Videos of Korean war heroes to be aired on Times Square

With President Yoon’s state visit to the U.S. ahead, a video honoring ten notable U.S. and South Korean veterans of the Korean War will be aired on two electric billboards run by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics in New York’s Times Square from April 20 through May 3, 680 times a day.

Created by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, the 30-second video consists of pictures of 10 Korean War heroes in South Korea and the U.S. and messages of gratitude. The 10 war heroes were jointly selected by the Ministry and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, marking the 70th anniversary of the alliance.

The names included in the list are as follows: General Douglas MacArthur, the inaugural commander of the UN Forces; General James Van Fleet, who served as the commander of the Eighth Army in Korea, and his son Air Force Captain James Van Fleet Jr., who went missing while on a mission; Military chaplain William Earn Shaw and his son Navy Lieutenant William Hamilton Shaw, who died in the battle of Seoul.

Air Force Col. Dean Hess, who helped airlift around 1,000 war orphans to safety in Jeju Island, Army Colonel Ralph Puckett Jr., who was awarded the Medal of Honor in the ROK-U.S. Summit in May 2021, and Korean-American Army Col. Kim Young-oak, who fought in World War II and the Korean War also made the list.

The South Korean veterans who made the list include: Gen. Paik Sun-yup, the commander of the First Division and the hero of Dabu-dong Battle, Air Force Gen. Kim Doo-man, the armed service’s first pilot to achieve 100 sorties, Army Col. Kim Dong-seok, who provided critical information about the North Korean military to the UN forces for the operation to recapture Seoul, and Marine Corps Col. Park Jung-mo, who became the first person to raise the Korean flag on the rooftop of the government complex in the Seoul Recapturing Operation.

The video contains a message that expresses gratitude for the sacrifices made by the veterans from across the world, by which the Korean people could now enjoy freedom, prosperity, and peace. “Korea will forever remember your dedication and devotion,” the video says.


Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com