Cemetery for enemy soldiers to be reborn as symbol of peace

A view of a cemetery for enemy soldiers in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

Defense Ministry to hand over management of cemetery to Gyeonggi Province

A cemetery for enemy soldiers in Gyeonggi Province will be reborn as a symbol of peace.

On Dec. 4, Gyeonggi Province announced that, during working-level deliberations with the Defense Ministry on Dec. 3 about the cemetery, the two sides had reached an agreement to transfer the management of the cemetery to Gyeonggi Province.

According to Gyeonggi Province, the Defense Ministry asked the province to assume responsibility for managing and operating the cemetery and that the province had accepted this in the interest of peace and humanitarian concerns.

The cemetery for enemy soldiers, which occupies some 6,000 square meters in Jeokseong Township, Paju, is the final resting place of the remains of 1,080 soldiers, including 362 Chinese and 718 North Koreans. In keeping with the Geneva Convention’s rules for respecting the remains of enemy soldiers, the Defense Ministry has been managing the cemetery, which was built in 1996. Cemetery management is currently the responsibility of the 25th Infantry Division of the ROK army.

Chinese tourists visiting a cemetery in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, for enemy soldiers. (Hankyoreh archives)

Gyeonggi Province plans to develop and manage the enemy soldier cemetery as a “space of peace” to remember the painful history of Korea’s division and to reflect on the importance of peace.

“The historical mission assigned to Gyeonggi Province is to realize peace on the Korean Peninsula,” said Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung.

“We intend to reestablish the cemetery for North Korean soldiers as a symbol of peace amid the pain of war, and to fulfill Gyeonggi Province’s role so that peace on the Korean Peninsula is stable,” he said.

By Hong Yong-duk, South Gyeonggi correspondent

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