Police Agency Designates Joint Cemetery of Police Officers Killed in the 6·25 Intense Battle as a Nationally Managed Cemetery

The National Police Agency announced on the 20th that the joint burial site for fallen police officers in Nonsan-si, Chungnam, has been designated as the first nationally managed burial site of the year.

The burial site contains police officers who died in the Battle of Gang-gyeong during the Korean War on June 25. On July 17-18, 1950, under the command of the late Jeong Seong-bong, Chief of Gang-gyeong Police Station, about 220 personnel held off over 1,000 soldiers from the elite 6th Division, 1st Regiment of the North Korean army for 18 hours, resulting in the deaths of 83 police officers. This action secured time for the South Korean forces to establish the Nakdong River western defense line (Masan-Uiryeong axis).

In November 1951, a memorial service for the fallen was held under the leadership of Lee Se-hwan, the 11th Chief of Gang-gyeong Police Station. In the 1980s, Han Hyo-dong, who was a police officer during the battle and later became the 42nd Chief of Nonsan Police Station, initiated large-scale maintenance work and erected a tombstone. In 2006, the site was designated as Local Cultural Heritage No. 33 by Nonsan City. This year’s memorial service was hosted by the Chungnam Police Agency and attended by the Presidential Office’s Secretary for Political Planning, the head of the Daejeon Regional Veterans Affairs Office, the mayors of Nonsan and Gyeryong, among others.

The National Police Agency plans to collaborate with the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs to promptly renovate the burial site, facilities, and surrounding environment to further honor the police officers who died in the Battle of Gang-gyeong. There are a total of five joint burial sites for fallen police officers designated as nationally managed burial sites: Hamyang, Danyang, Jecheon, Goesan, and Nonsan.

A National Police Agency official stated, “We will assess the status of joint burial sites for fallen police officers across the country and promote their designation as nationally managed burial sites,” adding, “We plan to implement various commemorative projects to properly honor the dedication of the fallen police officers.”