Korean ambassador Sang Jin Lee made a special visit to Whanganui this week to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War.
When North Korea invaded the South in 1950 there were 99 volunteers from the Whanganui region among the 6100 New Zealanders to answer the United Nations call to go to South Korea's aid.
They would become known as "Kayforce" or "K Force".
Local Korean Society president Deog Kim had invited the recently appointed ambassador for his first visit to Whanganui to meet veterans and family members and lay a wreath at the Korean War Memorial at Pukenamu Queens Park, which the society worked with veterans to install in 2015.
Sometimes referred to as "the forgotten war" the conflict in Korea involved the use of napalm bombs and the New Zealand volunteers endured extremes of heat and cold in unfamiliar and difficult terrains.