President Yoon Attends First West Sea Defense Day Ceremony Since Inauguration
"A Nation Cannot Be Called a Nation Without Honoring Those Who Sacrificed and Served"
Expecting Restoration of Honors for Fallen Soldiers, Yoon Says "We Will Not Forget"
President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 24th, "We will forever remember the 55 heroes who heroically sacrificed their lives in response to North Korea's military provocations." Marking the first West Sea Defense Day since his inauguration, President Yoon effectively delivered the message that the Cheonan sinking was the work of North Korea. He made it clear that the fallen and surviving soldiers of the Cheonan incident are victims and promised that the state will honor them accordingly.
On the morning of the same day, President Yoon attended the 8th West Sea Defense Day commemorative ceremony held at the National Daejeon Cemetery and said, "The reason our people can live their daily lives with peace of mind amid the confrontation between South and North Korea is because the soldiers who defended the West Sea with their lives were there."
President Yoon Suk-yeol is choking up before calling out the names of the 55 West Sea Defense heroes at the 8th West Sea Defense Day ceremony held on the 24th at the National Daejeon National Cemetery in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. [Photo by Yonhap News]
Before delivering his commemorative speech, President Yoon personally called out the names of the 55 heroes. He said, "Calling out someone's name because you cannot forget them is a vow to remember them forever," and added, "I will call out the names of the 55 eternal sea warriors whose dream was to protect the nation and its people so that we can run toward our dreams and spend happy days laughing with our families," becoming emotional as he spoke.
In particular, President Yoon emphasized "North Korea's military provocations" while mentioning the Battle of Yeonpyeong, the Battle of Daecheong, and the Yeonpyeong Island shelling. He also issued a warning against North Korea's repeated provocations. President Yoon stated, "We will drastically strengthen the Korean-style 3-axis system in response to North Korea's nuclear and missile advancements and provocations, and further solidify security cooperation between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan," adding, "North Korea's reckless provocations will surely be met with consequences."
Former President Moon Jae-in attended the West Sea Defense Day commemorative ceremonies during his term but never explicitly stated that the Cheonan sinking was caused by North Korea. In the 2020 ceremony, when asked by a Cheonan victim's family member, "Who was responsible for the Cheonan sinking?" former President Moon only replied, "Our government's position remains unchanged."
The ceremony this year was also conducted differently from the past, focusing on giving the highest honors to the bereaved families and veterans of the West Sea Defense. For the first time as a sitting president, President Yoon honored the valor of the heroes who defended freedom against North Korean provocations by personally calling out the names of the 55 warriors one by one in a roll-call.
Additionally, representatives of the 55 bereaved families and veterans were seated in prominent seats, and President Yoon was seated alongside them during the wreath-laying and incense-offering ceremonies. Before the ceremony, President Yoon visited the memorial sites of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, the Yeonpyeong Island shelling, the Cheonan sinking, and the grave of the late Lieutenant Han Joo-ho, paying respects and offering condolences together with bereaved families and veterans. Attending were Im Heon-soon, mother of the late Sergeant Major Jo Cheon-hyung (Second Battle of Yeonpyeong), Kim O-bok, mother of the late Corporal Seo Jeong-woo (Yeonpyeong Island shelling), Yoon Cheong-ja, mother of the late Sergeant Major Min Pyeong-gi (Cheonan sinking), Jung Joo-han, son of the late Sergeant Major Jeong Jong-ryul (Cheonan sinking), as well as Kim Mal-soon, spouse of the late Lieutenant Han Joo-ho, and former Cheonan captain Choi Won-il.
Moreover, a large-scale military honor guard parade involving 130 personnel from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps was held to pay tribute to those who sacrificed for the nation, demonstrating the state's commitment to fully take responsibility for its heroes. President Yoon said, "If we do not remember and honor those who sacrificed and devoted themselves for the country, we cannot call it a nation."
Earlier, during his presidential campaign in November 2021, President Yoon met with representatives of the bereaved families of the Cheonan sinking victims and stated, "National dignity depends on how we remember our soldiers who sacrificed for the country and how we remember the incident." After his inauguration, in June last year, he invited national heroes and their families to a luncheon, emphasizing, "Properly honoring the heroes who defended the country and warmly supporting the bereaved families so that they do not suffer grievances is the natural duty of a normal state," consistently stressing responsibility for those who sacrificed.
The message President Yoon delivered that day also emphasized "state responsibility." Following the bold initiative that set North Korea's denuclearization as a precondition and the revival of the phrase "North Korean military forces are our enemy" in the defense white paper, the Yoon administration's security stance to firmly respond to North Korea's military provocations was also revealed. Moon Sung-mook, head of the Unification Strategy Center at the Korea Institute for National Strategy, evaluated, "President Yoon's declaration that the Cheonan sinking was caused by North Korean attack clearly affirms that the fallen soldiers are victims and that honoring them is the state's responsibility," adding, "It can also be seen as a strong will not to overlook North Korea's provocations and to prevent such tragedies from recurring."
Along with the promotion of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, expectations are rising that this will serve as a foundation to normalize the state's proper honoring of the fallen soldiers, which had not been adequately addressed. The Yoon administration has presented "a country that respects and remembers those who sacrificed for the nation and its people" as one of its national tasks, and President Yoon emphasized during the ministry's promotion, "We will never forget those who answered the nation's call."
President Yoon Suk-yeol is paying respects at the grave of the late Sergeant Min Pyeong-gi before the 8th West Sea Defense Day ceremony held on the 24th at the National Daejeon National Cemetery in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. [Photo by Yonhap News]
Some express concerns that North Korea might use President Yoon's strong message as a pretext to stage another military demonstration, but there are also calls to learn from the Moon Jae-in administration's experience. During that period, to maintain a conciliatory stance toward North Korea, joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises were drastically reduced, and direct references to the Cheonan sinking incident were avoided, yet North Korea carried out provocations regardless.
Professor Park Won-gon of Ewha Womans University’s Department of North Korean Studies said, "North Korea has pursued a hostile policy toward South Korea regardless of the South Korean government's intentions, which points to the previous administration's failure to adequately respond to North Korea's nuclear development," adding, "While North Korea may deliberately pick a fight over President Yoon's message and provoke, it should be understood that the continuation of 'strong versus strong' confrontation between South and North Korea ultimately reflects North Korea's will."
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