ex phil. president fidel ramos to vist seoul

Fidel Valdez Ramos, a former president of the Philippines, will arrive in Seoul today for a state visit to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said Sunday.

The visit was made at the invitation of the South Korean government’s ad hoc committee to commemorate the war anniversary this year, the ministry said in a news release.

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Ramos, 82, fought in the Korean War and is referred to as one of the heroes of the Battle of Hill Eerie, where he led his platoon against Chinese forces between March and June, 1952, in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province.

Ramos is the only surviving former head of state who participated in the Korean War under the flag of the United Nations. He served as president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998.

He will head a 27-member delegation of Philippine war veterans during his six-day visit to South Korea, according to the ministry.

On Tuesday, the Philippine delegates will visit the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan and attend a welcoming reception at the Lotte Hotel in Jamsil, southern Seoul.

Ramos will attend a ceremony to mark the Incheon Landing Operations Wednesday and tour the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas the next day.

Before departing for the Philippines Saturday, the Filipino delegation will visit the U.N. War Memorial in the southern port city of Busan and tour other cultural sites.

The Philippines joined the Korean War in August 1950. The Philippines sent an expeditionary force of around 7,500 combat troops.

It was the fourth largest force under the United Nations Command then under the command of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur that were sent to defend South Korea from a communist invasion by North Korea.