▲ This photo, taken Jan. 27, 2023, shows Veterans Affairs Minister Park Min-shik speaking during a press conference at the government complex in central Seoul. (Yonhap)

veterans minister-overseas trip

Veterans minister to visit Britain, Israel to study memorial sites

SEOUL, Jan. 31 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Veterans Affairs Minister Park Min-shik will embark on a trip to Britain and Israel later this week to study key memorial facilities there as part of efforts to build a new commemorative park in Seoul, his office said Tuesday.

The Seoul government has been pushing to establish an iconic national park in Seoul's central district of Yongsan to commemorate Korean War veterans and other patriots.

During his stay in Britain through Sunday, Park plans to visit the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and the Korean War Memorial in London, and meet with Korean War veterans to thank them for their service.

He also plans to have talks with his British counterpart, Johnny Mercer, on Friday to strengthen bilateral ties on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the armistice that effectively halted the 1950-53 Korean War.

During his four-day trip to Israel, the minister plans to tour Israel's major memorial sites, including Yad Vashem, a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.

He is also scheduled to meet with Arye Mualem, head of the Israeli defense ministry's department of families and commemoration, next Monday.

"Through the on-site survey of foreign advanced memorial facilities, (my visit) will serve as an opportunity to set the direction to establish memorial facilities, including a Yongsan memorial park," Park was quoted as saying in a press release.

Britain was among 22 countries that took part in the three-year conflict under the U.N. flag in support of the South. The war ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, in July 1953.

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