Minister Nominee Park Min-sik: "An Opportunity to Set the Nation's Foundation Right"

At the Confirmation Hearing: "Fundamental Commitment to Veterans Affairs Policy"

Park Min-sik, the first nominee for Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, stated on the 22nd, "I will take the lead to ensure that the promotion of the Patriots and Veterans Affairs Agency to a Ministry becomes an opportunity to establish the internal value of an advanced country and to correct the foundation of the nation."

Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop and Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Min-sik are attending the Cabinet meeting held at the Seoul Government Complex on the 14th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

On the same day, Park appeared at the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee hearing in the morning and said, "If appointed as minister, I will fundamentally innovate the veterans' policy."

Having served as the first head of the Patriots and Veterans Affairs Agency under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration for the past year, Park said, "During my tenure as head of the agency, I expanded my expertise in veterans' policy," and especially mentioned, "With overwhelming support from both ruling and opposition committee members, the agency was promoted to a ministry for the first time in 62 years since its establishment. I believe this reflects the serious demand to strengthen the state's responsibility toward those who sacrificed for the country." The Patriots and Veterans Affairs Agency will be promoted to a ministry according to the revised Government Organization Act, which will take effect on the 5th of next month.

Meanwhile, prior to the confirmation hearing, it was confirmed that more than half of the memorial facilities installed in countries that participated in the Korean War are labeled with the Sea of Japan. However, the Patriots and Veterans Affairs Agency has been criticized for standing by without action for eight years.

More than half of memorial facilities in Korean War participating countries labeled with Sea of Japan... Criticism of "Patriots and Veterans Affairs Agency standing by"

According to the 'Status of Overseas Korean War Memorial Facilities' submitted by the Patriots and Veterans Affairs Agency to Kang Min-guk, a member of the People Power Party, as of May, a total of 384 overseas Korean War memorial facilities have been surveyed. Among the overseas Korean War memorial facilities that indicate the Korean Peninsula, 23 facilities also indicate the adjacent sea.

Among these, more than half, 13 facilities (56.5%), label the East Sea as the Sea of Japan. Six facilities label the East Sea, and only four facilities label both the East Sea and the Sea of Japan concurrently. Of the memorial facilities labeling the East Sea as the Sea of Japan, the vast majority, 12 facilities (92.3%), are located in the United States, and the remaining one is in South Africa.

The bigger problem is that the Patriots and Veterans Affairs Agency has not made any efforts to correct the errors regarding the labeling of the East Sea as the Sea of Japan on some "overseas Korean War memorial facilities" for eight years.

Kang's office criticized the Patriots and Veterans Affairs Agency for not undertaking any correction work for eight years. This is because the last official letter sent by the agency to overseas diplomatic missions to inspect the status of overseas Korean War memorial facilities was in July 2015. Kang also pointed out that among the 49 overseas Korean War memorial facilities built with budget support from the agency since 1998, 14 indicate the Korean Peninsula and adjacent seas, but only three maps label the East Sea alone.

Assemblyman Kang Min-guk stated, "It is a clear dereliction of duty that the Patriots and Veterans Affairs Agency has been aware that 13 overseas Korean War memorial facilities prominently label the Sea of Japan but has not made a single effort to correct this for eight years."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.