President Lee attends 71st Memorial Day ceremony, vows to build 'proud Korea'

President Lee Jae Myung attended the 71st Memorial Day ceremony Saturday morning alongside first lady Kim Hye-kyung to honor fallen patriots and war heroes.

Held under the theme "We will remember, record and fulfill our responsibility," the ceremony drew some 3,000 attendees, including national merit recipients and their families, government officials and uniformed service members.

Among the invited guests were the families of the late Senior Police Officer Lee Jae-seok, who died in September last year while rescuing a man stranded in tidal flats on Yeongheungdo in Ongjin-gun, Incheon, and the late Warrant Officers Jeong Sang-geun and Jang Hee-seong, who died in an Army helicopter crash in February.

The ceremony began at 10 a.m. with a nationwide memorial siren and proceeded through a moment of silence, the national salute, a wreath-laying and incense offering, the presentation of national merit certificates, the presidential address, a commemorative performance and a group singing of the "Hyeonchung Song."

In his address, President Lee pledged to "build the proud Korea that our fallen patriots and war heroes longed for."

Choi Il-sang, a service-related disability recipient and former Paralympic national team table tennis player, read the pledge of allegiance. The mother of the late Senior Officer Lee Jae-seok then read aloud a letter addressed to her son.

Closing the ceremony, musical actor Choi Jeong-won performed "You, My Friend" alongside a civilian choir and vocalists from the Ministry of National Defense, before all attendees rose to sing the "Hyeonchung Song" together.