In the 70^th Anniversary of the Korean War, Korea Sends Face Masks to UN Veterans

[Sejong, Korea, May 7]— The 70^th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee (Co-chairman Kim Eun-gi) is sending masks to assist veterans of the 22 UN Sending States during the Korean War in coping with the COVID-19 and express the country’s gratitude to the veterans, who came and defended the Republic of Korea seven decades ago.

In the early 1950s, a total of 1,957,733 people came from the 16 countries that provided combat troops to Korea and the five countries that provided medical help to defend freedom and peace of the country they never heard and fought for the people they never met. Among them, 151,129 sustained damage including the 37,902 soldiers who were killed in action, 103,460 wounded.

As the world is suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the country finds urgent needs for personal protective equipment, including masks, particularly among the UN veterans, most of who are in their late 80s.

Against this backdrop, Korea is sending a total of 1 million face masks to be distributed among the UN veterans. Among them, 500,000 masks will go to he United States where 90% of the UN veterans came, and the rest 500,000 will be distributed to the veterans in the rest of the 21 UN Sending States.

The million units should be noted as the country is putting limits on how many masks individuals can purchase with the 5-day rotation system.

In this regard, Korea will send additional masks should the 5-day rotation system be lifted. Under the current rule, it is banned to ship masks out the country, except for some extenuating causes, including humanitarian aid.

The mask project involves with several government ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

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