The Ongoing War 

Sixty-eight years ago, on July 27, 1953, the United States, the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, and South Korea signed a ceasefire agreement, or armistice, to pause fighting on the Korean peninsula. The armistice was meant to be temporary until both sides could settle on a peace agreement to officially end the Korean War. Unfortunately, that peace agreement never came, meaning the two Koreas are technically still at war.

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The Human Cost of War 

Combat on the peninsula ceased, but the demarcation separating North and South Korea— known as the 38th Parallel—became more militarized and stronger than before the war. Nearly 3 million Korean civilians and just as many soldiers died during the three-year war, including those who were prisoners of war and missing in action (POW/MIA) in North Korea. To date, a majority of the remains of civilians and soldiers lost in the north have yet to be returned to their families.

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“I wanted to remind not only Koreans or Americans but others that their forefathers, their grandfathers in these countries also died. I have met so many families of the fallen soldiers as well as the POW/MIAs, and many of them still mourn for their fathers, their missing brothers, their husbands that never returned home. You don’t forget them.”

Hannah Y. Kim, Founder of Remember727; Ambassadress of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation.

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“I decided to honor them [Korean War veterans] by visiting them and thanking them in person and collecting their stories, because their stories are actually our histories. I really wanted to preserve them for future generations because I’ve visited Korean War veterans all around the world and there's just one thing that they ask of us. They just want to be remembered.”

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Divided Families 

The war also resulted in the separation of 10.5 million Korean families, including 100,000 Korean American families. For seven decades and with no avenues of communication, family members have continued to wonder and worry about what happened to their parents, siblings, children, etc. 

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Lasting Legacy 

In 1985, North and South Korea organized the first of 21 inter-Korean family reunions, which have resulted in 44,000 families briefly reuniting. Korean diasporic communities have been unable to participate in these reunions. Unfortunately, stagnant nuclear talks between the U.S. and North Korea have pushed future reunions from being a priority. Dictated by political will, the chance for a decreasing number of elders to reunite with their families is becoming slimmer.

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“I started this [Remember 727] because my ultimate goal is to usher in peace. And when I say peace, it’s where there is no threat of war, there's no threat of conflict between North and South Korea. At the very least where families could travel to the North or to the South and see one another. It's a humanitarian issue where families are separated. I thought the best way to remind people why peace is so crucial is to remind people how many people died fighting for that peace and freedom. There was this devastation and we can’t just look at it as history or the past because it has not ended.” 

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Commemorating 7.27

There’s no one way to commemorate 7.27, but here are some ideas on how you can help honor the Korean War veterans, advocate for divided families, and promote peace on the Korean peninsula.

• Visit a Korean War memorial (find the nearest one at koreanwarmemorials.com).
• Remember veterans by reading their stories collected by Remember727 and Project-Solider KWV.
• Pay tribute on the virtual Wall of Remembrance (koreanwarmemorials.com/pay-tribute).
• Write your U.S. representative to vote ‘yes’ on the Divided Families Reunification Act (H.R.826).
• Support and/or volunteer for grassroots organizations working for peace on the peninsula.

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Thank you to Hannah Y. Kim.

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