{"id":76139,"date":"2017-11-24T08:31:52","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T13:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=76139"},"modified":"2017-11-24T08:51:17","modified_gmt":"2017-11-24T13:51:17","slug":"us-south-korean-troops-rewarded-for-dmz-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=76139","title":{"rendered":"US, South Korean troops rewarded for DMZ rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stars & Stripes<\/a> reports that US and South Korean soldiers were rewarded in record time for their rescue of the North Korean soldier who defected last week;<\/p>\n

Two South Korea soldiers who are part of the JSA security battalion crawled across the leaf-strewn ground to recover him, then dragged him to safety as other members of the battalion monitored the situation.<\/p>\n

Gen. Vincent Brooks, head of United Nations Command and U.S. Forces Korea, awarded the soldiers an Army commendation medal \u201cin recognition for their efforts\u201d in rescuing the defector, during a ceremony at Camp Bonifas, a statement said.<\/p>\n

The awardees were Sgt. 1st Class Noh Yeong Soo, Sgt. 1st Class Song Seoung Hyeon, Sgt. Robert Hartfield, Maj. Jeffery Schmidt, Lt. Col. Kwon Young Hwan, and Lt. Col. Matthew Farmer, USFK said on its Facebook page. It didn\u2019t provide more information.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour actions resulted in saving the defector\u2019s life and de-escalating an incident that threatened the 64-year-old armistice,\u201d the citation said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The award process isn’t usually so quickly completed. I checked my award<\/a> for securing an East German soldier. The incident happened on April 15th and the award is dated the 13th of July and that was only an Army Achievement Medal, a step below the ARCOM. I guess when two Lieutenant Colonels and a Major are up for an award, the processing time is faster. All I had with me was a stinkin’ 1st Lieutenant. <\/p>\n

Stars & Stripes<\/a> also reports that the North Korean guards at the DMZ have been reassigned;<\/p>\n

Yonhap news agency cited an unnamed intelligence source saying there were “signs” the North had replaced its entire security force of 35 to 40 men at the Joint Security Area. South Korea’s Defense Ministry and the U.S.-led United Nations Command said they couldn’t confirm it.<\/p>\n

The source also told Yonhap the North seems to have temporarily closed a bridge over which the defector drove a military jeep to reach the border before his dramatic escape on foot last Monday. The source said the North could be preparing to install a security gate at the bridge for strengthening its screening of personnel coming in and out of the area.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

North Korean troops also appear to be digging a trench by hand at the point Private Oh ran across the South Korean frontier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stars & Stripes reports that US and South Korean soldiers were rewarded in record time for … US, South Korean troops rewarded for DMZ rescue<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-north-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}