UN Memorial Cemetery, Busan, Republic of Korea, 30 November 2011
221
To the families of those who rest here, to their descendants and my fellow countrymen, I say: thank you on behalf of the grateful people of the Republic of Korea. Thank you on behalf of the United Nations. Let me conclude with a wise and ancient saying: “What you give, you shall receive.” During the war, this port of Busan was the gateway for UN troops to Korea. Today, Busan is where Korea sends forth its own peacekeepers into the world. More recently, I am grateful that the Korean Government has chosen to send a peacekeeping contribution to the new nation of South Sudan. And so we come full circle, past to present. What an inspiration. Today, we remember those who fell in freedom’s name, and we remember the families and communities that still suffer from the war’s grim legacy. Let us recommit ourselves to reuniting this Peninsula so that all Koreans can live in peace and prosperity for generations to come. I will leave all the more determined to carry forward the cause of peace for which these heroes gave their lives.