Here at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea, the only one of its kind in the world, rest heroic brave soldiers from a number of UN nations, who sacrificed their lives for world peace and freedom.
The 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 the UN as a cemetery in August 1955. The General Assembly accepted the proposal and UN Resolution #977(X) to establish a United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea became effective in December of 1955.
Brief History of the UNMCK
* Jan. 18, 1951 Establishes a UN Command cemetery for fallen UN troops
* Nov. 7, 1955 Korean Parliament recommends to the UN to accept the land for its perpetual use as a
sacred UN memorial cemetery
* Dec. 15, 1955 UN General Assembly passes a resolution to perpetually manage a UN memorial
cemetery in Korea
* Nov. 6, 1959 Korea 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, 1974 UNCURK transfers the management of the UNMCK to the Commission for the
UNMCK consisting of 11 member nations.
Change of the UNMCK's Korean Name
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.
After the war broke out in Korea on June 25, 1950, when North Korea suddenly invaded South Korea, the UN hurried to convene a meeting of the 2nd UN Security Council and decided on the 28th of June 1950 to dispatch UN troops to Korea. This remains, in the history of the UN, as the unique resolution where troops were dispatched in the name of the UN.
In all, 21 nations volunteered to assist under the UN flag to help Korea--16 nations provided combat troops, equipment and armaments, while 5 nations provided non-combat assistance by dispatching medical ships with staff and medicine.
16 Nations with Combat Aid : USA, UK, Turkey, Canada, Australia, France, Netherlands,
New Zealand, South Africa, Colombia, Greece, Thailand, Ethiopia, Philippines, Belgium
and Luxemburg
5 Nations with Medical Aid : Norway, Denmark, India, Italy and Sweden
During the Korean War (June 25, 1950 ~ July 27, 1953), there were 40,896 UN casualties from 17 nations including Norway.
Status of interred at the UNMCK
This is a holy site where the brave fallen of the 11 nations are interred. Approximately 11,000 were interred at the UNMCK between 1951~1954. There are currently 2,300 at the UNMCK, including Korean soldiers who fell as members of the UN troops. Most were repatriated home; Belgium, Colombia, Ethiopia, Greece, Luxemburg, Philippines and Thailand have taken back all of their expatriates. The USA, who had the highest number of casualties in the war, took all of their fallen home soon afterwards. However, 36 members of the UNC dispatched from the USA and stationed in Korea after the war, who died and wished to be interred at the UNMCK, also reside here at the UNMCK.
The national flags of twenty-one nations who participated in the war on behalf of UN and Korea fly everyday, as well as the interred from 11 nations.
93, UNPyeonghwa-ro, Nam-gu, Busan Metropolitan City
TEL : 82-51-625-0625, 82-51-625-0614 
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