President-elect Yoon mourns passing of U.S. Korean War veteran

Published : Apr 23, 2022 - 10:45 Updated : Apr 23, 2022 - 10:45

South Korea’s President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday commemorated the work of a late U.S. Korean War veteran for his service to both South Korea and the U.S. and to their alliance.

Yoon also expressed his “deepest respect” to Col. William Weber, who died on April 9 at the age of 96.

“He devoted his life to ensuring the world not to forget the significance of the Korean War and promoting humanity of Korean War veterans as president of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation,” Yoon said of Weber in a letter read on his behalf at the funeral of the Korean War veteran.

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol (Yonhap)

“Thanks to Col. Weber’s dedication, the Wall of Remembrance featuring names of those soldiers who gave their lives in the Korean War is under construction in Washington D.C. and is close to completion,” Yoon noted.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington was initially dedicated in 1995. The ongoing work is to put up a wall with the names of 36,574 American service personnel, as well as some 7,200 Koreans that served as Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army (KATUSA), who died in the 1950-53 war.

“The noble courage and sacrifice of Col. Weber, with the Remembrance Wall, will live forever in the hearts of the Korean people,” Yoon said.

“I would like to express my deepest respect to Col. Weber, and to share the sorrow with you and your bereaved families,” he added. (Yonhap)