Military Cemetery for North Korean Soldiers
| Military Cemetery for North Korean Soldiers | |
|---|---|
| South Korea | |
 Cemetery 2 graves looking north | |
| Used for those deceased 1950–present | |
| Established | July 1996 |
| Location | |
| Total burials | 770+ |
Military Cemetery for North Korean Soldiers (Korean: 북한군/중국군 묘지 제 1 묘역; RR: buk-han-gun/jung-guk-gun myo-ji je 1 myo-yeok; also known as the Enemy Cemetery) located in Jajang-Ro, Papyeong-myeon (파평면), Paju, South Korea, is a burial ground for North Korean casualties of the Korean War and North Korean agents killed in South Korea since the end of the war. The cemetery formerly contained the remains of 541 Chinese People's Volunteer Army soldiers but these were all repatriated between March 2014 and March 2016.
History
[edit]The cemetery was established in July 1996 as a centralized burial place for the remains of Korean People's Army and People's Volunteer Army soldiers recovered from battlefield exhumations across South Korea and for North Korean agents killed in South Korea since the end of the Korean War.[1]
North Korea has refused to accept the repatriation of the remains of its personnel on the basis that North Korea claims sovereignty over all of Korea and the soldiers accordingly are already buried on Korean soil. Also, the acceptance of the bodies of agents would amount to acknowledgment of espionage operations denied by North Korea.[2][3]
The graves were originally in the form of traditional Korean burial mounds with plain wooden markers facing north towards North Korea (approximately 5 kilometers away). The majority of the graves are marked 무명 (Pronunciation: mumyeong= Korean word: meaning = anonymous), while those of North Korean agents are marked with 간첩 (Pronunciation: gancheop = Korean word: meaning= spy) followed by the name if known. The cemetery receives few visitors because the South Korean intelligence services monitored the site to detect North Korean sympathizers, though the services say they no longer monitor the site.[1]
South Korea had previously returned the remains of Chinese soldiers to North Korea through the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission which then repatriated them to China. From 1981 to 1989, 42 sets of remains were returned in this manner, however in 1997, North Korea refused to accept any further Chinese remains.[4] Following a visit by South Korean President Park Geun-hye to Beijing in June 2013, it was agreed that the remains of the Chinese soldiers would be repatriated directly to China. The exhumation of the remains started in December 2013 and on 17 March 2014, the repatriation of the remains of the 437 Chinese soldiers took place. The remains were interred in the Resist America and Aid Korea Martyrs Cemetery in Shenyang, China.[4][2][3]
Renovation plans for the cemetery were considered in 2012, but they met with opposition in South Korea and were not carried out.[5]
The original burial mounds and wooden markers have since been replaced by flat graves with engraved stone markers.[2][3]
Notable burials
[edit]- The 29 members of Unit 124 killed in the Blue House raid in 1968
- Kim Sung-il, North Korean agent responsible for the bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 in 1987
See also
[edit]
- Daejeon National Cemetery
- Seoul National Cemetery
- United Nations Memorial Cemetery, in Busan, South Korea
References
[edit]- ^ a b "South Korean cemetery keeps Cold War alive". Reuters. 10 September 2008. Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ^ a b c Richard Pennington (12 April 2019). "Excursion to so-called Enemy Cemetery in Paju". The Korea Times. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
- ^ a b c Stephen Evans (2 April 2016). "The Chinese bodies still being found in South Korea". BBC News. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
- ^ a b "After Six Decades, Chinese Soldiers Killed in South Korea Head Home". The New York Times. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ^ "South Korea Badly Neglects 'Enemy Cemetery'". Huffington Post. 26 July 2012. Archived from the original on October 23, 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.