UN Military Cemetery

The Parliament of South Korea, in order to honour the services and sacrifices made by the UN forces during the Korean War, provided some 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 (UNMCK) became effective in December 1955.

The UNMCK had been managed by the UN Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea (UNCURK) until UNCURK was dissolved in 1974. Since then The Commission for the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea (CUNMCK), which consists of 11 UN-member nations (Australia, Canada, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Turkey, UK, USA and South Korea) whose fallen during the Korean War are buried in the cemetery.

The CUNMCK Chair rotates annually, in the alphabetical order of the member nations’ names, starting on November 1 of each year and ending on October 31 the following year.

UN MILITARY CEMETERY KOREA (UNMCK)
The cemetery is located in Busan, which is South Korea’s 2nd-largest city located on the south coast of South Korea.

The UNMCK web site, www.unmck.or.kr, contains information about how to reach the cemetery, as well as its open hours.

There are the remains of 2,300 servicemen in the cemetery: 36 Koreans, 11 non-combatants, 4 unknowns plus the country totals shown below.

COUNTRYUN FORCEFALLENBURIED IN UNMCK
USA1,600,00036,49236
UK56,0001,177885
Turkey14,9361,005462
Canada27,000516378
Australia8,407346281
France3,76027044
Colombia5,100213
Greece4,440186
Thailand6,326136
Netherlands5,320124117
Ethiopia3,518122
Philippines7,500120
Belgium3,590106
New Zealand5,3504134
South Africa9003711
Norway62331
Luxembourg892
Denmark6300
India3460
Italy1850
Sweden3800
TOTALS1,754,40040,8962,249
Data provided by the UN Military Cemetery Korea.

Belgium, Colombia, Ethiopia, Greece, Luxemburg, Philippines and Thailand have taken back all of their fallen. 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 at the UNMCK.

WALL OF REMEMBRANCE
Those service personnel with no known grave are commemorated on the Wall of Remembrance, which is located in the cemetery.