Dunedin Korean Society president Euija Kim said the annual lunch on Saturday was in its 27th year.
The event, at a Dunedin city centre restaurant, also commemorated 72 years since the outbreak of war in the Korean peninsula.
It started with about 50 veterans and was now down to three.
The veterans were thanked for their service and each would be "forever in our heart as a hero," Mrs Kim said.
Walter Gee (94) said he was teaching in a sole charge school in Makarora when the war broke out in 1950.
When the call for volunteers to support the United Nations went out in he signed up in late August.
In 1945, his history teacher told him how the League of Nations failed to prevent war because it could not call on the military clout of member states to prevent aggression.
"The communists were attacking, so that’s [why] I joined up," he said.
On December 31, 1950, he landed in Busan which was "bloody cold".
His first thought on hearing about the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year was, "Where the hell is the United Nations?"
It was a disgrace Ukraine had been so badly damaged by one man, and Vladimir Putin should have been knocked on the head long ago, Mr Gee said.
He greatly admired the Korean people and had travelled to South Korea three times since the war. It amazed him to see the development.
In 1950, North Korea was thought of as more industrialised, but now things were completely reversed.
Royal Navy veteran Ken Wright (86) said he served 13 months from 1952 to 1953 on the HMS Belfast and the HMS Ceylon.
The Korean Society had been very good to the veterans and had made them feel like part of the family, Mr Wright said.
Dunedin MP Michael Woodhouse said he visited South Korea when he was minister for veterans affairs.
"Korea’s people will never forget you and the sacrifices you made in support of their freedoms," he said.
