"The National Cemetery" Seoul Travelogue by GracesTrips

I enjoyed visiting the cemetery. I have also posted this as one of the "Things to Do" in Seoul.

Memorial Tower (Hyeonchungtap)

As posted at the memorial: This monument wholely symbolizes the loyalty and service of all the patriots and heroes buried in the Seoul National Cemetery for their devotion and sacrifice for their country and people.

Engraved inside the monument are the memorial tablets of 104,000 fallen soldiers of the Korean War whose remains could not be found. Enshrined in the underground charnel below the Yeonghyeonseungcheonsang (the statue of souls raised to the heaven) are the ashes of 7,000 unknown solders of the Korean War.

To the left of the monument is the statue of patriots fighting for their country (this photo is on my things to do tip), and on the right is the statue of heroes who defended their country (this photo).

Visitors are requested to dress appropriately and to maintain restrained decorum out of respect for the souls laid to rest here.

Monument to the Unknown Student Soldiers

As posted at the monument: When the country was in crisis at the outbreak of the Korean War, many young students from all over the country volunteered to join student militia and died on the battlefield, fighting bravely alongside the military and police.

Of the many unknown student militia of the Korean War, the remains of 48 student heroes previously buried in the battlefield of Pohang in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province were exhumed and reburied at the Seoul National Cemetery in April 1964.

This monument was originally built as the Monument to the Unknown Soldiers on the current site of Memorial Tower (Hyeonchungtap) at the time of the founding of the Seoul National Cemetery in 1955. With the completion of the Memorial Tower (Hyeonchungtap) in 1967, the Monument of the Unknown Soldiers was moved to the current site, and the remains of the 48 unknown student militia previously reburied in the graveyard in April 1964 were moved here and interned behind it.

Since then, this monument has been called the Monument to the Unknown Student Soldiers.