Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Korean and U.S. defense ministers visited the West Sea Protection Hall

to honor the Cheonan victims

 

U.S. Defense Minister Ashton Carter said the Cheonan ship was a sad symbolic icon reminding us that the peace and stability were not simply given to us but something we have to protect.

 

He looked back upon the memory of the victims of the Cheonan incident while visiting the West Sea Protection Hall with Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo. This was the first time the U.S. Defense Minister visited the recovered body of the Cheonan ship and honored the victims.

 

Looking at the body of the Cheonan, destroyed by a North Korean torpedo, the U.S. Defense Minister said, “The Cheonan ship reminds us of the importance of the ally. I’d like to send commiserations to those brave sailors who were killed by the attack and their families as well.”

 

Ministers Han and Carter moved to the West Sea Protection Hall for remembrance such as offering of flowers and silent tribute, after receiving an operations status report at the command and control center of the 2nd Fleet. Minister Carter especially expressed his deep, sincere condolences for the young victims who died in his twenties in front of the list of those killed in battle.

 

Also, related to honoring to the Cheonan, Korean Defense Minister Han said, “It is our gesture toward North Korea that the alliance between Korea and the U.S. is strong and firm as well as our will to punish North Korea if it provokes us again.”

 

 

By Byeong-No, Yun < trylover@dema.mil.kr >
By Chul-Hwan, Kim < droid001@dema.mil.kr >

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