South Korea: War Memorial

In 1995, I met a South Korean lady Kyun in Nicole and Ernest's house. I remember she told us that Korean songs were mostly sad songs, results of the Koreans' sufferings during numerous wars.

Nowadays, South Korean pop songs with cheerful melodies were heard everywhere. But when I followed our local tour guide Jeson to the park of War Museum in Seoul and stared at the Statue of Brothers, the elder a South Korean soldier and the younger a North Korean soldier, met in a battlefield,

I could feel a sense of sadness in the air caused by more than ten million Korean families who were still separated by the Korean War which had lasted sixty years.

Many heroes of war had sacrificed their lives, which led to the independence of the nation.

Due to our time constraint, we only visited the exterior exhibit area of the memorial. I was very impressed by the military equipments like the steamer,

tanks,

aircrafts

misciles, rocket launchers, etc.

As the memorial, officially opened in 1994, was near the Department of Defense, we also saw soddiers marching in the park.

During our trip to South Korea in May 2010, strains between the two brother nations were intensified after the sinking of the South Korean navy ship ROKS Cheonan.

I pray that the Koreans from the two brother nations will never have to meet in a battlefied again and will always be reminded of love, forgiveness and reconciliation.