Incheon’s Yeonsu-gu District (Mayor Lee Jae-ho) held a patriots and veterans commemorative event on June 26 at the main auditorium of the Veterans Affairs Center to mark Patriots and Veterans Month. The event was arranged to honor the noble spirit of sacrifice of national merit honorees and their bereaved families who devoted themselves to the country, and to convey gratitude and respect, serving as an occasion for the local community to reflect together on the meaning of veterans’ affairs.
 [The Korean Today] Yeonsu-gu Patriots and Veterans Month commemorative event © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
Some 130 members of local veterans’ organizations, including the Yeonsu-gu chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association, took part in the event. The program opened with a performance by the district’s traditional arts troupe, followed by the presentation of commendations to exemplary national merit honorees and congratulatory remarks from the district mayor and guests.
Yeonsu-gu has been steadily expanding the recognition extended to national merit honorees, using the newly built Veterans Affairs Center, which opened this past March, as its base. The center houses a veterans’ exhibition hall featuring artifacts related to the Korean War and the Vietnam War, a replica of a treasure-designated Taegeukgi flag, and donated military merit medals, and a large 33-meter-high Taegeukgi flagpole has also been installed and is in operation.
In particular, the district holds regular large-scale Taegeukgi flag-raising and lowering ceremonies in which members of veterans’ organizations take part directly. Alongside this, it is also carrying out a range of tailored veterans’ welfare programs for national merit honorees, including health, healing and practical-skills lectures, an integrated counseling service and a veterans’ cinema, broadening the scope of veterans’ affairs beyond simple recognition into everyday support.
The district plans to further expand projects that link exhibition, education and welfare functions centered on the Veterans Affairs Center. It also plans to run tours of the Veterans Affairs Center for children and teenagers to share the values of veterans’ affairs across generations, which is expected to create a channel through which future generations can naturally encounter the meaning of veterans’ affairs.
Mayor Lee Jae-ho said, “Today’s Republic of Korea was built upon the sacrifice and devotion of our national merit honorees,” adding, “We will pursue a variety of policies that allow people to feel the meaning of veterans’ affairs in their daily lives, so that veterans’ affairs can become a value shared by all residents, including future generations, rather than the memory of a particular generation.”
[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]
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