PPP marks 24th anniversary of Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, vows stronger national security

The People Power Party marked the 24th anniversary of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong on Monday, honoring the sailors who died in the engagement and pledging to build "a stronger and safer South Korea" in their memory.

Floor leader Jeong Jeom-sik wrote on Facebook that he was praying for the souls of the late Maj. Yun Yeong-ha, Master Sgt. Han Sang-guk, Master Sgt. Jo Cheon-hyeong, Staff Sgt. Hwang Do-hyeon, Staff Sgt. Seo Hu-won and Cpl. Park Dong-hyeok, and extended his deepest condolences to their families.

Jeong noted that more years had now passed than the age at which Cpl. Park died after fighting for his life for 84 days at the Armed Forces Capital Hospital. "No matter how much time passes, we will always remember the noble sacrifice of the heroes who defended our territorial waters aboard Patrol Killer Medium 357," he said.

Chief Spokesperson Park Sung-hoon also issued a statement calling the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong "a living lesson in the history of national defense that we must never forget, and a testament to the security values we must uphold." He said the PPP was committed to building the South Korea those heroes defended into an even stronger and safer nation.

Park added that the security outlook of the Lee Jae-myung government was "only deepening public anxiety" even as North Korea continued its military threats. He said a petition calling for the dismissal of Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-baek — which had gathered more than 200,000 signatures — was "a stern warning that public fury over the incompetence and mismanagement of the security chief has reached its peak."

Former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min, who attended the 24th anniversary ceremony at the Navy's Second Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, also wrote on Facebook that despite the many defense challenges facing the country — North Korea's nuclear weapons, threats from the North Korea-China-Russia axis, the South Korea-US alliance and the transfer of wartime operational control — "the one important principle is simply to find what is the right path to defending the country and to walk it." He said that was the way to honor the sacrifice of the six heroes of the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong.