Before attending the reception of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, Mr. Lee Won Hee, Director of Foreign Affairs of the Korean Journalists Association, told journalists in the delegation of the Vietnam Journalists Association that a few years ago, through the press, he saw North Korean President Kim Jong Un come to Vietnam by train to attend the North Korea - US Summit in Hanoi (2019).
He, like the Korean people, longs to one day travel on a train from Seoul to Pyongyang, then to Europe, like the trade route before the war between the two Koreas.
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| US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink visits martyrs' graves at Truong Son National Martyrs' Cemetery on August 27, 2019 - Photo: QUOC NAM |
Mr. Lee's confession made the whole group silent and moved. Journalist Nguyen Duc Loi, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Journalists Association, pointed at me and said: "The President of the Quang Tri Journalists Association, who is here, and I were born and raised in the land of the 17th Parallel, where the Ben Hai River was the temporary border dividing the two regions of South and North Vietnam according to the Geneva Agreement in 1954. Since then, the Vietnamese people had to go through more than 20 years of arduous struggle to unify the two regions."
Mr. Lee said that he knows that although the difficulties are not over yet, Vietnam is now a peaceful country, developing strongly, and the Vietnamese people are a happy nation.
We understand Mr. Lee’s words as well as the people’s desire for peace and unity in a country still in a state of impending war. Therefore, when translating “Dang Thuy Tram’s Diary” into Korean, translator Kyung Hwan changed the name of this diary to “Last night I dreamed of peace”.
This is a quote from the diary of Dr. Dang Thuy Tram, and in the film “Don’t Burn” by director Dang Nhat Minh, it is the image of Ms. Tram wearing a white ao dai, cycling on the peaceful streets of Hanoi. At that time, the war was fierce, everyone shared the same desire to live in peace.
Before that, we visited the Odusan Unification Observatory. When we arrived, we saw tourists from many countries, including Koreans, most of them very young. They came to learn about the Korean people's desire for peace and unification of the two Koreas.
On the observatory, many people glued their eyes to telescopes looking north to witness the lives of North Korean people on the other side of the Han River.
Under the observation deck, there is an art display of artillery shells, on which the seeds of peace have sprouted, expressing the desire to unify the two regions, put aside the painful past to live together in peace.
Returning to Vietnam, I informed the Director of External Relations of the Korean Journalists Association Lee Won Hee that my hometown Quang Tri will organize the Festival for Peace in mid-2024.
The festival is a place to "transport" the desire for peace of humanity to Vietnam and from here - the land that once bore the pain of division, suffered the heavy consequences of war, always knows how to preserve and wish that the whole world will forever be free of war and hatred; every country has the responsibility to create peace for economic development, bringing happiness to the people of their country.
I also told Mr. Lee that five years ago, US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink visited the Truong Son National Martyrs Cemetery during his working visit to Quang Tri. He said: “This visit is to pay respect to those who sacrificed their lives for patriotism.”
And two years ago, Israeli Ambassador to Vietnam Nadav Eshcar visited the National Cemetery of Martyrs on Route 9 and said: “Peace is more important than anything you have in this world.
Quang Tri is a very special province, where the two sides of the war clashed the most. This is a heroic place with many special people. To visit and invest in the future of this place is very meaningful to us...”.
So, the land of Quang Tri, which still bears many war relics and has 72 martyrs' cemeteries, including two national martyrs' cemeteries, always contains within it the aspiration and wish for peace for humanity.
From here, the message is also conveyed that every nation and people have the right to live in peace, pursue happiness, build prosperity, and look towards the future!
According to Minh Tu/Quang Tri Newspaper
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