The Cross was instituted on 23 July 1951 to be awarded to members of the N.D.V.N (Nederlands Detachement Verenigde Naties = Netherlands Detachment United Nations), being the Dutch contingent of United Nations forces in Korea.
The N.D.V.N. was established on 15 October 1950 and an advance party of Dutch soldiers arrived in Korea from Malaya on 24 October 1950, the first of 26 contingents from the Netherlands arriving in early December.
A total of 3,972 Dutch soldiers served in Korea, the last unit returning to the Netherlands at the end of 1954. In addition, 1,360 members of the Royal Netherlands Navy served in Korean waters aboard the destroyers Evertsen, van Galen and Piet Heim and the frigates Johan Maurits van Nassau, Dubois and van Zijll.
In all, only approximately 4,000 awards were made and the Cross is hard to find.