Ceremony at Busan U.N. park to commemorate Korean War heroes

An annual ceremony will be held at the United Nations park in the southern port city of Busan this week to commemorate the fallen heroes from the 1950-53 Korean War, where millions of foreign soldiers fought for South Korea, the war veterans ministry said Monday.

Nearly 2 million soldiers from 21 countries as far as way as Ethiopia were dispatched to fight alongside South Korean soldiers under the U.N. flag against the invading North and China. More than 150,000 of them were killed, wounded, went missing or became prisoners of war.

In commemoration of the fallen heroes, about 1,000 South Korean civilians, students, soldiers and foreign Korean War veterans will gather together on Wednesday at the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Busan, the burial ground for United Nations Command soldiers.

The visitors will observe one minute of silence at the stroke of 11 a.m. in honor of the dead, according to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.

At the same time around the world, similar ceremonies will be held in the 21 dispatching countries, joining the "Turn Toward Busan" annual commemoration.

Among the guests at the local event will be Vince Courtenay, a Canadian war correspondent during the Korean War who first proposed the annual commemoration ceremony in 2007.

The following year, South Korea began observing it as a government-hosted event.

This year's Turn Toward Busan will also include the reburial ceremony for British war veteran Robert McCotter who wished to be laid to rest alongside his fellow soldiers at the cemetery. (Yonhap)

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