FOR the 47th time, Yong Taek Lee, South Korea’s honorary director of public administration and chairman of the Memorial Service Association for the Deceased Compatriots Overseas, visited Saipan to pay tribute to the Koreans who perished on island during World War II.
Joining Lee and other visiting Korean officials at the Korean Peace Memorial in Marpi at 11 a.m. on Monday were Acting Marianas Visitors Authority Managing Director Judy C. Torres, CNMI Korean Cultural Center Chairman Kim Hong Kyun and other members of the Korean community on Saipan.
Also joining Lee in his trip to Saipan was Nam Seoul University’s Jeong-Jae Lee.
As part of their traditions, the Korean group offered food on the platform of the Korean Peace Memorial which was built in 1981 in memory of the nearly 1,000 Koreans who died on Saipan during World War II.
From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by Japan which also administered the Northern Marianas from 1914 to 1944.
Lee thanked the acting MVA director and members of the island’s Korean community for joining him in Marpi.
Yong Taek Lee, South Korea’s honorary director of public administration and chairman of the Memorial Service Association for the Deceased Compatriots Overseas, looks at a statue of a Korean compatriot who died on Saipan during World War II in Marpi.
