"Birthday Not Yet"… Yoon Gets Emotional Meeting Bereaved Families, "I Will Not Forget"

Yoon Couple Visits War Dead Cemetery Saying "How Hard It Must Have Been"
First Sitting President's 'Roll Call'... "North Korea Will Pay the Price"

On the 24th, President Yoon Suk-yeol choked up as he called out the names of all 55 fallen heroes on the occasion of the West Sea Defense Day. At the commemorative ceremony held at the National Daejeon Cemetery to honor the courage and spirit of sacrifice of the heroes who gave their lives to protect the nation's seas, President Yoon took the podium and began with, "Calling out someone because you cannot forget them is..." but struggled to continue.

Before the ceremony, President Yoon, accompanied by First Lady Kim Keon-hee, paid respects at the gravesites of the fallen soldiers from the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong and the Cheonan ship sinking incident. Dressed in a black suit and black tie, President Yoon greeted the bereaved families from the entrance.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In particular, he held hands and greeted Mrs. Yoon Cheong-ja, the mother of the late Sergeant Min Pyeong-gi. Mrs. Yoon had appealed during former President Moon Jae-in’s visit to the cemetery in 2020, saying, "Until now, it has never been truly confirmed who was responsible. Please ease this old woman’s heart." To Jeon Jun-young, a surviving soldier of the Cheonan ship sinking incident, she asked, "Have you been well?" and gently patted his back.

President Yoon and First Lady Kim expressed their sorrow as they looked over the graves of the fallen soldiers from the Cheonan incident, saying, "They were all 19, 20 years old," "If born in ’88, then 21 years old," and "They hadn’t even had their birthdays yet..."

Upon hearing that the fallen soldiers had the accident just a month before their discharge, First Lady Kim said, "They were all the same age. Same age," to which the cemetery director replied, "They were in the same class as the surviving soldier Jeon Jun-young." President Yoon was then seen struggling to speak, saying, "They were Jun-young’s friends, really..."

At a meeting with Jung Joo-han, son of the late Corporal Jung Jong-ryul, President Yoon asked, "How old were you then?" and "When did your mother pass away?" First Lady Kim comforted Jung by saying, "It must have been so hard," while patting his back. At the grave of the late Staff Sergeant Jang Jin-seon, upon hearing the explanation that "He was a martyr. His body was never found," and "His mother passed away from lung cancer after not being able to find his body and learning he had died in action," First Lady Kim expressed sorrow, saying, "How could the parents have slept well?"

Before delivering his commemorative speech, President Yoon personally called out the names of the 55 heroes. He said, "Calling out someone 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. First Lady Kim, seated nearby, also wiped away tears several times, her shoulders shaking.

On this day, President Yoon declared, "We will forever remember the 55 heroes who heroically sacrificed their lives in response to North Korea’s armed provocations." He made clear that the fallen and surviving soldiers of the Cheonan incident are victims and promised that the state would provide proper honors.

President Yoon especially mentioned the Battle of Yeonpyeong, the Battle of Daecheong, and the Yeonpyeong Island shelling, emphasizing them as "North Korea’s armed provocations." He also issued a warning against North Korea’s repeated provocations. President Yoon said, "In response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile advancements and provocations, we will drastically strengthen the Korean-style three-axis system and further solidify security cooperation between South Korea, the United States, and Japan," adding, "North Korea’s reckless provocations will surely be met with consequences."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Former President Moon Jae-in attended the West Sea Defense Day commemorations during his term but never explicitly stated that the Cheonan ship 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?" Moon only replied, "Our government’s position remains unchanged."

Earlier, during his presidential campaign in November 2021, President Yoon met with representatives of the bereaved families of the Cheonan incident victims and stated, "National dignity depends on how we remember our soldiers who sacrificed for the country and how we remember that incident." After taking office, in June last year, he invited war heroes and their families to a luncheon and emphasized, "Properly honoring the heroes who protected the country and warmly supporting the bereaved families to prevent any grievances is the natural duty of a normal state," underscoring the responsibility toward those who sacrificed.