"'We Remember Your Sacrifice' Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony to Be Held Tomorrow"

Held at National Seoul Memorial Cemetery in Dongjak-gu

The 68th Memorial Day Ceremony will be held at 9:55 a.m. on the 6th at the National Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak-gu.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 5th, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs announced that this year's ceremony will be held under the same theme as last year, "Remembering Your Sacrifice That Protected the Republic of Korea." About 7,000 people, including national merit recipients and their families, key government officials, and representatives from various sectors, will attend. The ceremony will proceed in the following order starting at exactly 10 a.m. nationwide: a moment of silence, the national ceremony, memorial performances, awarding of certificates to national merit recipients, memorial speeches, and the singing of the Memorial Song.

During the national ceremony, the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag will be read by Second Lieutenant Choi Jin-young of the Navy's 3rd Fleet. The national anthem will be sung by eight people, including Kim Kyung-jun, a former remains recovery soldier from the Ministry of National Defense's Remains Recovery and Identification Unit, and Jang Seo-hee, a second-year student at Hangaram High School and descendant of the late Jang Chi-hyo, a patriot of the April 19 Revolution.

The memorial performance will depict the story of the late Corporal Lee Hak-soo, a war veteran who fought in the Battle of Jangdan District in Gyeonggi during the Korean War and had a shell fragment lodged in his head that could not be removed until his death in 2005. It is said that from 1952 until his discharge, he left behind a 93-page bedside memorandum while receiving treatment at the Navy Hospital in Jinhae, Gyeongnam.

Certificates of national merit will be awarded to five individuals, including the children of the late Cho Jong-du, who died in the Battle of Geumhwa District in Gangwon during the Korean War, and Park Hyun-min, who was injured in the Cheonan ship sinking on March 26, 2010, and became a wounded military police officer.