable place among the places she visited, she picked Suriname.

She explained that when she visited Wales in 2018, she said that it was ‘the last place to visit as a country that participated in the war,’ and a war veteran talked about Suriname and found out about its existence.

Since Suriname was a Dutch colony during the Korean War, their participation in the war took place under the Dutch affiliation.

Mr. Kim said, “What would it be like if Korea was forced to go to battle when it was a Japanese colony?”

In 2020, Mr. Kim organized the Korean War Veterans Memorial he visited and photos and interviews of the veterans he met, and opened a site called the Korean War Memorial (koreanwarmemorials.com) on the Internet.

‘Remember 7·27’ also held a fundraising event for the ‘Wall of Remembrance’ built last year.

When asked about the changes experienced in the United States in relation to the Korean War over the past 15 years, Mr. Kim said, “The Korean War is no longer a ‘forgotten war’.” “I ask how you do it,” he said.

He added, “Now many people show more interest in ‘what happened?’ beyond ‘this happened.'”

He continued, “In the US, July 27 is officially a day to honor Korean War veterans, but in Korea it is not yet,” and hoped for relevant legislative action in Korea.

He also said, “The grandfathers of Korean War veterans have not forgotten us to the extent that they call Korea their second homeland and Koreans as their second family.” requested attention.

(Source: Yonhap News / Translation of an article : Miso from JT News)