SEOUL - United Nations Command Security Battalion Soldiers and Daesungdong Elementary School teachers and students attended a professional baseball game between Hanwha Eagles and Mokdong Heroes Aug. 21 at Seoul's Mokdong Stadium.
The Hanwha Group, one of Korea's largest companies, sponsored this opportunity to support the Security Battalion and Daesungdong Elementary School, the only school located inside the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
"It was an outstanding game," said Maj. Don M. King, operations officer for the battalion. "It is great that the Hanwha Group invited us over here for the baseball game. For a lot of U.S. Soldiers, it is first time in their life experiencing a Korean professional baseball game. So they were very excited to come here. This occasion truly displayed our friendship and our motto 'Katchi Kapshida' [meaning 'We Go Together' in Korean]."
Twenty students attend Daesungdong Elementary School, located inside the village of Daesungdong (known in English as the Freedom Village), a short distance south of the border that seperates the two Koreas.
According to Kim Bok-hee, a second grade teacher, Security Battalion Soldiers visit the school twice a week to teach English to the students. The Soldiers also volunteer to attend school events and ceremonies, such as sports day, graduations and Christmas festivities.
Because of the Security Battalion Soldiers, Daesungdong Elementary School has one of the best programs for English education, producing many winners in peninsula-wide English competitions.
"I am really thankful that JSA Soldiers are willing to go out of their way in their off duty hours to help us," Kim said.
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