Samsung, LG show Korean War hero tribute videos on Times Square

A tribute video to honor Korean and U.S. veterans of the Korean War started screening on billboards in New York’s Times Square on Thursday. The video will be shown for two weeks, as President Yoon Suk Yeol is set to travel to Washington next week for a state visit.

The video showcases photographs of the ten heroes and their selfless service, accompanied by heartfelt messages expressing gratitude. The 30-second video will run 680 times daily for from April 20 to May 3, on Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Group billboards in Times Square.

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance, ten heroes were jointly selected by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and ROK-US Combined Forces Command.

The list includes notable figures such as General Douglas MacArthur, the first UN Forces commander, father and son duo James Van Fleet, who served as commander of the US 8th Army during the war, and William Hamilton Shaw, a lieutenant who lost his life in the Second Battle of Seoul, along with his father, Korean missionary William Earl Shaw.

Other honorees include Ralph Puckett Jr., a US Army colonel awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor during the May 2021 Korea-U.S. summit, and Kim Young-ok, a Korean-American US Army colonel who volunteered to join the war effort.

South Korean heroes on the list include Army Major General Paik Sun-yup, a hero of the Dabu-dong battle, Air Force Major General Kim Too-man, who recorded 100 fighter sorties during the war, Army Colonel Kim Dong-seok, an intelligence liaison officer for the US 8th Army, who gathered the information for the Second Battle of Seoul, and Marine Corps Colonel Park Jung-mo, who was the first to hoist the Taegeukgi (Korean national flag) on the roof of the government building during the September 1950 Seoul Liberation Operation.

Samsung and LG have continuously supported Korean War veterans, demonstrating their dedication to honoring these heroes. Samsung donated $5 million to the US Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1996, supporting initiatives such as scholarship awards for descendants of war veterans and the construction of memorial parks.

In 2013, Samsung received the 'Patriot Award' from the US Veterans of Foreign Wars, becoming the first Korean company to be recognized in this manner. In 2015, Samsung contributed $1 million to the construction of war memorials at a fundraiser held in the US House of Representatives.

LG Electronics Inc. has also been involved in the "LG Hope Village" project since 2020, providing housing for Ethiopian Korean War veterans and their descendants. LG Electronics and its labor union have been providing living allowances and goods to Ethiopian Korean War veterans since 2013.

LG Uplus Corp. is partnering with the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs in the "See You Again in an Independent Country!" campaign to commemorate the repatriation of Hwang Ki-hwan, the real-life model for Eugene Choi, the protagonist of the drama "Mr. Sunshine," since April 2.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com