Korea's 78th Armed Forces Day ceremony at Gyeryongdae on Thursday has much to appreciate: service members standing in formation, aircraft overhead and displays of the increasingly sophisticated technology on which Korea's defense will depend. But what stayed with me was something President Lee Jae Myung said. After discussing artificial intelligence (AI), drones and the transformation of Korea's armed forces, Lee turned to something decidedly less technological: the people who serve. Strong national defense, he argued, does not come from weapons alone. Morale matters. So do the conditions under which people serve and how the country treats their sacrifice. Reflecting on soldiers recently injured near the demilitarized zone, Lee made an even simpler observation. The ordinary days the rest of us enjoy sometimes rest on risks borne by someone else. Watching the ceremony, I found myself reconsidering something I had assumed. I had thought Korea simply did not do enough to recognize its military. That is not quite right. Korea knows how to commemorate its armed forces, and this year's events a