Military Cemetery for North Korean Soldiers

The Military Cemetery for North Korean soldiers, also known locally as the “Enemy Cemetery,” is located beside a highway south of the inter-Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Hidden without signs, the two neighboring graveyards sit on a hilltop bordered by vegetable gardens. One holds the bodies of North Korean soldiers killed during the Korean War, while the second contains infiltrators and spies killed in the South since 1953.

Established in 1996, the cemetery contains hundreds of mostly unidentified graves, all facing north as a sign of respect. North Korea, just 5 kilometers away, never claimed the bodies, as doing so would have meant admitting responsibility for several clandestine operations. The site once also held 541 Chinese volunteers, later repatriated to rest in the “Resist America and Aid Korea Martyrs Cemetery” in Shenyang, China.

Maintained minimally and seldom visited, rumors suggest South Korean intelligence monitors the cemetery to spot any potential North Korean sympathizers who come to pay their respects.

Among those buried here are Kim Sung Il, involved in the 1987 bombing of a Korean Air plane, and 29 members of Unit 124, which infiltrated South Korea in 1968 with the aim of assassinating President Park Chung Hee. Only two survived; one returned to North Korea and became Vice Minister of Defence, while the other remained in South Korea and became a pastor.