A giant anti-U.S. President George W. Bush message apparently written in herbicide has appeared on the lawn of the UN Memorial Cemetery in Daeyeon-dong, Busan. The site is reportedly on the itinerary of visiting national leaders attending the APEC summit in November.
The office of the UN Memorial Cemetery said Thursday it notified Nambu Police Station on the morning of June 14 that someone had written “NO BUSH” in 10 m high letters on the lawn between the flags of nations participating in the Korean War and the graves.
The cemetery’s office said it appeared the perpetrators used liquid herbicide to write the message, which was 50 m wide, with each line some 30 cm thick. Given the scale, it must have taken several people with spraying tools to write it, the office said. The grass is being restored.
This reminds me of when the grave stones of GIs killed during the invasion of Normandy in France were spray painted by anti-American vandals with the words, “Remove this rubbage from French lands”.
If someone has got a problem with Bush that is fine. Go stand on the street corner and protest. You have every right to do so but you don’t have the right to harm others or vandalize property. Especially the hollowed ground of UN soldiers buried at the UN Cemetery. That is right it isn’t just the remains of US soldiers buried in Pusan. The cemetery in Pusan is the only cemetery administered by the UN in the whole world and includes remains of soldiers from all the countries that took casualties during the war. I have traveled to the cemetery before and it is really a beautiful and solemn place for being situated in the middle of Korea’s 2nd largest city of Busan.
I would hope that people no matter what their political persuasions may be would agree that such a place should be considered sacred. It is unfortunate that such an act of vandalism is kept in the back pages of the papers and is not causing an outcry here in Korea. The memories of these dead soldiers are cheapened by such an act of vandalism by a country these international soldiers gave their lives to save. The way the youth is today, I doubt these same protesters would be willing to die for Korea like these soldiers did during the Korean War.
Could you imagine the outcry if somebody put anti-Bush graffiti somewhere at Arlington National Cemetery? I think even the kookiest Democrats like Howard Dean would even condemn such an act. Why shouldn’t Korea do the same for this cemetery?
Big shout out to Katolic Shinja for pointing this story out.
The Pentagon on Wednesday abruptly suspended U.S. efforts to recover the remains of American soldiers from North Korea, accusing the Koreans of creating an environment that could jeopardize the safety of U.S. personnel performing the work.
The work has been proceeding since 1996, resulting in the recovery of more than 220 soldiers’ remains. Thousands more are still missing, and a large number of those are believed to be recoverable.
The move came just one day after the Pentagon announced that a number of remains of U.S. soldiers had been recovered during the first of what had been scheduled to be a series of missions this year at two former battlefields in North Korea. That announcement gave no indication there was a problem with safety.
This is interesting, I wonder if the North Koreans are demanding more money? The recovery of the remains is a nice little money maker for the North Koreans because they make a lot of money for allowing the US authorities to recover the remains. I don’t think the US government would suspend this type of mission unless the money demand was completely unreasonable.
I have actually seen one of the repatriation ceremonies at Panmunjom in the JSA. It really is a solemn moment to see the coffin being brought across the MDL (military demarcation line) at Panmunjom. It kind of brings home the ultimate sacrifice that 53,000 American soldiers made in the hills of Korea 50 years ago and we continue to make today in the deserts of Iraq. It has to mean a lot to the families that the US government is so vigorously pursuing the recovery of their family members. Hopefully this program will continue again once the North quit doing whatever they were doing.
For those who want to learn more about the Incheon landing operation or about the Korean War in general I recommend you visit the Incheon Landing Memorial Monument Hall in the Songdo area of Incheon. The memorial is fairly new and houses a nice collection of artifacts and memorabilia from the landing operation and the Korean War. The best part is that admission into the museum is free.
The entrance to the memorial features a large archway adorned with the flags of the 16 countries that participated in the Korean War. Climbing up the stairs to the second outside level of the memorial you can see a static display of aircraft and equipment used during the Korean War. Most notably the landing crafts used during the invasion.
Modern day ROK amphibious landing craft.
The third level of the memorial houses a large statue that honors the soldiers that fought at Incheon Harbor on September 15, 1950. The statue is detailed and quite impressive. Near the statue is a bronze plaque in tribute of the 1st Marine Division that spearheaded the Incheon Landing Operation. Like the Marine heroes in action at Incheon that fateful day, today’s 1st Marine Division was called on to lead the November 2004 successful assault to retake the terrorist held city of Fallujah in Iraq.
Statue honoring the US forces that captured Incheon during the Korean War.Plaque honoring 1st Marine Division.
From here head back down to the first level of the memorial to enter the museum. The museum is actually put together quite nicely with events of the Korean War and the Incheon Landing Operation presented in chronological order complete with explanations of the exhibits presented in Korean, English, and Japanese by the push of a button.
Uniforms of Korean War combatants.Magazines from the Korean War era.
Conclusion
If in Incheon make sure you visit the Incheon Landing Memorial. It is free and really well put together and worthy of a visit. It is open on Tues-Sun from 9:30-18:30. To reach it just get off at the Incheon train station and have a taxi taking you to Songdo where the Memorial is located.
