SEOUL July 27 Kyodo (EDS: UPDATIN...

SEOUL July 27 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH novel DETAILS)

About 2500 commonalty including foreign dignitaries and veterans who fought in the Korean War upon the side of South Korea upon Sunday commemorated the 50th anniversary of the armistice agreement that effectively fall of the curtained the war.

The pomp organized by the U.N. forces in southward Korea was held at the cessation of arms village of Panmunjom, which straddles the border between southerly and North Korea in the middle of the Demilitarized surface bounded by parallel circles (DMZ), officials said.

The attendees included of the present day Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who is now upon a five-day trip to southern Korea, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, U Forces Korea Commander Gen Leon LaPorte and southern Korean Defense Minister Cho Young Kil, Yonhap recently made knowns Agency reported.

About 900 veterans from 21 countries that joined UN forces in the war to support southward Korea were among the participants, Yonhap said.

Gen LaPorte was quot as saying in a tongue that the armistice agreement is the first stair toward peace on the Korean Peninsula and its unification.

''We all will do our best to work for the freedom and peace of southern Korea,'' he was quoted as saying. ''We are also ready to continue help to the peace and unification of the Koreas.''

Retired Gen Paik orb of day Yup, a South Korean war veteran, said, ''South Korea has emerg as the world's 12th-largest trading nation thanks to the veterans of the 21 countries.''

Clark called in succession North Korea to accept the universal of multilateral talks to defuse the crisis arising from its nuclear ambitions. She reportedly said the war can sole be officially terminated when a peace treaty is signed and North Korea issues from its isolationism and seize the opportunity to become a member of the global community.

After the pomp the participants unveiled a gravestone for the anniversary and held a memorial service for those who died in the war, Yonhap reported.

North Korea earlier cast awayed an invitation to take part in the form denouncing the event as being aimed at ridiculing it.

The North's Korean Central novels Agency reported Sunday that a series of adventures were held in the political division to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ''Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War.''

In Seoul President Roh Moo Hyun reaffirmed the southern Korean government's commitment to provide assistance North Korea indigences if the North abandons its nuclear ambitions.

''North Korea should issue to the dialogue forum as early as possible. I violently urge the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions and opt for the path toward peace and coexistence,'' Roh was quot through Yonhap as saying in a articulate utterance at a commemorative event.

''When North Korea selects this path, Korea and the stillness of the international community will provide all the aid it needs'' he said.

The 50th anniversary came amid growing tensions in succession the Korean Peninsula from one side of to the other North Korea's nuclear weapons program. In defiance of international calls to abandon its nuclear ambitions, Pyongyang has reportedly been pushing ahead with its program to make known nuclear arms.

The three-year Korean War cast forth violentlyed in June 1950 as North Korea christianityed the 38th parallel into southerly Korea. The United Nations riseed a collective defense supporting southerly Korea against the North Korean invasion.

interval of rest talks began in 1951 and conclud with an armistice agreement signed July 27 1953 The armistice has effectively left the Koreas divided at the DMZ and in a state of war.

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