Arirang

Have you ever heard about Arirang?

'Arirang, arirang ara ri yo...'

 Korean traditional song Arirang is  deeply related to our ancestor's agony and shows our unique soul, it is mournful to our heart.

 Nowadays, this song became widely being used for expressing Korean soul to aborad.

 Also it was used at 2000 Sydney Olympic when North Korea and South Korea entered into Olympic stadium together. At that time, this song worked as a ligament of North and South.

 Still, war is not over at Korean Peninsula. And we need to make a development for achieving peace. Arirang has a power of gathering our people to one. And there are also Arirang at North Korea. If we understand each other by considerate communication, two different Arirang can be one Song.

Sumi Jo, Ari Arirang(Korean traditional song)

Brother land Turkey, Ethiopia meets peace

     In the dawn of June 25th, 1950 the sound of the screaming and fear started in the Korea peninsula. This is the day when the Korea War started, and it is the day when The North and The South Korea were divided visible. After 30 years for colony from Japan, Korea independent on the 1945. Every Koreans was happy to be free again but this was not for so long. With the will of the citizen or not, because of the government families and friends became enemies to each other. It was a chaos all around. There were no more songs of joy or happiness, everyone was afraid even the soldiers. It was the fear losing family and friends, and also the nation. 

     But even in the worst situation, there was hope. The Korea War was not only the fight throughout Koreans. Many of the soldiers from the other countries helped this war to finish. Because this war was not about winning or losing, it was about to bring peace in this land as soon as possible.

     Among the brother countries the Korea had, Turkey sent many soldiers to the war. Even though the soldiers never met or knew the people of Korea before, but to help and save them, young youth sacrificed their lives to Korea. The youth could have lived a better life, if they were not in the war. Make a family with the person oneself loves and to have kids and see them grow.. this could have been the life to the young soldiers. Despite thinking about the future for themselves, the youth took chance to do a meaningful thing. Many of the Turk died that day and few survived.
 
 

 

 < Turk & Ethiopian who fought in the Korea War >

     The youth that who took part in the Korean War, now is the elders of the country. Who will remember their sacrifice and the great exploits? The past is the past but it is the history that has made who we are now. And we should never forget the memories that made us live in peace that we barely have now. There are some associations and people that try to remember the entire victim who has fought for Korea. But who is the one who really take the moves into action? 

     Then, here we get to meet Mr. Lee (Man Hee Lee) the peace leader. Above all the thing he has done or what position he is in now, far past 60 years before, he was also a soldier in the Korea War. Like with the others, he fought for his country to keep it safe. He fought with many other men including the foreigners who fought for Korea. During the war, friends and ones who were beside you died. This means that you can never see them again in this world. The bomb is blowing everywhere and people are fighting for their lives. Few have survived and few saw the results of the war. From the results we realize war is a thing that is far from peace, and all the sacrifice is the ones who were in it. War must not happen again because it makes a lot of damage physically or mentally. So Man Hee Lee knows the feeling because he was is there before. With the sorrow of losing a friend and family, Man Hee Lee maintains his opinion that the war must never happen again. This is not only about Korea, but also about this world. Man Hee Lee says, the youth who were sacrificed in the war are pity because they never got the chance to live their own life. Who is going to compensate their lives? Is this even possible with anything in the world? Yes. Even if you have all the money in the world, still you can't make a man live again. Like this, life and this path is important than any other thing in this world. This is why Mr. Lee is shouting for peace, and this is why he is making this happen. A place without war or tears.

     During Mr. Lee's peace travel around the world, he has visited Ethiopia and Turkey. Despite with his busy schedule, he had made time to meet the veterans of the Korean War. There he has shown great appreciation to the veterans of the War and understood their sorrow as well. This is peace, and this is gratitude for the men of national merit. The important thing is the true mind of understanding and respecting others. Also this has to come with action also. Who is the real leader of peace? And what can we do to help this happen?

 < Man Hee Lee meets the Ethiopian veterans of the Korea War >

 

 

Photo Source:
mannamvictory.blogspot.comhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ethiopian_soldiers_Korea1951.JPG
http://www.ataa.org/press/ATAA-Honors-Korean-War-Veterans.html

The world peace leader Man Hee Lee

     Over the past days and until now many people wanted peace therefore worked for it. To make a better world, not to leave a world that has war and conflicts to our next generation, many people shouted peace in this world. To give the credit for these hard works, many of the people received the Nobel peace prize. But there is a thing that we have to think about. Is there peace in this world now? Did the war end and is there only peace and laughter in the air? This question itself is awkward, when we think about the reality. Of course, maybe peace is here more than before, but still the hate tress in still around.

     There is a man who is receiving an attention these days. His name is 'Man Hee Lee', the peace leader. Although he is Korean, he works for peace not only in Korea, but also to the world. Because peace is what people wants. If there only is peace in one place, how can we say that is peace?

     Mr. Lee is a war veteran in Korea war that happened almost 60 years ago. He experienced a battle where no one knows that he will live or not. The battle had bullets and bombs which flew around the air. Did the North win or the South? Before we discuss about the winner, we have to think about the war that led youth, friends and family to death. Is this the way to make peace? No definitely not. The end of the war is only death. Mr. Lee also denies the war and don't want it to happen in any other countries also. The one who entered a war before knows what it is like to face the death of others that breathed and lived along one side. Mr. Lee wants a world that is full with love instead of fight and war.

     After Mr. Lee worked to make peace in this world by stopping to war that still is happening. Starting with the Volunteering work in Korea, he spread his work all around the world. Also there were many helps from other countries like America and Ethiopia and others. To thank the help and comfort the victims of the war, Mr. Lee holds many events or gives those help.

     The world has changed and is changing. There are many hands that make these changes. If there are works and effort like Mr. Lee the peace will come faster than we think. So let us work and help to make this happen. Peace is not a thing that is a far thing. We can achieve it like Mr. Lee by doing the best at one's place. If we all have this kind of heart and mind we will face peace soon.

Civil defense training

 Today, on 14th of March, there was siren ringing all over the cities in Korea. All the traffic stopped, and there were police officers everywhere. Is the war happening? Maybe the invasion of North Korea? No, it was just civil defense training. To Koreans this is just a thing that happens sometimes in a day. So if this happens, everyone is just indifferent. But if you are a foreigner and didn't know about this, or never heard about it before, you may freak out. Calm down and just stay in the place you were. If you were outside just go where you were planning to.

Because Korea is a country where potentially war can happen, this kind of training is necessary. Sadly but this still go along all around Korea. Why? Because we have to prepare if there will be and attack from the North. Although this training became very formal to Koreans, people think this is important for the possibilities of war.

 Even it has been over 50 years since the Korea war ended, Koreans still have to worry and live a life that has to fear about the war that can happen. The training is only for about 20 minutes but it reminds us the war that killed many of our families and friends long ago. The more we sorrow about it is that we had to fight with our nations. Hope there will be a day that we don't have to worry about the war or the conflict between the North and South. Hope that the day we can live in peace and happiness can come soon in this world, land that we live in.

Reference: http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=004&oid=416&aid=0000072637