10 U.S.C. § 7286: Korea Defense Service Medal

The Secretary of the Army shall issue a campaign medal, to be known as the Korea Defense Service Medal, to each person who while a member of the Army served in the Republic of Korea or the waters adjacent thereto during the KDSM eligibility period and met the service requirements for the award of that medal prescribed under subsection (c). In this section, the term “KDSM eligibility period” means the period beginning on July 28, 1954 , and ending on such date after the date of the enactment of this section as may be determined by the Secretary of Defense to be appropriate for terminating eligibility for the Korea Defense Service Medal. The Secretary of the Army shall prescribe service requirements for eligibility for the Korea Defense Service Medal. Those requirements shall not be more stringent than the service requirements for award of the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for instances in which the award of that medal is authorized. More than 40,000 members of the United States Armed Forces have served in the Republic of Korea or the waters adjacent thereto each year since the signing of the cease-fire agreement in July 1953 ending the Korean War. An estimated 1,200 members of the United States Armed Forces have died as a direct result of their service in Korea since the cease-fire agreement in July 1953.”