South Korea will hold a ministerial meeting on veterans affairs this week with 22 countries that supported the country during the 1950-53 Korean War, Seoul's veterans ministry said Tuesday, as Seoul commemorates the 70th anniversary of the signing of the conflict's armistice.
The 2023 Ministerial Summit on Veterans Affairs will take place in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Wednesday, a day ahead of the landmark anniversary of the armistice's signing, which ended fighting in the inter-Korean conflict.
The gathering will be attended by South Korean Veterans Minister Park Min-shik and representatives from the 22 countries that sent troops or other forms of support to South Korea during the war, including Xavier Bettel, prime minister of Luxembourg, and Matthew Keogh, Australia's minister of veterans affairs.
At the meeting, Park plans to thank the 22 countries for their support during the war and propose a joint declaration to pledge collective efforts for peace.
Park will hold separate talks with Keogh the same day to discuss joint efforts for veterans affairs projects, followed by a meeting with Patricia Miralles, France's secretary of state for veterans affairs.
On Thursday, Park will meet with Bettel for talks on various international veterans affairs projects before holding separate talks with Zafer Tarikdaroglu, Turkey's deputy minister of family and social services.
During the three-year war, the 22 countries sent a total of 1.96 million troops and medical personnel to support South Korea. Of them, 37,902 were killed and 103,460 wounded, according to the ministry.
The 22 countries are the United States, 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. (Yonhap)
