[Opinion] Grave of Generals

The national cemetery, which is located in Seoul at the place counted as an ideal spot of a graveyard, is a sacred precinct of the country, enshrining 54,455 deceased souls. The soldiers’ area is made up of 355 generals, 4,487 officers, 46,559 soldiers, and 1,952 civilian employees. Except for the military personnel area, the national cemetery has the sovereign’s graveyard, the Korean interim government official’s graveyard, the patriot’s yard, and the police officer’s yard.

The honor of being buried in the national cemetery is limited to a soldier of merit, policemen who died in the line of duty and the figures who served in national people’s funerals. Sometime ago, there was public opinion that Chun Jae-kyu, who was killed in the incident that occurred at the Antarctic research base, should be buried in the national cemetery, was stirred but failed to be achieved. The Arlington National Cemetery in the U.S., and the Babao national cemetery in China both comprise the deceased people who contributed much for the sake of their country and consist of diverse backgrounds such as politics, sciences, arts, and the like. Compared with this, some people comment that the standard of our national cemetery is too strict.

The revised national cemetery ordinance which was recently addressed to the congress to be inspected has created a stir. The content, which is to legalize the mound grave of the military generals, has aroused big opposition with the people. The premier, Goh Kun, has ordered to cease the revision work yesterday. Comparing with the other common soldiers who are cremated and buried in the one pyoung size grave, each deceased generals occupies eight pyoung of ground, stirring a complaint which regards this measure as a retrogressive arrangement. Being caught on carrying out trickery, the Ministry of National Defense seems lacking the effort to surmise the people’s opinion.

One hundred four thousand soldiers whose corpses were missing in the Korean War are enshrined in the national cemetery. Another 6,200 nameless soldiers’ remains are laid in state. The total area which these courageous warriors occupy is only 255 pyoung wide. The visitors will feel the joys and sorrows of war more deeply in the area of these warriors’ shrine, rather than that at the mound grave of the generals. The mound grave and wider yard do not increase the dignity of the deceased.

Editorialist Song Moon-hong, E-mail: songmh@donga.com