For Reverend Eojin Lee (2nd from right above), remembering the Korean War brings both a sense of pain and pride. 

Dr Lee's grandfather died fighting during the three-year conflict,

Now living in Australia, Dr Lee said he felt honoured to be commemorating the shared history of the two countries.

"The Australians who fought in the Korean War, they fought alongside my grandfather for South Korea and my family," Dr Lee said.

"The Korean War affected many Korean families. As Korean immigrants we want to express our gratitude to the Australians who sacrificed for South Korea."

On the 70th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that brought fighting to an end, Dr Lee along with members of the Sydney Cheil Church attended a memorial event in Taree on the New South Wales' mid-north coast.

For years, Dr Lee and the choir have been travelling to the area, which has one of the highest veteran populations in the country, to commemorate the Korean War armistice.

This year was the first time the choir had been able to return to Taree since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Taree RSL sub-branch was one of the first in the state to commemorate the Korean War armistice, highlighting a conflict often overshadowed by World War II and the Vietnam War.

The service, held at the memorial fountain at Club Taree, honoured the 18,000 Australians who served, their families and the Korean people affected by the war.

Korean War veteran Malcolm Austin, who served in the Royal Australian Navy, said the Cheil Church performing helped create and maintain a cultural connection.

"I think it will last a long time, particularly if occasions like this are conducted," he said.

"It should be an object lesson for us and I think it will be, that peace is worth fighting for. It's worth preserving."

The 'hot' start of the Cold War:

The Korean War was forged in the ashes of WWII, at the end of which Korea had been a colony of the Japanese Empire for more than three decades.

Without its own government the Korean Peninsula was split along the middle: the 38th parallel. The Soviet Union took control in the north, the US in the south.

On June 25, 1950 northern forces backed by the Soviet's Joseph Stalin and China's Mao Zedong launched a military offensive against the south, starting the conflict known as the Korean War.

The armistice agreement signed on July 27, 1953 was to be replaced by a formal peace treaty.

But 70 years later a peace treaty remains elusive, making it a war that never truly ended, with north and south still separated under an ever-present threat of renewed hostilities.

It's something 90-year-old Korean War veteran Richard Gilham (Above left) says he laments.

"There's still trouble there between north and south … it's very hard to solve if one's got everything and the other's got nothing," he said.

"It's a sort of a stand off so I don't think it's fixed yet and I don't think it will ever be … but we did our best we could do to help them."

Remembering the 'Forgotten War'

Mr Gilham was a young recruit in the Royal Australia Air Force, aged 20, when he was sent to Korea to repair planes used in combat.

"I used to help the pilots get in and out of the cockpits, tell them 'she's OK to go' … it was a very important job because you had people's lives in your hands," he said.

Among the bombs and gunfire, Mr Gilham remembers glimpses of humanity shining through the horror of war.

"There was a New Zealand frigate running up and down the coast and firing into North Korea, shells and stuff like that. These things that stick on your mind," he recalled.

"And right in the middle of warfare there are kids laughing having the time of their lives in the shallow water, little Korean kids, you know. It just struck me."

Although 340 Australians died and an estimated 4 million Korean soldiers and civilians were killed, it's sometimes called the "Forgotten War", a moniker Mr Gilham said he resented.

"It wasn't forgotten as far as we were concerned … it was a war all right," he said.

"We lost pilots and we lost men and that's what we've got to try to stop if we possibly can."

Original Story By | Alexandra Jones