Preserving the UN Memorial Cemetery’s balance between remembrance and public space (KOR)

Suh Jeong-in

The author is the head of the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea and a former ambassador to the Mission of the Republic of Korea to Asean.

Located in the Daeyeon-dong area of Nam District, Busan, the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea was established in January 1951 by the United Nations Command during the height of the 1950-53 Korean War to bury fallen service members. In 1955, after Korea’s National Assembly decided to donate the cemetery site, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution placing the cemetery under permanent UN management.

An aerial view of the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea in Daeyeon-dong, Nam District, Busan. The cemetery, the world’s only UN memorial cemetery, serves as the final resting place for service members from UN member states who died during the 1950-53 Korean War. [PHOTO PROVIDED BY BUSAN METROPOLITAN CITY]

As the UN Memorial Cemetery marks its 75th anniversary and Korea observes its annual month of remembrance and patriotism, it is worth reflecting on what kind of space this unique site should become in the years ahead.