Students from a school near the DMZ have visited the U.K. Embassy to deliver a poster of thanks dedicated to British veterans of the Korean War.

Three students from Jeokseong Composite High School in Paju, Gyeonggi Province traveled to Seoul with their teachers to thank British Ambassador Scott Wightman for U.K. soldiers’ service during the 1951-53 war and for scholarships they have donated to Korean students ever since. The fund is supported by British companies doing business in Korea.

High school students An Sang-gyeon and Beak So-ra, both 18, along with Kwon Hae-rim, 19, told the ambassador their future plans after each being supported by scholarships this year.

Kwon has been accepted into the police academy, Baek hopes to take a social studies course, while An is interested in music and theater.

Kwon said: “We are so grateful that we want to show the British veterans our appreciation by studying very hard.” 

The trio presented a handmade poster to Wightman bearing messages of thanks from their fellow scholarship students at the school located a short distance from The Gloucester Valley Battle Monument. The memorial was built to commemorate the Gloucestershire Regiment’s participation in the Battle of the Imjin River in 1951.

The school will soon change its name to Taxation High School to emphasize the 100-student institution’s focus on financial issues. Students travel from around Gyeonggi Province for the specialist education.

Between 10 and 20 students are supported on the scholarships of up to 350,000 won at the school each year, with around 140 students having received support. Although the scholarship is currently used to support several students ― the Gyeonggi school is thinking of saving the money to pay for individual students to travel to study in the U.K. in future. Additional funds also go to support kids attending Guro Information High School.

“You have lightened my financial burden which allows me to focus on the most important aspect of school, learning,” wrote Paju student Jung Eun-su, while An Tae-wook wrote: “Thank you for dedicating your life for the Korean War … The scholarship will be very helpful to me in completing my education and helping me change my life and achieve my dreams.”

Some 87,000 British servicemen fought in the Korean War, with 1,109 losing their lives. Eight-hundred of them are buried in the U.N. Memorial Cemetery in Busan.

Some of the surviving veterans visit Korea each year for a memorial service and to present scholarships to local school children.

“I was really touched when I saw the lovely message from pupils. That was why I was why I was very keen to have the opportunity to meet them at the residence,” said Wightman.

“Shortly after I came here in November I met some of the veterans who came over for the Memorial Day service. They were so happy to be here and see how much Korea has developed since the time of the war. They really felt that coming here and the time that they spent here was time well spent and that it was worthwhile.”

By Kirsty Taylor (kirstyt@heraldcorp.com)