Korea marks UN Day at national level for first time in 51 years
South Korea held its first national-level UN Day ceremony in 51 years, highlighting its transformation from a Korean War aid recipient to a global donor and peacekeeping contributor.
Key attendees pose for a group photo during the 81st United Nations Day Commemorative Ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Oct. 23. In the front row, from the center moving right, are Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, Booyoung Group Chairman and UNA-ROK President Lee Joong-keun, and Turkish Ambassador to Korea Fatih Yildiz.NEWS1
South Korea held its first national-level United Nations Day ceremony in 51 years on Friday, highlighting its shift from a war-torn aid recipient to a donor and peacekeeping contributor.
"Over the decades, [South] Korea has transformed from a recipient of international assistance into a country that extends a helping hand to others," Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said in his commemorative remarks at the event, which was co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Association of the Republic of Korea (UNA-ROK) at the ministry in central Seoul. He pointed to Korean peacekeepers in Lebanon and South Sudan.
Cho noted that 22 nations "answered the UN's call and came to the defense of the ROK's freedom" during the 1950-53 Korean War, and said UN support after the war helped the country achieve industrialization and democratization. ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.
The ceremony came a day after Seoul’s letter accusing Pyongyang of violating the 1953 Armistice Agreement, which halted the war in a cease-fire, was circulated to the 15 members of the UN Security Council.
Cho also said South Korea will "actively participate" in efforts among member states as the UN prepares to choose a successor to Secretary-General António Guterres, whose second five-year term ends this year.
Lee Joong-keun, president of the UNA-ROK and chairman of homebuilder Booyoung Group, proposed that the government designate Oct. 24 as a national commemorative day and work to host international organizations, saying Asia lacks "a major UN hub."
"Should UN Day be designated as a national commemorative day, I would be willing to donate a building in Seoul comparable in stature to the UN Headquarters in New York to attract various UN organizations," Lee said.
UN Day falls on Oct. 24, the date the UN Charter entered into force in 1945. South Korea removed it from its list of public holidays in 1976. This year's event was the first national-level commemoration since then.
South Korea's rallying cry for the UN comes as the global body faces severe criticism for its inability to mitigate conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere.
Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean who led the organization from 2007 to 2016, warned that the council's paralysis has weakened the UN's ability to keep the peace.
"One of the most significant criticisms stems from the paralysis of the UN Security Council, which has undermined the organization’s ability to fulfill its primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security," Ban said in a video message.
Ban recalled growing up on UN aid after the war.
"I, too, grew up receiving food assistance, including powdered milk, from the UN and studied with textbooks provided by Unesco," he said.
Envoys from countries that sent troops or medical support during the Korean War attended, along with the ambassadors of Japan and China, with the latter fighting on the North's side in the war.
Turkish Ambassador Fatih Yildiz spoke on behalf of the countries that fought under the UN flag.
"Turkish soldiers who came to Korea 76 years ago could hardly have imagined the democratic and prosperous country Korea would become," Yildiz said. "But they believed that its people deserved the opportunity to determine their own fate."
Some countries now look to Korea's experience at the UN, including Slovakia, which is campaigning for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for 2028-29.
"UN Day today for us is very dear, as we are a small country, and our security [and] everything we run is based on international law," Slovak Ambassador Marek Repovský told the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Slovakia is looking to Korea, which completed its third council term at the end of last year, for advice to be better prepared, the ambassador said.
Kim Sung-yoon, head of the information analysis department at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explains the status of the military demarcation line during a briefing on the final results of a joint investigation into a land mines explosion in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the Ministry of National Defense in central Seoul on Oct. 5.YONHAP
The calls for peace at the ceremony stood in contrast to the ongoing security crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
Seoul's letter to the Security Council concerns a Sept. 21 explosion inside the demilitarized zone that injured three South Korean soldiers.
In the letter, Seoul said the blast was caused by a mine laid by North Korean troops in violation of the armistice and called for an apology. The letter was addressed to Aglaia Balta, Greece's ambassador to the UN, who holds the council presidency this month.
North Korea has rejected the findings.
At a UN General Assembly committee meeting on Tuesday, a North Korean delegate dismissed the incident as "a fabricated mine explosion farce."
The letter will be registered as an official council document. It does not trigger council action such as a resolution or a formal condemnation of the North.
