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CNN Sunday Morning
Ceremony in South Korea Commemorates Armistice
Aired July 27, 2003 - 10:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Fifty years ago today in the Korean village of Panmunjom an armistice was signed which brought a formal end to years of fighting on the Korean Peninsula.
Ceremonies marking the anniversary are being held today in Washington. You're looking at a live picture right now and, in fact, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is expected to speak live. When he does, we'll bring that to you live.
Yet tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel remain stationed in South Korea, and tensions, of course, with North Korea remain high.
CNN's Seoul bureau chief Sohn Jie-Ae takes to a village where the armistice was signed, a place where than a dozen countries sent representatives to what they remember is being called the forgotten war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fifty years ago, an armistice was signed here at the village of Panmunjom, halting the three-year war between South Korea, helped by the U.S.-led United Nations command, and North Korea, supported by communist China.
On this day, about 1,000 veterans from the 16 participating U.N. countries attended a ceremony marking the event.
Fred Simpson received three Purple Hearts for his role in the Korean conflict.
FRED SIMPSON, FOUGHT IN KOREAN WAR: I lost a lot of friends, you know, got killed. So today I'm thinking a lot about my friends.
SOHN: Many, like this veteran from New Zealand returned to the first time since the conflict and talked about contrasts they saw here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I remember when I was here last was ruin, complete ruin. No vegetation. Coming back, I'm amazed.
SOHN: While called the forgotten war, these veterans seem bent on keeping the memory of their experiences alive.
Many browsed for souvenirs, recounted war tales, and an almost a surreal setting, stood in front of their former foe, North Korea, to take tourist photographs. The head of the 37,000 U.S. soldiers still stationed here to enforce the armistice emphasized its importance.
GEN. LEON J. LEPORTE, U.S. FORCES IN KOREA: The armistice represents nothing short of victory, nothing short of a historic international stand against communist aggression.
SOHN: Renewed tensions surrounding North Korea's nuclear weapons program hung heavy over the ceremony.
HELEN CLARK, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: The world community is making it very clear to North Korea that its development of nuclear weapons is provocative and unacceptable.
SOHN: North Korea marked the day with victory ceremonies, but called for the U.N. Event to be canceled.
(on camera) While veterans from around the world gather here to commemorate the day the battle guns went silent, this place serves as a reminder that the armistice that was supposed to be a temporary solution still exists and a permanent peace still seems far off.
Sohn Jie-Ae, CNN, Panmunjom, Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 27, 2003 - 10:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Fifty years ago today in the Korean village of Panmunjom an armistice was signed which brought a formal end to years of fighting on the Korean Peninsula.
Ceremonies marking the anniversary are being held today in Washington. You're looking at a live picture right now and, in fact, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is expected to speak live. When he does, we'll bring that to you live.
Yet tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel remain stationed in South Korea, and tensions, of course, with North Korea remain high.
CNN's Seoul bureau chief Sohn Jie-Ae takes to a village where the armistice was signed, a place where than a dozen countries sent representatives to what they remember is being called the forgotten war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SOHN JIE-AE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fifty years ago, an armistice was signed here at the village of Panmunjom, halting the three-year war between South Korea, helped by the U.S.-led United Nations command, and North Korea, supported by communist China.
On this day, about 1,000 veterans from the 16 participating U.N. countries attended a ceremony marking the event.
Fred Simpson received three Purple Hearts for his role in the Korean conflict.
FRED SIMPSON, FOUGHT IN KOREAN WAR: I lost a lot of friends, you know, got killed. So today I'm thinking a lot about my friends.
SOHN: Many, like this veteran from New Zealand returned to the first time since the conflict and talked about contrasts they saw here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I remember when I was here last was ruin, complete ruin. No vegetation. Coming back, I'm amazed.
SOHN: While called the forgotten war, these veterans seem bent on keeping the memory of their experiences alive.
Many browsed for souvenirs, recounted war tales, and an almost a surreal setting, stood in front of their former foe, North Korea, to take tourist photographs. The head of the 37,000 U.S. soldiers still stationed here to enforce the armistice emphasized its importance.
GEN. LEON J. LEPORTE, U.S. FORCES IN KOREA: The armistice represents nothing short of victory, nothing short of a historic international stand against communist aggression.
SOHN: Renewed tensions surrounding North Korea's nuclear weapons program hung heavy over the ceremony.
HELEN CLARK, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: The world community is making it very clear to North Korea that its development of nuclear weapons is provocative and unacceptable.
SOHN: North Korea marked the day with victory ceremonies, but called for the U.N. Event to be canceled.
(on camera) While veterans from around the world gather here to commemorate the day the battle guns went silent, this place serves as a reminder that the armistice that was supposed to be a temporary solution still exists and a permanent peace still seems far off.
Sohn Jie-Ae, CNN, Panmunjom, Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
