[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 30 (Monday, August 2, 1999)]
[Pages 1499-1500]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7213--National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, 1999

July 26, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    In 1950, North Korea invaded its free neighbor to the south, raising 
the specter of armed communist expansion as a threat to democracies 
around the world. During the next 3 years of bitter struggle, more than 
54,000 Americans gave their lives for the cause of freedom. With the 
signing of a negotiated armistice in 1953, the Korean War became for a 
time the ``Forgotten War.'' But each year on National Korean War 
Veterans Armistice Day, we pledge never to forget the lessons of that 
savage and costly conflict nor the members of our Armed Forces who 
risked their lives to defend democracy, human dignity, and the right to 
self-
determination.
    The Korean War taught us that we have many allies in our ongoing 
crusade for human freedom and democratic rule. Under the auspices of the 
United Nations, 22 countries joined the United States and South Korea in 
resisting communist aggression by sending troops and providing medical 
support. Etched in stone on the Korean War Veterans Memorial in our 
Nation's capital, the names of these countries remind us that free 
nations everywhere share a profound responsibility to assist those who 
seek to defend themselves from the aggression of brutal and oppressive 
regimes. The Korean War also taught us the importance of vigilance in 
recognizing threats to freedom and the need for vigorous and decisive 
action in resisting such encroachments. Though the dark shroud of the 
Cold War has lifted from our world, new regional and ethnic conflicts 
remain a threat to international peace and human rights.

[[Page 1500]]

Whether in Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, or elsewhere, we will continue to 
defend the same eternal values for which so many courageous Americans 
fought in Korea.
    The Congress, by Public Law 104-19 (36 U.S.C. 127), has designated 
July 27, 1999, as ``National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day'' and has 
authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in 
observance of this day.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim July 27, 1999, as National Korean 
War Veterans Armistice Day. I call upon all Americans to observe this 
day with appropriate ceremonies and activities that honor and give 
thanks to our distinguished Korean War veterans. I also ask Federal 
departments and agencies and interested groups, organizations, and 
individuals to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff on July 
27, 1999, in memory of the Americans who died as a result of their 
service in Korea.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth 
day of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., July 28, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on July 27, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
July 29.