Korean War veteran Ahn Su-ok, 76, feels disheartened when he finds that young people have no idea about the sacrifices he and his comrades made during the 1950-53 war. He says the freedom they enjoy should not be taken for granted.

With the nation commemorating the 60th anniversary of the fratricidal war Thursday, Ahn underscored that education about the war should be strengthened to remember the blood and sweat soldiers shed for the country.

“The other day, I asked one of the young people on the subway if he knew when and how the war broke out. He said no and I felt bad about it. Education should be enhanced as to how citizens are able to live in this free and democratic society,” said Ahn, who was an enlisted Army solider during the war.

“The freedom we enjoy now is the result of the noble sacrifices of the soldiers. It is also disheartening to know that there are many students who don’t know how to draw the national flag and sing the national anthem.”

U.S. veterans who participated in the Korean War look around an exhibition hall of Samsung Electronics Co. in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Yonhap News

According to a recent survey of 435 university students conducted by Incruit, an online job recruiting agency, 32 students, or 7.4 percent, said that they did not know when the war broke out. 

To a survey question of who waged the war, 15.9 percent said that the war was waged by the United States and the former Soviet Union while 67.8 percent said that North Korea waged the war after the Soviet Union instigated it.

“I don’t know who started the war. I thought it was sort of a political fight between the two Koreas. Most young students may not know the meaning of the war as the war is a thing of a distant past,” said one university student who refused to be identified.

Some people said that as schools focus little on history education -- because it is an elective subject for the state college entrance exam -- students are not interested in the country’s history in general.

“History education should be enhanced at schools. Most students focus on the Korean language, math and English, which are the three major subjects in the college entrance exam. Those majoring in science and engineering do not take any history and may know little about the war,” said Han Won-sub, a 20-year-old university student.”

“I believe the sacrifices soldiers made for the country during the war laid the groundwork for the country’s democratic and economic development.”

The North invaded the South across the 38th Parallel on June 25, 1950. Sixteen U.N. member states sent combat troops for the South while five nations sent medical units. The war ended in a truce, which was signed in July 1953. 

The truce has left the two Koreas technically at war. Under the armistice, the two sides established the Demilitarized Zone, a four-kilometer-wide buffer zone dividing North and South Korea. The Military Demarcation Line runs down the center of the DMZ.

The National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee on Thursday unanimously endorsed a resolution that appreciates Korean War veterans and calls for peninsular denuclearization and the settlement of peace.

The resolution, proposed by Rep. Hwang Jin-ha of the Grand National Party, extends gratitude to the countries that fought for South Korea under the U.N. banner and calls on the North to dismantle its nuclear programs and halt provocations against the South.

It also expresses the lawmakers’ resolve to strengthen war deterrent based on the South Korea-U.S. alliance and to strive to resolve a set of pending issues such as those concerning the repatriation of prisoners of war and citizens abducted by the North.

Along with another resolution expressing thanks to the countries and war veterans that was passed at the National Policy Committee on Monday, the resolution is set to put to a vote at a plenary session scheduled for Monday next week.

In related move, the Army set up a special memorial room for six Korean War heroes at a conference room at the Army headquarters in Gyeryong City, South Chungcheong Province.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldm.com)