Here at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea, the only one of its kind in the world, rest heroic braves from a number of UN nations, who sacrificed their lives for world peace and freedom.
The UNMCK in 1959
The UNMCK in 2010
UN Resolution #977 (X)
Parliament of Korea, in order to honor the services and sacrifices made by the UN forces during the Korean War, volunteered this land for permanent use by UN as a cemetery in August 1955, and the General Assembly accepted the proposal, the UN Resolution #977(X) to establish a United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea in December 1955.
Korean Parliament recommended this site to be sacred to the government, and an official agreement to establish a UN cemetery was signed by UN and Korea in November 1959.
The UNMCK had been managed by UNCURK until UNCURK was dissolved in 1974. Since then, the Commission for The UNMCK consisting of 11 member nations has been managing the UNMCK.
- Jan. 18, 1951Establishes a UN Command cemetery for fallen UN troops
- Nov. 7, 1955Korean Parliament recommends UN to accept a land for its perpetual use as a sacred UN memorial
cemetery to UN - Dec. 15, 1955UN General Assembly passes a resolution to perpetually manage a UN memorial cemetery in Korea
- Nov. 6, 1959Korea and UN sign the "Agreement between the United Nations and the Republic of Korea for the
Establishment and Maintenance of a United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea" - Feb. 16, 1974UNCURK transfers the management of the UNMCK to the Commission for
the UNMCK consisting of 11 member nations
On March 30, its original Korean name, 재한유엔기념묘지 (jae.hahn.UN.ki.nyum.myo.ji), was changed to 재한유엔기념공원 (jae.hahn.UN.ki.nyum.gong.won) in order to bring the cemetery closer to the Korean public.
This is a holy site where the brave fallen of the 11 nations are interred. Although there had been about 11,000 interred at one time between 1951~1954, there are 2,300 currently at the UNMCK including the Korean soldiers fallen as members of the UN troops. Most were brought back home-Belgium, Colombia, Ethiopia, Greece, Luxemburg, Philippines, Thailand have taken back all of their expatriates. In case of USA, who had the highest number of casualty in the war, took all of their fallen home afterwards. However, 36 members of the UNC dispatched from USA and stationed in Korea after the war, who died and wished to be interred at the UNMCK, also reside here at the UNMCK.
| Nation | Australia | Canada | France | The Netherlands | New Zealand | South Africa | Turkey | The UK | The US | Norway |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Interred at UNMCK | 281 | 378 | 44 | 117 | 34 | 11 | 462 | 885 | 36 | 1 |
