Lee Joongkeun, Booyoung Group Chairman, Again Stresses Call to Make United Nations Day a National Holiday

[Financial News] “The Korean War is the only war in which 60 UN member states have fought to date. Designating United Nations Day as a national holiday would pass on the most dependable and valuable diplomatic asset to future generations.”
Lee Joongkeun, chairman of both the Korea-UN Association and Booyoung Group, made the remarks at a ceremony marking the 20th International Memorial Day for UN Veterans, held on the 11th at the UNMCK in Busan. “Thanks to the sacrifices of UN veterans, we can exist today as one of the world’s top 10 economies,” he said.
The International Memorial Day for UN Veterans began as a commemorative event after Canadian veteran Vincent Courtenay proposed that countries that fought alongside the UN observe a minute of silence together, facing the UNMCK in Busan. In March 2020, November 11 was designated by law as the statutory International Memorial Day for UN Veterans under the Act on the Honorable Treatment of UN Veterans, etc.
The ceremony was held under the theme “Toward Busan, A Moment of Unity.” Attendees included Lee, Kwon Oheul, Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs; Scott Winter, deputy commander of the United Nations Command; and Kim Seong-gi, Busan’s deputy mayor for administrative affairs.
Lee has taken the lead in honoring and paying tribute to UN veterans. In 2015, he fully funded the construction at Peace Plaza at the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan District of 2.7-meter-tall sculptures symbolizing each country, along with memorials engraved with victory laurel wreaths for the 23 countries that participated in the war, including South Korea. At a recent United Nations Day ceremony, he said, “If United Nations Day is designated a national holiday, I will personally build and donate a building in Seoul on a scale comparable to the UN Headquarters in New York.”
Meanwhile, Lee delivered to the National Assembly a petition calling for United Nations Day to be designated a national holiday, which had been signed by 420,000 people last year. Yang Bu-nam of the Democratic Party of Korea introduced as the lead sponsor a partial amendment bill to the National Holidays Act proposing that United Nations Day, observed every year on October 24, be designated a national holiday.

[email protected] Kwon Jun-ho Reporter