A bell given as a gesture of friendship from South Korea to the city of Los Angeles to commemorate the bicentennial of the United States in 1976 is ringing again, reports the Los Angeles Times. (photo by E Belknap)
The bell was traditionally rung on Korean Liberation Day, U.S. Constitution Day, Korean American Day, the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve.
But that stopped when it fell into disrepair and the city neither had the money or the expertise to fix it.
South Korea came to the rescue of the 17 ton bell contributing $300,000 towards its restoration.
The Korean Friendship Bell Preservation Committee helped to coordinate the efforts and tracked down the South Korean company that originally cast the bell to do the repair work.
“The coasts of Korea and … America aren’t thousands of miles away, they are connected as one,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “The sound of this bell is the sound of the freedom — a universal cry for all peoples to be free, but also for the friendship to continue between our two great nations.”
You can read about the rededication ceremony for the Korean Friendship Bell in the Los Angeles Times.
