The uneasy peace

BUSAN — It’s called the “Land of the Morning Calm.” But the attack and sinking in March this year of a South Korean Naval patrol ship by a North Korean submarine have unsettled anew the uneasy peace in the Peninsula.

The incident involved the South Korean patrol ship Cheonan that was sunk in the Yellow Sea and more than 30 South Korean Navy men perished. Out of the 104-man crew, only 58 were rescued and the rest are still unaccounted for.

Pyongyang admitted to the attack, citing that the South Korean ship crossed the imaginary sea border. But then again, North Korea has not recognized the sea border unilaterally drawn by the US-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War. The patrol ship was supposedly part of the ongoing annual US-South Korean anti-submarine war exercises dubbed as Key Resolve/Foal Eagle which were intended to keep the forces ready in case another war erupts in the Peninsula.

For the past few weeks, tension has been running high in this divided peninsula because of that incident. It is now considered as one of the worst ceasefire violations since the end of the Korean War in 1953. Sporadic skirmishes between North and South Korea also take place inland every now and then, particularly around the areas of the 38th Parallel, better known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).  

The Korean War ended without a final peace pact, except only a ceasefire — when the two sides agreed to this DMZ which is actually a three-mile buffer zone between the two Koreas. This was set in the armistice agreement in July 1953 that cuts through the Peninsula from east to west and is 248 kilometers long. It extends two kilometers south and north from the DMZ that was established to prevent hostilities and skirmishes hopefully preventing another outbreak of a full-blown war.

More than a half-century of conflict, these skirmishes marked the Cold War that remains up to now in the “Land of the Morning Calm.” The incident was extensively drummed up days before and during the official visit in Seoul by US State Department Secretary Hillary Clinton earlier this month. Fortunately, the saber-rattling have simmered down since then. But is it calm before the storm?

Auspiciously we arrived here on Monday to attend the 60th anniversary commemorative event of the Korean War. Nineteen journalists from 13 “coalition” partners of South Korea during the war were invited to the observance of this historical event. The actual celebration will be held this Friday at the Jamsil Stadium in the morning and a “Peace Ceremony” will take place later in the day.

Invited to the commemorative events are senior editors and journalists from 11 other countries that participated in the UN-led forces. These included (in alphabetical order) Australia, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Thailand and Turkey. Aside of course from the US and the Philippines. These were just some of the 21 countries under the UN High Command that helped drove back invading North Korean communist soldiers out of the newly independent Seoul.

Part of our itinerary here was a visit yesterday at the UN Memorial cemetery in Busan. The place is recognized as a sacred site where soldiers from these participating nations were interred. It has become a place for the annual reunion of Korean War veterans from these countries to honor their fallen comrades and friends.

It is a great learning experience to interact with journalists from these countries and found out from them how each of their respective nations helped contribute to bring back peace in this part of the world. Julio Cesar Guzman from Colombia’s newspaper El Tiempo told me his country sent about 300 Army soldiers and a third of them were killed in action in the Korean War. Maria Eleni Astrapellou of the newspaper Vima of Greece said she does not exactly know how many Greek soldiers were sent to the Korean War but she was sure about 200 of them died here.

Hayri Umit Enginsoy of Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review from Turkey was proud for some 2,000 of his countrymen fought alongside with the Koreans in that war and 600 of them were killed in action. Pietro Batacchi, senior political analyst of Ce.S.I. from Italy cited his country sent humanitarian volunteers to the Red Cross during the Korean War. Temesgen Gebrehiwot Bulo, senior editor of ERTA from Ethiopia said his country was the only African nation that sent their soldiers who fought and died during the Korean War.

The Korean Culture and Information Service, an agency attached to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is the principal supervisor of this Invitational Program for Journalists on the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War. The South Korean ambassador to the Philippines Choi Joong-kyung graciously invited me to represent the Philippine media in this event.

I was not yet born, of course, during that war. All I know about the war is what I read in history books and this included the fact that no less than a former President of the Philippines, Fidel V. Ramos is among the Filipino soldiers who served in the Korean War. If I’m not mistaken, Mr. Ramos was then a young Lieutenant who joined the Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea (PEFTOK). We sent 120 Filipino soldiers to this first-ever peacekeeping mission of the Philippines under the UN Command.

Ramos was then a fresh West Point graduate. He was joined by his colleagues who included now retired Gen. Jose Magno. Their PEFTOK days together is a favorite subject matter that ex-President Ramos and Magno loved to share with us while I was still pounding the Malacañang Palace beat.

The other principal sponsor of this invitation is the state-run Arirang TV station. We are also able to watch Arirang Channel in our local cable TV in the Philippines. In fact, many of the popular Korean tele-novelas are telecast by this channel on cable TV aside from those being aired by our local TV stations. We have quite a size of Korean communities all over the Philippines for their audience.

Before I left Manila, Kim Hyun Joong and several other Korean pop stars and boy bands have come for concerts in Manila one after the other. It’s no wonder Filipinos are enamored to the Korean pop culture and Kore-novelas. And the uneasy peace in Korea seems to be the least of their problems for now.