U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian, Pacific affairs visits Korean War memorial
Published: 13 Mar. 2026, 16:41
![Michael DeSombre, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, third from left, and other officials pay tribute at a memorial honoring U.S. service members killed in Korea at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on March 13. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/03/13/68e75cef-d59c-47f8-b493-d39b26c7f72a.jpg)
Michael DeSombre, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, third from left, and other officials pay tribute at a memorial honoring U.S. service members killed in Korea at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on March 13. [YONHAP]
Michael DeSombre, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, visited a memorial honoring U.S. service members killed in South Korea on Friday.
The ceremony marks the first official wreath-laying by a senior U.S. government official since the memorial was unveiled on Feb. 25.
DeSombre paid tribute at the new memorial at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan District, central Seoul, honoring U.S. troops killed while stationed in South Korea after the 1950-53 Korean War armistice, signed on July 23, 1953, according to the Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation.
Even after the armistice, North Korea continued military provocations in the demilitarized zone and in waters off the east and west coasts of the Korean Peninsula.
A total of 103 U.S. service members stationed in South Korea were killed between 1955 and 1994 while responding to North Korean provocations or carrying out operational missions.
![Michael DeSombre, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, second from right, and other officials pay tribute at a memorial honoring U.S. service members killed in Korea at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on March 13. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/03/13/892dcea7-31b5-49a3-9c44-029a8391bd0a.jpg)
Michael DeSombre, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, second from right, and other officials pay tribute at a memorial honoring U.S. service members killed in Korea at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on March 13. [NEWS1]
The memorial was unveiled last month after the South Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation and the South Korea Defense Veterans Association began the project with the War Memorial of Korea in 2022.
The ceremony was attended by Leem Ho-young, the South Korea-U.S. Foundation chair; Yu Myun-hwang, the chair of the foundation's board; Lee Kun-soo, the honorary chair of the foundation; and other foundation directors, advisers and honorary advisers, along with James Heller, the chargé d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in South Korea.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY YOON JI-WON [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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