Lee honors 'alliance forged in blood' at ceremony for mutual repatriation of Korean, U.S. soldiers

President Lee Jae Myung on Friday called the mutual repatriation of 13 Korean and U.S. soldiers’ remains a “meaningful milestone” that consolidated the bilateral alliance built upon “blood and dedication.”

“The efforts to find and return not only our own fallen heroes’ remains, but those of our ally, to their bereaved families are the most powerful testament to an alliance forged in blood,” Lee said during a memorial event held at Seoul Air Base in Gyeonggi.

Friday’s ceremony welcomed the remains of 10 Korean soldiers from Hawaii. Korea, in turn, was set to repatriate the remains of three U.S. service members to Hawaii.

The ceremony marked the first time Korea has hosted the repatriation of 1950-53 Korean War remains between the two allies. The event had been previously held in Hawaii.

“The remains of 10 Korean soldiers, which had reposed in the distant and unfamiliar land of Hawaii, have at last returned to the embrace of their homeland,” the Korean president said. “With the highest honors, we will now send home the remains of three U.S. service members who had been laid to rest in the mountains and fields of the Republic of Korea, a faraway land.”

Lee referred to Korea by its official name.

“It is a pledge by both Korea and the United States to forever remember the heroes who devoted themselves to freedom and peace,” Lee said. “It is the highest honor we can bestow to recognize their sacrifice.”

President Lee stressed that the fallen soldiers’ “noble sacrifice” helped Koreans live in freedom and peace.

“More than seventy years ago, these heroes sacrificed their prime years and precious lives to safeguard the Republic of Korea’s freedom and peace,” Lee said. “Yet even after the armistice, and during the ensuing decades, many of those heroes’ remains could not be returned to their beloved hometowns. Bringing them back to the full embrace of their homeland is our historic duty as survivors.”

Calling them “heroes of the Republic of Korea,” President Lee said that a nation bears the duty to remember and honor those who gave their youth, and ensure they are never forgotten nor overlooked.

“To ensure that the heroes who defended our nation may rest in peace in the embrace of their homeland, we will carry through with our DNA identification and tracking efforts to confirm the identity of every last fallen hero,” Lee said. He added that those efforts are the honor and respect that Korea owes to them.

The president added that promises made on the battlefield — even decades later — have become the robust bedrock that has sustained the alliance between Seoul and Washington.

Lee additionally noted that the alliance has helped Korea open a “new chapter of prosperity.”

“I am confident that if Korea and the United States join hands and move forward with unwavering resolve, permanent peace will take root in this [country],” Lee said.

Lee vowed to build a “responsible” nation where its society remembers and memorializes each and every hero and where future generations carry forward their noble ideals.

“I offer my deepest respect and condolences once more to the heroes who have returned to the embrace of our homeland today, and I pray they rest in peace,” Lee said. “We will forever remember and honor them.”

BY CHO MUN-GYU [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]