[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 215 (Tuesday, December 14, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1372]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING VETERANS OF THE KOREAN WAR

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 14, 2021

  Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the service 
of our Korean War veterans, who fought so bravely to repel an invasion 
intended to overthrow the government of the Republic of Korea and 
subjugate its people to authoritarian rule.
  On June 25, 1950, the armed forces of North Korea attacked South 
Korea with the goal of imposing a totalitarian regime on the men, women 
and children living south of the 38th parallel at the demarcation line 
of the two countries. That same day, the Security Council of the United 
Nations unanimously condemned this violation of South Korean 
sovereignty, and two days later published Resolution 83, which 
authorized the use of force by member states to repel the invasion. 
President Truman immediately sent United States troops to assist in 
responding to this aggression, but the conflict rapidly expanded to 
include armed forces from the People's Republic of China. After three 
years of bloody struggle, and the deaths of nearly 37,000 members of 
the Armed Forces of United States and millions of Korean civilians, an 
armistice was signed by the governments of North Korea, the People's 
Republic of China and the United States ending hostilities and 
establishing a demilitarized zone at the 38th parallel to formalize the 
existence of North and South Korea.
  The Korean War is often referred to as the ``Forgotten War,'' as 
contemporaneous news coverage was censored, and its three years of 
conflict were overshadowed by the Second World War and the war in 
Vietnam. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, however, liked to 
display in his Pentagon office a night-time satellite image of the 
Korean peninsula. This image, which revealed a thriving, brightly lit 
South Korea and a pitch-black North Korea emblematic of the painful 
suffering of its citizens, was kept on display by Mr. Rumsfeld to 
remind himself and his visitors that the sacrifices of our veterans 
were not forgotten by, and had a transformative impact on, the people 
of South Korea.
  Madam Speaker, I want to recognize the brave veterans of the Korean 
War as we approach the seventh decade since the 1953 armistice ending 
the conflict. On behalf of a grateful Nation, we honor our veterans' 
courage and their sacrifices to preserve peace and the blessings of 
liberty for an important ally and for the men, women and children who 
live in the Republic of South Korea.

                          ____________________