Lee Joong-keun, chairman of the United Nations Association of the Republic of Korea and chairman of Booyoung Group, proposed that he would build and donate a building in Seoul on the scale of the UN headquarters in New York if "UN Day" is designated as a national holiday.
Lee made the remarks on the 23rd at the 81st UN Day anniversary ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Seoul. "I propose designating UN Day as a national holiday so that future generations can use it as an opportunity to improve diplomatic relations with the 60 countries that fought under the UN flag," he said. "If it is designated as a national holiday, I will personally build and donate a building in Seoul on the scale of the UN headquarters in New York." He added that he hopes to "repay that debt by attracting UN agencies, and also create a historic turning point for South Korea to emerge as a central axis of international peace and prosperity."
The event, co-hosted by the United Nations Association of the Republic of Korea and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, marked the first time the government co-hosted the ceremony since UN Day was removed from the list of statutory public holidays in 1976. About 350 people attended, including Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Lee Jong-chan, president of the Heritage of Korean Independence. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered congratulatory messages by video.
UN Day marks the founding of the United Nations on Oct. 24, 1945, and was a statutory public holiday in South Korea until 1975. In September last year, Lee delivered to the National Assembly a petition signed by 420,000 people supporting the holiday designation. Earlier, Rep. Yang Boo-nam of the Democratic Party of Korea also introduced a bill to designate UN Day as a national holiday.