Rep. Martha McSally, a retired Air Force combat pilot and military commander, said Monday she was moved to have been in South Korea in recent days to honor the more than 50,000 Americans who sacrificed their lives in that war, but said there is now a "historic" opportunity for peace in the region.
The Arizona Republican led a congressional delegation to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, and told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" that Memorial Day also reminds one of the more than one million people "who perished for our freedoms."
"Sometimes people come up to me on Memorial Day and say thanks for your service," said McSally, the first American woman to fly in combat after the prohibition on female combat pilots was lifted in 1991. "I say that's for Veteran's Day. Memorial Day is for those who paid with their lives and blood, snuffed out potential for their future and grieving loved ones, for us to have this conversation today and keep us free."
McCally said the delegation was at the "truce village" about three hours before South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met again in secret.
"We were aware of that meeting, as it was ongoing," said McSally. " I went over there extremely skeptical. There is an historic opening because of President [Donald] Trump's leadership and maximum pressure campaign, but I asked myself, 'what makes this different than the maneuvers of the past and the propaganda that nothing changed?'"
But this time, she insisted, that it is "all up to Kim Jong Un what he decides to do," but meanwhile, she is proud of the U.S. troops and their readiness and capacity to defend the Korean peninsula.
"The alliance is as strong as ever between us and South Korea," said McSally, while admitting "a lot needs to change" before the Korean War can finally come to an end.
But under Trump, "the maximum pressure campaign is really showing that they are feeling the heat over there in North Korea," said McSally. "It's already an impoverished nation, but when the elite starts to feel it and [it starts] cranking down on their resources that's an important shift."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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