The Irish Embassy celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day, the nation’s official National Day, with a reception at the Regency Room of the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Thursday. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated annually on March 17.

One focus in this year’s National Day celebration was a state visit by Irish Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar, who met with Park Sung-choon, the minister for patriots and veterans affairs, to discuss the coming inclusion of a group of Irish veterans of the Korean War in a “Revisit Tour to Korea.”

Park and Varadkar also discussed the dedication of a monument to the Irish dead of the Korean War at the War Memorial of Korea in the Yongsan district of Seoul.

“It is intended that this memorial will be dedicated at a ceremony in April in the presence of Commonwealth veterans of the war including 14 Irish-born veterans who fought with the British, Australian and United States armies,” the Irish Ambassador to Korea said in an email on Friday.

Ireland and Korea celebrate this year 30 years of diplomatic relations. The two nations commemorate 80 years since the first Columbian priests arrived in Korea and 60 years since the end of the Korean War.

The Embassy of Ireland, the Irish Association of Korea, the Somme Association of Northern Ireland and the Royal Ulster Rifles Association are working toward the erection of a monument to all those of Irish birth and heritage who died in the war.

(ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)