Veterans minister vows to transform Seoul National Cemetery into more visitor-friendly site

Veterans Minister Park Min-shik, middle, speaks to reporters on the protection ministry headquarters in central Seoul, Dec. 20. Yonhap

Veterans Minister Park Min-shik pledged Wednesday to recreate the Seoul Nationwide Cemetery right into a extra accessible and visitor-friendly web site by pushing for main infrastructure initiatives close by and putting in further memorial services.

Park outlined plans to revamp the cemetery in southern Seoul to attract extra guests and recreate it into the “world’s finest memorial web site” as soon as his ministry takes over its administration from the protection ministry.

“We plan to make the Seoul Nationwide Cemetery … as a symbolic place of tradition, relaxation and therapeutic for not solely our public however for foreigners as nicely and right into a sacred place for patriots and veterans of the Republic of Korea along with the folks,” he mentioned in a briefing, utilizing Korea’s official title.

The Seoul Nationwide Cemetery has been below the administration of the protection ministry because it was created in 1956, however the veterans ministry has been pushing for its administration because it was upgraded to a full-fledged ministry in June.

A invoice on the switch is anticipated to be authorised by the Nationwide Meeting both this week or subsequent week, Park mentioned, noting that there isn’t a opposition from both the ruling or opposition events.

As soon as transferred, Park mentioned the veterans ministry will search to show the present eight-lane street close to the cemetery into an underground one. It additionally plans to create a direct path connecting the cemetery to the close by Dongjak Station for higher accessibility.

The ministry additionally seeks to put in extra services to revamp the positioning, comparable to a live performance venue and a water function akin to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington.

Park, a former two-term lawmaker, is ready to go away workplace as Kang Jung-ai, a former college chief, was tapped to switch him earlier this month. (Yonhap)