Seoul National Cemetery & Incheon

I began my day at the Seoul National Cemetery. It’s largely reserved for veterans of the Korean War but also includes those from other conflicts, as well as four former presidents. A little under 150,000 South Korean soldiers died during the war. The endless vistas of serried tombstones brought the enormity of this tragedy into sharp relief. I had planned to do more this morning but, in today’s magnificent weather, I surrendered myself to the park’s meandering paths and splendid solemnity. Against a backdrop bristling with skyscrapers and other trappings of modernity, I was pleased to see that this great national sacrifice has not been in vain.

My reverie was soon disturbed by my anxious guide at pains to notify me that we were behind schedule. With great haste we headed downtown to witness a demonstration taking place outside the Japanese embassy. This weekly gathering attracts hundreds to protest the sexual abuse of women by the Japanese army during the Second World War (more to follow in the next post).

Next we drove west to the Memorial Hall for the Incheon Landing Operation that commemorates the eponymous amphibious invasion of 15 September 1950. This herculean undertaking enabled 75,000 UN troops to circumvent the North Korean forces besieging their last stronghold in Pusan and cut off their supply lines, thereby decimating them. The following month would see the enemy pushed back all the way to the Chinese border. Though hubris would ultimately cause UN forces to overextend and fall prey to a surprise Chinese counterattack towards the year’s end, this remarkable feat of derring-do precluded an outright communist victory and ensured that at least half of the peninsula would remain free.