Yoon thanks Luxembourg, Kiwi leaders for support during Korean War

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday afternoon met with Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and New Zealand Governor-General Cindy Kiro, who are leading delegations to Korea as countries that participated in the 1950-53 Korean War.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, poses for a commemorative photo with Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, left, and Leon Moyen, a Korean War veteran, at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, Tuesday, ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Armistice Agreement that brought a ceasefire. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday afternoon met with Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and New Zealand Governor-General Cindy Kiro, who are leading delegations to Korea as countries that participated in the 1950-53 Korean War.

Yoon also met with Leon Moyen, a 92-year-old Korean War veteran from Luxembourg, who joined the meeting with Bettel at the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul. The Korean president thanked Moyen for his contributions during the war.

Officials, veterans and their families from some 22 countries who supported the South during the war under the UN flag were invited to Korea to attend a series of events this week marking the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice Agreement that halted Korean War hostilities on July 27, 1953.

Moyen was dispatched to the peninsula in 1950 and fought in Cheorwon County, Gangwon. He was seriously wounded by an enemy bullet in 1951 and was transferred to military hospitals in Japan to receive treatment. Despite his injury, he volunteered to be redeployed to South Korea in 1952. He moved to Canada after the war.

Moyen entered the presidential office with only the help of a walker.

"I am glad that you look very healthy," Yoon told Moyen, "Do you remember anything about the situation 70 years ago?"

Moyen replied that while he doesn't remember everything, he still recalls much of what happened.

Yoon also asked, "The first time you received a gunshot wound, you were evacuated to Japan and treated, and then you participated in the war again. How did you courageously decide to participate in the war twice?"

Moyen replied that he was hospitalized for four months because of an injury to his left leg, recalling that his bone was fractured.

Moyen expressed regret that he couldn't visit Korea sooner, saying if it hadn't been for the Covid-19 pandemic, he would have been joined by some other veteran friends who recently passed away, the presidential office said in a statement.

In his talks with Bettel, Yoon expressed his appreciation for Luxembourg's dispatch of a combat unit to the Korean War "to defend the freedom and democracy" of South Korea, added the office. The two leaders agreed to expand trade and investment and strengthen cooperation in space, science and quantum technology.

Bettel said that Luxembourg was preparing to open an embassy in Korea within the year, and Yoon said that he hoped this would bring closer communication between the two countries.

In his meeting with Kiro, Yoon noted that Korea and New Zealand, traditional allies, have developed cooperative relations in several fields based on common values.

They also agreed there is a need to further promote exchanges between future generations by encouraging tourism, culture and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.

Luxembourg had a population of some 200,000 at the time of the Korean War, but dispatched 110 combat troops, the largest number of soldiers relative to population among the 22 participating countries. Two soldiers from Luxembourg were killed in action.

New Zealand dispatched six ships and 3,794 soldiers to support the South during the war. The remains of 32 New Zealand soldiers who died in the war are buried at the UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, shakes hands with New Zealand Governor-General Cindy Kiro at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, Tuesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Some 200 delegates, including 64 war veterans, were welcomed by South Korean government officials in Seoul on Tuesday.

They will also visit sites of major battles and other symbolic locations, such as the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom at the demilitarized zone and the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan.

The visit included a breakfast meeting co-hosted by the Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation and the Korea Defense Veterans Association.

Earlier in the day, Kiro and other members of her delegation visited the War Memorial of Korea in central Seoul.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs will host a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice Agreement.

Thursday also coincides with UN Forces Participation Day, observed in Korea to honor members of the U.S.-led UN forces who fought alongside South Korea during the three-year conflict against the North's invasion.

Australia's Minister for Veterans' Affairs Matthew Keogh and French Secretary of State for Veteran Affairs Patricia Miralles will take part in the ceremony.

Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand and Turkey and the United States sent military personnel to the South during the Korean War.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]