[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 78 (Thursday, June 7, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S5979]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself and Mr. Roberts):
  S. 999. A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for 
a Korea Defense Service Medal to be issued to members of the Armed 
Forces who participated in operations in Korea after the end of the 
Korean War; to the Committee on Armed Services.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today with my esteemed colleague, 
Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, to introduce a bill that would award the 
Korean Defense Service Medal to all members of the Armed Forces who 
participated in operations in Korea after the end of the Korean War. 
Fifty years ago, American men and women were fighting a very tough war 
in Korea. We commemorate their heroism in many ways half a century 
later, and pause at the beautiful memorial to those who served in that 
conflict located here in Washington. That war and those heroes, 
however, are only the first part of the story. The rest of the story is 
about the more than 40,000 members of the United States armed forces 
who have served in Korea since the signing of the cease-fire agreement 
in July 1953.
  Technically speaking, North and South Korea remain at war to this 
day, and during the intervening cease fire, the uncertain ``peace'' has 
been challenged many many times. According to statistics I have read, 
the North Koreans have breached the cease-fire agreement more than 
40,000 times since 1954 using virtually every method of limited attacks 
you could think of. Some 1,239 U.S. service personnel have been killed 
in Korea during the past 47 years; 87 have been captured, held 
prisoner, and in many cases, tortured.
  During the past five decades, our service men and women in Korea have 
performed their duties in a virtual tinderbox waiting for a match. 
There is no question about the danger of their assignment. Some 70 
percent of North Korea's active military force, including about 700,000 
troops, more than 8,000 artillery systems, and 2000 tanks are within 90 
miles of the Demilitarized Zone, DMZ. Military experts estimate that a 
massive North Korean attack could overrun South Korea's capital at 
Seoul in a matter of hours or days. A potential frontal assault by 
North Korean troops would have the backing of more than 500 short range 
ballistic missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction in 
addition to conventional warheads.
  It is amazing to me to have discovered that despite all of these 
facts, the Department of Defense has not awarded service awards to 
those who served in Korea during the Cold War. It should be noted that 
there have been more casualties in Korea since 1954 that in Sinai, 
Grenada, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Kuwait, and yet 
service awards have been presented to participants in each of those 
operations, but not to those who have served in Korea. General Thomas 
Schwartz, current Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Forces Korea has 
recognized this injustice and supports the award I am proposing today.
  Representative Elton Gallegly from California introduced this bill in 
the House recently, and I am honored to do so here in the Senate. I 
urge my colleagues to join with me to attain swift passage of this 
measure which is a long overdue expression of recognition and gratitude 
to the thousands of American men and women in uniform who have put 
their lives literally on the front line for peace and freedom.
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