SEOUL, South Korea — The truce that stopped the bloodshed in the Korean War turned 70 years old on Thursday and the two Koreas marked the anniversary in starkly different ways, underscoring their deepening nuclear tensions.
In South Korea, a nearly 14-foot-tall statue of former U.S. President Harry S. Truman was unveiled, reflecting appreciation for Truman’s significant role during the Korean War.
The statue was dedicated at a government-run memorial park at Dabu-dong, a famous Korean War battle site near Daegu in southeast South Korea.
The Truman statue was installed as part of conservative activists’ broader effort to celebrate Washington’s decision to intervene in the Korean War as well as the resulting alliance between the United States and South Korea, which still underpins the South’s defense against North Korea even today.
Also, President Yoon Suk Yeol invited dozens of foreign war veterans to honor the fallen soldiers of the 1950-53 conflict, which killed and injured millions.
North Korea invited delegations from China and Russia to commemorate the armistice it sees as a victory in the “Grand Fatherland Liberation War.” Kim Jong Un rolled out his most powerful, nuclear-capable missiles in a military parade in the capital, Pyongyang, marking the war anniversary with a show of defiance against the United States.