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It has been two years since six sailors were killed in the West Sea battle, which was caused by North Korean patrol boats crossing over the Northern Limit Line and preemptively attacking a South Korean naval vessel. A remembrance celebration to mark the second anniversary of the battle was held yesterday at the headquarters of the Naval 2nd Fleet in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, with 150 people including victimsĄŻ families participating. However, the event was dismally lonely, and more distressing, the bereaved families despairingly poured out questions in full cry to this society and the government.
Did the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea launched an investigation to find out facts as it does now when the West Sea naval battle broke out? Who apologized for the death of our boys? People, irrespective of rank, have been successively rushing to deliver condolence for a man who went to a foreign country to earn money and died there. But who went to the funeral services of the six sailors who sacrificed their lives for the nation? Even the Defense Minister and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as well as government officials did not attend the services.
One of the bereaved fatherĄŻs decision pitiable. The father said, Ą°My son is buried in the National Cemetery. But IĄŻm going to take my sonĄŻs remains to my family burial site in my hometown.Ą± Having watched the situation develop, he thought his son who was killed by North Korean soldiers was considered nothing more than a criminal. Some parents said that they are more scared of people who consider the U.S. a bigger enemy than North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who killed their son. We lose courage to defend the country, when we hear that a wife whose husband fell in the battle is preparing to leave this country. Reading a condolence letter from the USFK commander to mark the second anniversary, the wife said, "The Americans remember my husband and his brothers-in-arms better than Koreans... Frankly, I hate Korea."
The six young sailors sacrificed their lives for the country obeying its orders. If Korea was a righteous country, the president would have attended their funeral service and the victims would have been admired as heroes of the West Sea. However, the father wants to move his sonĄŻs remains from the National Cemetery to his hometown and a wife plans to leave this country. In such a county as this, who would willingly sacrifice their lives in the face of a national crisis? Rather, with what shamelessness could the country ask that people sacrifice their lives after making the bereaved spit words of lamentation like this? True, improving the relations with North Korea is important. It is a totally different thing, however, to pursue an inter-Korean reconciliation policy and to give the cold shoulder to people who sacrifice themselves for the nation. It is a question concerning whether the nation behaves as a noble nation should.
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