UNMCK - UNITED NATIONS MEMORIAL CEMETERY IN KOREA

Dear Korean War Veterans, Hello! I’m Hareen Oh, an 18 year old student in South Korea. Last week was Seollal, which is a Korean New Year's day. It is one of the biggest holidays in Korea. It is on January 1, on the lunar calendar. The date of the lunar calendar, and the date that we use on a normal calendar is a little but different, so it Seollal was actually on January 25. I don’t know how the date on the lunar calendar is calculated, but it has something to do with the moon. So the date of Seollal changes every year. The traditional way of celebrating Seollal is meeting family members, wearing hanbok(traditional Korean clothing) to greet the new year, eating tteokguk(rice-cake soup) to grow one year older, having a charye(memorial service for ancestors) by preparing food, playing yunnori(traditional Korean board game), and doing saebae(This is a custom where the younger members of the family bow to the older members of the family to wish them a happy new year. Then the older members of the family give money to the younger members of the family in return.). Usually, we have a few days of vacation before and after Seollal. This year the holiday was from January 24, to January 27. It wasn’t a special day off from school because it’s winter vacation, but I still got a few days off from my math academy. On the actual day of Seollal(January 25) I met my family and spent time together all day. But on the other days of the holiday, I had to go to a study-cafe and study. A study-cafe is a place where students can study in a quiet environment. There are many study-cafes in Korea, and almost every student goes there. During my winter vacation, I studied all day, everyday at a study-cafe. I thought I could rest at home for the holiday, but my mom wanted me to go. Before registering for the study-cafe, I promised my mom that I would go there everyday.. So.. Oh well, I had to go. On Seollal, I had a great time! My family(just my mom and dad) and I moved recently, so we invited our family members(my aunts, uncles, and cousins) to our new house! My mom cooked a lot of food, and everyone ate tteokguk and galbee(ribs). It was delicious! After all the eating and talking, everyone went to our grandparents’ house. My family always go to our grandparents’ house on Seollal to do saebae. We don’t celebrate Seollal the traditional way, so no one wears hanbok, does charye, or play yunnori. We just celebrate it by eating good food, meeting family members, and having family time. But we still do saebae. I bowed to all the adults and said, “Sahae bok maani badeusaeyo!” This is ‘Happy New Year!’ in Korea. It means, ‘I wish you good luck in the new year.’ After the bow, I got money from the adults, and had time with my cousins. This day was really fun, and I had a great time with my family! I know that I can do all these fun activities and spend time with my family because you saved our country 70 years ago. If it were not for you, I wouldn’t even be able to imagine what kind of day I would have spent on Seollal. I want to thank you for your courageous actions during the Korean War, and I am sure that everyone else in South Korea has the same thought. It must have been very difficult and sometimes even hopeless. But you didn’t give up, and as a result, South Korea is the country it is today. So I would like to say thank you for fighting in the Korean War, and giving me the gift of a happy Seollal. Thanks again, and Sahae bok maani badeusaeyo! Sincerely, Hareen Oh