Filed Under: Korean War, North Korea, Politics, Publications, South Korea, U.S.-ROK relations

“Father Kapaun has been called a shepherd in combat boots…Today we bestow another title on him—recipient of our nation’s highest military decoration.” ~ President Barack Obama at the Medal of Honor ceremony for Father Emil J. Kapaun (April 11, 2013)

On the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, Dennis P. Halpin, former House Foreign Relations Committee staff member and current Visiting Scholar at the US-Korea Institute at SAIS, takes a moment to remember the work of Father Emil J. Kapaun, a U.S. Army chaplain who was captured during the Korean War and whose ministry to his fellow POWs has been characterized as “saintly.” He also reflects on the estimated 500 POWs believed to remain alive inside North Korea, in violation of the Armistice-linked exchange agreements: Big Switch and Little Switch.

Download USKI Policy Brief “The Forgotten War’s POW Saint” by Dennis P. Halpin.

Dennis P. Halpin is currently a visiting scholar at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Korea, U.S. consul in Pusan, and a House Foreign Affairs Committee staff member for over twelve years.