This month (Saturday, July 27, specifically) marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, with ceremonies across the nation.
In Clark County, the Korean War Veteran Medal Ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 11, at the Armed Forces Reserve Center, 15005 N.E. 65th St. Also, two local Korean War veterans — Carl Hissman and James Mead — were scheduled to visit South Korea this month as representatives of the local chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association. “I always wanted to go back and see how it improved,” Hissman said, describing South Korea, in a July 19 Columbian story. And therein lies the most effective way of judging the outcome of the Korean War: Compare the country in the southern part of the peninsula to the country to the north.
Conventional wisdom maintains that no one won this war. After all, there was no formal surrender, and the 38th parallel separating North and South Korea remains heavily fortified. But it’s important for Americans to recognize what exists today on each side of the 2.5-mile-wide Korean Demilitarized Zone. We owe that full awareness to the U.S. military service members who served during those three years, ending with the signing of the cease-fire on July 27, 1953.
In these six volatile decades on the peninsula, South Korea has emerged as Asia’s fourth-largest economy. The nation boasts the 12th-largest economy in the world, in terms of purchasing power, according to an International Monetary Fund report. This impressive prosperity is governed by a presidential republic. A diverse network of manufacturing activities includes automobiles as South Korea has risen to challenge Japan as one of the busiest auto exporters in Asia.