The other photograph, taken by the Cheong Wa Dae Photograph Team last week, is of women honor guards at a ceremony held at Seoul Airport in Seongnam. Their arms are impressively almost at a 90-degree angle. It was the first Armed Forces Day parade in five years.

I was at Gwanghwamun on that day. It was raining, but people filled the streets. Regardless of all the social conflicts and ideology differences, I felt thankful for those young people who formed a stout column to hold up our country.

One man in his 40s standing next to me shouted, “Hey, my heart's beating!” Someone else hummed the song that I heard so often when I was young: “Protect my country for unification….”